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I read an interesting article by Michael Wolf, dated February 2013 called "A Developmental Disorder Impacting Human Social Evolution", which has its faults but was a really refreshing read. Much has been discussed about the problem that is psychopathy, a natural human trait that is more or less present in every individual. It is however more strongly expressed in certain groups, as revealed by The Great British Psychopath Survey and other similar surveys run by Prof K. Dutton, which showed that the professions which have the largest psychopathic populations were:

1. CEO
2. Lawyer
3. Media (TV/Radio)
4. Salesperson
5. Surgeon
6. Journalist
7. Police Officer
8. Clergyperson
9. Chef
10. Civil Servant

Among the least psychopathic professions were teachers, artists, doctors, nurses and accountants. The survey is not a very well controlled one, but is reasonably robust because it has a very large sample size.

The important problem, or thing about psychopaths is that such people lack the moral dimension in their intuitive experience, a thing that non-psychopaths find difficult to comprehend. A psychopath may conduct himself in a perfectly legal and moral manner in all things, but this is a purely intellectual choice and not an emotional one. He is able to comprehend the emotional states of others but the evaluation of such states is, again, unemotional. However the psychopath is usually intrinsically driven by personal gain and as a result, the comprehension of others' emotional states is often used in a manipulative and exploitative way.

The article by Wolf, however, deals with how our social system has been geared to favour psychopaths because in all probability it was designed by psychopaths:

We can retain our innate skills at surviving alone, or we can adopt a different pathway and join a cooperative society. Unaware of this choice, it is therefore thrust upon is in our early childhood. Failing to develop to our potential is disease, and a disease plagues humanity which is heretofore unrecognized in its gravity and effect on our society, largely because the effects have long been experienced. Our very paradigm is defined by this disease. That disease, psychopathy, is no more than the failure of some to develop empathy, that skill necessary to the continuing peaceful existence of a cooperative society. And having run its course unchecked for centuries, this disease has completely altered humanity so profoundly, that our very paradigm is based in large part on the erroneous conclusions by those affected by the disease both directly and indirectly.

He attributes the origins of this social system to the Roman Empire which favoured leaders that were successful warriors. Theirs was a meritocratic system, as is ours today. The difference is that today's merit is political prowess as opposed to military and strategic prowess. To my understanding, Michael Wolf is proposing that neither of these should be considered to be 'merit'. He goes on to show that fundamental social constructs we have are designed to erode society's defences against psychopaths:

A democracy with our style of justice system is a system designed to fail. Our justice system discourages development of moral reasoning, and as the consequences of abiding by our justice system are loss of all privileges as well as basic human rights; we are compelled to comply and thus highly prone to its influence. We do not develop as we should, and as a result, democracy actually ceases to exist. Anyone who suggests that our effective system is democratic is either a fool, or an outright liar.

The questions I am left with are more fundamental even than those that Michael Wolf asks. The very reason psychopathy is "in charge" right now could well be that, given the physical realities of the world in which we live, this is an advantageous trait, at least in the short term. However in the long term the survival of the species seems to depend on cooperative and collaborative effort that looks after members of society which are weaker in certain respects, but not necessarily others. Some types of diversity are clearly advantageous, but others can pose a critical threat to a society.

One problem in breaking through the blindness of the general population on this is that people have been conditioned into accepting what could be termed as existential subjectivism, which leads to moral relativism. This is the very thing psychopathy thrives on. The psychopath does not recognize moral absolutes, but will use use whatever tool is needed to achieve his goals and will argue that this is the best way, including systematically imposing moral restrictions on others whilst totally ignoring such rules in his own conduct in order to gain advantage. People today have become subjugated to this view and indeed this is promoted in the media, but it is a form of voluntary intellectual enslavement. It is paradoxical, but subjecting one's self to moral absolutes and standing up for them is the one way to demand and achieve real freedom. Moral absolutes must be recognized and enforced at all levels of society, not just the middle classes, if there is to be a hope of improvement of the current social malaise.

Wolf's argument that the justice system is flawed is basically correct. For the purposes of reliably determining the right from wrong in a conflict situation, there is a need for a justice system where judges are unbiased. It is the method of reasoning that is broken, even at the very base level of the affording people "rights" - a product of humanism. The anti-psychopathic way of judging situations is to look at the obligations people have towards each other and assessing whether, given the circumstances presented, people have fulfilled their obligations. Crimes are therefore always ones of omission - failure to protect, respect and support others, especially those who are weaker. In judging merit, likewise we should look at the track record of candidates for leadership in a similar way - have they met their social obligations?

The question of democracy is also touched upon. Indeed nearly all democratic government in existence today is corrupted beyond redemption by blackmail and bribery. A lack of transparency is one reason and is a result of secret associations between individuals and society's failure to address them. This is in contrast to the Roman Empire which had explicit laws banning organized secrecy. Such a law today would break many a modern society. A second failure of modern democracy is the excessive ratio of voters:representatives, which nearly completely dilutes the ability of people to be properly heard.

So in conclusion, the article by Michael Wolf is a worthwhile read for those who are interested in the topic of 'what is wrong with the world'. The recognition of the existence and prevalence of psychopaths is being spun as "psychopaths are necessary, and psychopathy is good" by many voices, yet in fact it is an unbalanced and pathological personality trait that, if left unchecked, erodes and weakens humanity ... at least according to a non-psychopath!