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Brain Difference In Psychopaths Identified

8 points by onreact-com 17y ago

onreact-com 17y ago
We're sorry, but we have to arrest you. Your brain shows that you are prone to rape and murder.
- roc 17y ago
  It won't be outright arrest. Just preemptive and pervasive surveillance and other 'preventative' measures. For the kids.
  - onreact-com 17y ago
    Does it make it any better? Reminds me of the Gattaca analysis from yesterday: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=797609 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=797609
wildjim 17y ago
The thing that really scares me is that you could easily argue that everyone has a "little bit" of psychopathy in them -- see how car drivers in big cities treat others on the road, see how some people go "too far" during war. What threshold would/could you pick?
- tetha 17y ago
  I'd figure that you cannot pick a threshold. I am convinced that you can turn EVERYONE into a psychopath by pushing him enough, whereas 'pushing'depends on the person getting pushed. For myself, well, threaten people I love enough and make me desperate enough and I will probably snap, even though I am the calmest and most balanced person I know.
  - barry-cotter 17y ago
    Pyschopaths don't love anybody. it's not a synonym for bad/evil person, it's a constellation of correlated traits, but at a very rough approximation- A psychopath is someone who sees others as means not ends. Their existence is irrelevant except insofar as they serve his wants or needs, or prevents them being satisfied. A borderline psychopath, one of the people who was born that way inclined rather than straight born that way, and who was triggered by environment will probably be no more attached to any human being ever than you would be a to a pet.
jcl 17y ago
The phrenologists in the 1800s just lacked the correct instruments. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
wrinklz 17y ago
"You needn't take it any further, sir. You've proved to me that all this ultraviolence and killing is wrong, wrong, and terribly wrong. I've learned me lesson, sir. I've seen now what I've never seen before. I'm cured! Praise Bog! I'm cured!" - Alex

8 points by onreact-com 17y ago

onreact-com 17y ago

We're sorry, but we have to arrest you. Your brain shows that you are prone to rape and murder.

roc 17y ago
It won't be outright arrest. Just preemptive and pervasive surveillance and other 'preventative' measures. For the kids.
- onreact-com 17y ago
  Does it make it any better? Reminds me of the Gattaca analysis from yesterday: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=797609 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=797609

wildjim 17y ago

The thing that really scares me is that you could easily argue that everyone has a "little bit" of psychopathy in them -- see how car drivers in big cities treat others on the road, see how some people go "too far" during war. What threshold would/could you pick?

tetha 17y ago
I'd figure that you cannot pick a threshold. I am convinced that you can turn EVERYONE into a psychopath by pushing him enough, whereas 'pushing'depends on the person getting pushed. For myself, well, threaten people I love enough and make me desperate enough and I will probably snap, even though I am the calmest and most balanced person I know.
- barry-cotter 17y ago
  Pyschopaths don't love anybody. it's not a synonym for bad/evil person, it's a constellation of correlated traits, but at a very rough approximation- A psychopath is someone who sees others as means not ends. Their existence is irrelevant except insofar as they serve his wants or needs, or prevents them being satisfied. A borderline psychopath, one of the people who was born that way inclined rather than straight born that way, and who was triggered by environment will probably be no more attached to any human being ever than you would be a to a pet.

jcl 17y ago

The phrenologists in the 1800s just lacked the correct instruments. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology

wrinklz 17y ago

"You needn't take it any further, sir. You've proved to me that all this ultraviolence and killing is wrong, wrong, and terribly wrong. I've learned me lesson, sir. I've seen now what I've never seen before. I'm cured! Praise Bog! I'm cured!" - Alex