Does Anyone Else Worry About Psychopathy?

Post Reply New Topic

It's something I've been accused of several times, and in many ways I suppose I fit.

It really hit home today when I realised I was wondering why we don't perform medical experiments (ala Josef Mengele) on convicted murderers, rapists, child molesters and such.

We could learn so much, like he did, and yet we refuse to.... and for the life of me I cannot understand why.

I could see maybe dissecting the cadavers but not experimenting on the living prisoners.

They are still human and I don't think their crimes gives us reason to treat them poorly just because they killed others. It's kind of silly.

You killed someone, so now that gives me the right or privilege to kill you? Anyway I wouldn't want to put other human beings into the position of becoming like these people. Oh they chopped up and disemboweled innocent people? So we'll pay this Scientist to do the same to them? In effect making the scientist carry out an act equally as monstrous because this person deserves it?

Nah I don't want to put another human being in that position to hack up someone else into pieces or perform monstrous acts on them just because the inmate did monstrous things. I don't even want to pay someone to execute someone else. Why should another normal human become a killer just because someone else committed a murder?

To much focus is put on the deranged murderers and not on the otherwise normal humans tasked with slicing them up for experiments.

I mean suppose I was a doctor I would take the oath to "Do No Harm" and hence not want any part of slicing and dicing another human being in excruciatingly painful experiments.

In before the provided example usurps the topic:

Psychopathy doesn't worry me overmuch. I know i am capable of caring about people because I do care, however much I screw up showing it.

That said, I do worry about developing schizophrenia at some point in my life. It's a massive phobia of mine.

Uhh, serial killers do it for the power. Where's the power in experimenting on a condemned prisoner?

If someone actually volunteered I guess I wouldn't stand in their way. Go for it.

But because I know the courts aren't infallible all the time I'm reluctant to have people killed or in this case subjected to medical torture.

But the bigger idea is that because someone committed monstrous deeds doesn't give me license to do the same. And why would I want to anyway? Why would I want to do the horrible act of killing another human?

Beyond all this I have considered the idea of what a serial killer is and I find their life to be a human tragedy. They're like humans who decided to become beasts preying on the innocent. So much wasted potential. I think any new human being can potentially contribute so much and they turned the other way.

Also I suppose I think the concept of punishment is kind of futile. I think all you can do is find these people and contain them so they can't continue their perverse crimes.

The fact that you "worry" about being a psychopath tells me that you are not one.

I have actually interacted with genuine psychopaths and I can tell you none of them "worry" about it.

And "psychopath" is the old term, you're supposed to call it "Antisocial Personality disorder".


Your lack of humanity against people you dictate as being below you notwithstanding, you really shouldn't give psychopathy much thought when you find yourself worrying about.

it might be worth saying (edit) that people who are seriel killers tend to be mentally ill.

We don't experiment on them because of how important it is to our modern society that the value we put on human life be truly universal.

That is: We have a need to be absolutely firm about stating that every single human being is equally valuable. If we don't affirm this idea, our society starts to lose its cohesiveness as gaps grow between people considered more or less valuable than others. In practice, we don't everyone equally, but when we are made aware of it, we are usually ashamed of it.

The danger of putting any human being below any other in intrinsic value--even a murderer--is that it implies to people in general that their own position as a valuable human being is not assured. They start to spend more energy on protecting themselves and their subgroup, and less on contributing to society.

In order to live in a cooperative world, we have to view each other as equals. If we don't, society we get what we've had for most of human history--a world where most people are inferior to a small group of superior people, and only the superior people get to make lasting contributions.