The Question of Psychopaths
So-called “high-functioning” psychopaths are, perhaps, the most destructive people on Earth. Lacking in empathy, they learn to mimic human caring and empathy very well, while using others as normal people use objects.
Generally speaking, the best book I’ve found on this subject is The Psychopath Next Door by Harvard Prof. Martha Stout. Stout has devoted her career to this field of study. She advises the avoidance of such persons whenever possible, and offers a few admittedly imperfect guides to their identification.
That said, we all make mistakes. Even someone of her stature can miss a thing or two. It turns out that, when high-functioning psychopaths AREN’T abused as children (either intentionally or unintentionally), they can become highly respected members of society. Prof. James Fallon, a neuroscientist, is a prime example.
The fact that abuse can turn psychopaths into ticking human time bombs is, perhaps, the strongest argument for a societal prohibition against corporal punishment (“Spare the rod and spoil the child” was the invention of a medieval Christian clergyman), and against other forms of child abuse.
To prevent the emergence of an overly intrusive “nanny state”, most of this can be accomplished through fostering a strong sense of community, with clearly defined societal principles/values from which everything else emanates. This would include frequent and systematic nudges instead of regulations, for most things, in consensually desired directions.
Given that pychopaths lack empathy and therefore find no joy in relationships, their only purpose in life (as confirmed by Stout) is the playing and winning of games. In our present Scarcity Game paradigm, most available games are win/lose. The psychopath happily crushes others, as they would were the person a chair or other object.
But in an ACS, winning will be clearly defined as recognition, and so by combining that fact with the universal bimodal surveillance which we regard as both necessary and inevitable, the psychopath will quickly find a more harmonious way of living. (Aside: An intriguing possibility for managing psychopathy was explored in S2 E5 of the television series New Amsterdam, which had a medical advisor but may or may not have been accurate in this particular.)
Finally, we can establish fMRI testing for all residents and visitors. It appears to offer a foolproof way to identify psychopaths based on the immediate response of their brainwaves to specific types of images, a response which cannot be controlled. Psychopaths could then be subject to special monitoring in advance of crimes being committed, if the society deemed such to be appropriate.
In contemplating this, it’s important to recall that every adult will enter such a society voluntarily, and be free to leave unless under arrest. Therefore, if such measures are thought to be unreasonable, one need not live in that society.
That said, in my personal view, such measures should be adopted universally, as quickly as feasible. They could avert much terrorism.