undefined | Better HN

0 pointsjohn_strinlai5d ago0 comments

its estimated ~1% of humans are psychopathic. psychopaths are optimized for ladder-climbing (career, politics, etc.), so the rate of CEOs and politicians that are psychopathic is higher than 1%.

and that probably explains a lot about the world.

however, i wouldnt call people affected by psychopathy a "subspecies", and i strongly doubt they have any extra psychopathy-sensing special abilities like sight or smell. that is crossing over into wild conspiracy territory.

(its also important to note that there are lots of people who have all the typical traits of psychopathy, but dont act like what people would call "psycho". there is way more nuance to psychopathy than usually portrayed in media or whatever)

0 comments

sixtyj5d ago

There was a study about 4% psycho-whatever in politics.

bubblegumcrisis5d ago

I wonder about the "psychopathy-sensing special abilities" being "conspiracy territory."

Let's say there were a sub-species of psychopaths.

Let's say, for you to be "evil-beyond-reason" it takes M chromosomes having N genes.

As a psychopath, you probably want to associate yourself with other psychopaths, but maybe not live/work among them, except to breed.

Why would you want to associate yourself? Because if you work in tandem, you can exploit the rest of us with less friction, i.e. make laws. Each psychopath draws their own little kingdom, for them to rule.

Hmm, I guess, if the psychopaths could "feel" that another was "one of them" they may indeed work with one another.

It is hard for me to think, that given the huge advantage of knowing "your kind" that you wouldn't somehow sense it.

This is crazy talk isn't it. But look at the world. It looks just like this.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse