The wisdom of psychopaths

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1. evantishNov 2013
   I've read almost every popular book on the subject of (pscho/socio)pathy. I think "Wisdom of Psychopaths" [1] would be one that you might enjoy.

   > ...are there millions of Ted Bundys out there who never actually killed anyone and even lead productive lives?

   I think the answer to this is probably yes-ish. The thing about people like Ted Bundy is that he wasn't JUST a psychopath. He was also sadistic, and probably some other characteristics [2]. The reason I say "yes" though is that there are certainly a lot of psychopaths (however you want to define the parameters of the definition) out there leading productive and "normal" lives without killing anyone.

   Now, if I may indulge my own pet ideas...

   Psychopaths have certainly been with us forever. Having no empathy, conscience or remorse and also being sexually promiscuous makes for a fairly effective survival and reproductive strategy outside of the modern context (see the Ghengis Khan effect [3]). On the flip side, they also probably killed each other off pretty regularly too (which would have had some possible cyclical effects). This leads one to ponder what role the psychopath might play in modernity. And it doesn't take too long to get some unsurprising / interesting results [4][5]. I'd say that one of the features of capitalism is that it can effectively (but not perfectly) convert volatile/psychopathic personalities into value for society. Where a psychopath might have been an Attila the Hun in historical past, he might be Steve Jobs today. Of course, as someone else pointed out, he might also be Dick Cheney too. Thankfully, nations have adopted political and governing structures designed to mitigate the damage one psychopathic person can do. When I see things like extreme inequality in America I wonder what role psychopaths are playing and if perhaps we're entering a phase where we may have to institute some enduring controls on the more emergent(?) psychopathic tendencies in our economic systems (as presaged by "The Corporation"?[6]). Anyway, don't want to beat a dead horse. Suffice to say, I find it amusing (and admittedly dangerous) to view history and current events through a lens of who-are-the-likely-psychopaths. Thought I'd share.

   [1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Wisdom-Psychopaths-Killers-Success...

   [2] There are groups of traits that, when combined, don't form Captain Planet. Instead they're associated with bad mojo. See the Dark Triad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_triad) and the MacDonald Triad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macdonald_triad).

   [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent_from_Genghis_Khan#DNA_e...

   [4] http://www.spring.org.uk/2013/07/which-professions-have-the-...

   [5] http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforceme...

   [6] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHrhqtY2khc

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2. theoriqueJan 2013
   The author of the book (and OP article) writes about his experience with transcranial magnetic induction that is able to turn him into a temporary psychopath by effectively disabling the center of the brain associated with empathy. (The anecdote is in the full text of The Wisdom of Psychopaths - I don't think I've seen it online.)
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3. MrMattersJan 2013
   A more interesting comparison if you're going to use medicine, IMO, is how it's the exact opposite for surgeons compared to doctors. If you believe The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success by Kevin Dutton (which is the basis of this HuffPo article):

   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-barker/which-professions-...

   It makes sense because doctors require a high level of empathy whereas surgeons need to be better under pressure, be able to hold longer focus, etc. which are qualities of psychopaths.

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