Psychopaths

... Elmer C. Albatross, is that you?

(Sorry, nothing of actual value to say this time.)

edited 9th Oct '13 5:23:52 PM by Sparkysharps

My childhood was actually remarkably normal, though I did have some...bullying problems early on. I had a few other things wrong with me from birth, and through middle school there were some hints, but it was only really in my teenage years that what was wrong with me became apparent. I was always rather withdrawn, given an upbringing that nurtured me and gave me much. I was given toys that were typically male and typically female (though I cannot remember many of my masculine toys, so the number might have been lower), though nowadays I would've preferred it if my dad played football with me and gave me masculine toys for reasons of personal aesthetic.

My childhood was not really abnormal aside from the noted things. There were no Abusive Parents, there was no Freudian Excuse of excessive cruelty, with most of the bullying being verbal, and which never really scarred me nor affected me long term, aside from some old dislikes.

Well, I try to live a life of Good Feels Good, even if sometimes its not as satisfying as a life of malevolence.

I actually had not heard of that character until now.

Edit: streamlined my post to mainly deal with my childhood's formative years.

edited 9th Oct '13 10:00:18 PM by NickTheSwing

I would figure so. The (concrete, personal) benefits of good acts tend to be either preventative or delayed, thus, less likely to come to notice. I suspect that's why emotion plays such a significant role in moral choice*

, personally - it introduces an element of immediate gratification/punishment to tip the scales in favor of the (usually) less short-sighted action.

(Damn, that's actually a hypothesis I want to play with, now that I think about it. Need to figure out a way to test it outside of mere thought experiments, though.)

Speaking of function of emotion: Nick, do you ever do any navel gazing on your inevitable death and/or the finding/creating meaning in life? Asking entirely out of curiosity - I'm wondering about the workings of mortality salience and terror management theory.

Not really. Death might be a fact now, but such might not always be the case. I love the futuristic ideas espoused by fringe scientists; they give me...ideas.

As to the question of meaning and creating one for my life, I cannot help but feel that I lack passion. I have never been truly excited about anything in my life. There has never been anything that makes me feel truly passionate. My emotions are shallow. I never feel one thing strongly for too long, except hatred, which lasts a quick peak, and then nothing.

edited 9th Oct '13 11:20:23 PM by NickTheSwing

In regards to 'meaning in life' I was thinking less about passion and more about answers to things like 'how do I want to make my mark on the world before I die?' Long term goals and the like.

Thanks for the answer, though. It gave me some ideas on working out the mechanics behind mortality salience (stuff on neural correlates and somatic contributors to death anxiety) that I want to look into later

One more question: When you do think about the possibility of your death, do you get any perceptible emotional sensation, and is it vaguely positive/negative/neutral if you do?

(I am starting to worry that I'm falling down the slippery slope of Science-Related Memetic Disorder)

Nick,

It appears to me now that your condition is more neurological than socialized. In that case, you seem to confirm a theory that I've had for a while: as you said, you have no passion and your feelings are shallow. Apparently, you have a very diminished capacity to feel satisfaction and, as a consequence, your capacity to suffer is also minimal. It appears that you have the capacity to intellectually acknowledge the fact that others have minds and feelings like you, so the problem may not be empathy per se, but simply the fact that your suffering is so shallow that you can't comprehend why the suffering of others is relevant.

I know you can suffer, but it seems like it's more of an annoyance than anything that can be truly life-changing, and most of your satisfaction must come from impulsive actions that cause quick and immediate excitement, so the concept of self-sacrifice to achieve something of real importance is foreign to you. Perhaps this is why you perceive evil as more satisfactory, when not taking punishment into account: not only does the suffering of others appear irrelevant due to your own diminished capacity to suffer, but evil and petty actions are generally easier, as well. Doing good often requires a certain degree of self-sacrifice.

Please note that I am not trying to judge you, as I know that this condition is not your fault. I'm also aware that this must be something like trying to explain a color to someone that was born blind, but let me try something: even though the notion that "I shouldn't do evil because I'll be punished" is certainly useful, it might fail if you feel empowered enough, and we don't want that to happen. A more useful notion, perhaps, might be the idea that people can suffer in a way that is beyond your comprehension. Assume a thousand times more or something similar, though no one can give you the exact number. Hopefully, this might give you a notion of the reason people place so much importance in things that are trivial to you.

It's just an idea, and I know this is not the only motivation behind most acts of evil, but it must be relevant.

...

Or you're just trolling, this whole thing is just a stereotyped façade you made up and you're laughing while you read all this stuff. It might just be extreme immaturity and stupidity on your part. I'm curious to see your reaction, either way.

edited 10th Oct '13 5:32:27 AM by Teraus

"You cannot judge a system if your judgement is determined by the system."

Actually, your explanation makes a lot more sense to me than it has any right to. Are you by any chance in college to become a psychologist? Because the last time anyone - anyone - got me to this degree was my psychologist.

I'm just an engineering student that thinks a lot, I guess.

"You cannot judge a system if your judgement is determined by the system."

(Gives Teraus a "Helpful Discussion" award).

Thanks

"You cannot judge a system if your judgement is determined by the system."