<div>Psychopaths generally want to get on with people, to be accepted in a sense, otherwise they would have no desire to gain money, power etc. It's just that they don't care about other people's feelings. At the very least, psychopaths who get into trouble can see it would be better if they didn't have psychopathic tendencies, like someone who enjoys drugs or chocolate or whatever might wish they didn't. Some psychopaths in power go to enormous lengths to convince themselves and everyone else (on pain of death, sometimes) that they are wonderful people, kind benefactors of humanity: witness figures such as Stalin or Hitler. I think what this all means is that on average, if the choice were available more people who are inclined to be nasty would choose to be nice than nice people choose to be nasty, because even most nasty people at tell themselves, or try to convince others, that they are in fact nice.
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<div>Stathis Papaioannou<br><br> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 2/26/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Anne Corwin</b> <<a href="mailto:sparkle_robot@yahoo.com">sparkle_robot@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">You'd almost have to already be a psychopath to want to be a psychopath, since that personality type is one focused almost entirely on desiring to manipulate and use others toward their own ends with no regard for the personhood of those others. I don't know if there's such a thing as a true psychopath that wishes they weren't one, since if you're already completely lacking in empathy and compassion, what could motivate you to wish for the ability to feel empathy or compassion?
<br><span class="sg"><br>- Anne</span>
<div><span class="q" id="q_110fb6324e16d658_2"><br><br><b><i>Stathis Papaioannou <<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:stathisp@gmail.com" target="_blank">stathisp@gmail.com</a>></i>
</b> wrote:</span></div>
<blockquote style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid">
<div><span class="q" id="q_110fb6324e16d658_4"><br><br>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 2/26/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Anne Corwin</b> <<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:sparkle_robot@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sparkle_robot@yahoo.com
</a>> wrote:</span></div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote"></span> </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid"><span>Jef said:<br><br>"While it's fashionable and considered by some to be the height of
<br>morality to argue that all preferences are equally valid, it is<br>morally indefensible."<br><br></span>I don't think anyone was saying that "all preferences are equally valid"...it's a long leap from suggesting that a preference or inclination to interact with water is, perhaps, something that ought to be respected to suggesting that everything any person might want to do is somehow valid and worthy of defense.
<br><br>If someone has a preference for torturing small animals, it would of course be reprehensible to defend this preference as valid. </blockquote>
<div> </div>
<div>Thanks, that's what I meant. And an interesting question is, if everyone could *choose* their preferences, what would they choose? Would anyone actually decide they want to be a psychopath? Even many psychopaths I have met admit that life would have been easier if they had been different, but they are unfortunately stuck with who they are.
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<div>Stathis Papaiaonnou<br> </div></span></div><span class="q">_______________________________________________<br>extropy-chat mailing list<br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org" target="_blank">
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