Don't sweat the down votes. You're describing real things. A lot of people are still in denial about the fact that our industry has become populated in recent

Don't sweat the down votes. You're describing real things. A lot of people are still in denial about the fact that our industry has become populated in recent years by the sorts of high-powered uber-alpha sociopaths that dominate finance. Only 20 years ago -- maybe less -- computing still had a "hobbyist and hacker" feel. People were making money, sure, but it wasn't a place where people go to become instant millionaires or billionaires. Finance and high corporate MBA stuff was where you went to do that. Now that's changed. An app can make a fortune, quite literally. So now our industry is attracting an increasing number of "wolf of Wall St." types. Nerds and old school hackers just don't know how to deal with this personality type, and many deny its existence outright. It's tough to even describe to someone who hasn't encountered it in its natural habitat. I also think people deny its existence because they want to believe in a rational, meritocratic world, not an irrational emotionally-driven shitshow like the real world we actually live in. It's really nasty because our industry is not hardened against this stuff. In a way, those folks are less destructive in finance because the financial scene expects, understands, and knows how to deal with them. Your typical mildly Aspergers-ey nerd is fresh meat, and our industry's institutions aren't "psychopath-hardened" either. I've been in a good number of VC pitches and have met many. They are not all bad people by any means, nor do they tend to be dumb. A few of them are "wolf of Wall St." types, but the negative dynamic I see more often is someone who wants to be this type but really isn't. This leads to what you humorously call "chicken hawking," and also to cases where VC types can themselves be taken for a ride by these predators. When you encounter a true high-powered psychopath, it's really dangerous not to treat them like a rabid mountain lion. Any affinity you might have, or naivete, or desire to live vicariously in some way through them is something they can "use." I actually don't blame people too terribly much for sort of wanting to be one of these predators... our culture glorifies it. How many movies do we have about the happy go lucky cop who blows people away and makes jokes, or the glamorous con man who pulls off the big heist, or the endearing mobster? In reality these sorts of people would all be monsters. There's no glamour, no romance, just ugliness and destruction.