Brain Difference In Psychopaths Identified | Hacker News Reader

Brain Difference In Psychopaths Identified

sciencedaily.com

8 pointsonreact-com8 comments

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?

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.

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.

"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

The phrenologists in the 1800s just lacked the correct instruments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology

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

It won't be outright arrest. Just preemptive and pervasive surveillance and other 'preventative' measures.

For the kids.

Does it make it any better? Reminds me of the Gattaca analysis from yesterday:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=797609

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