I’ve previously written about social predators, people whose primary mode of life consists, not of creating value, but of transferring value created by other people to themselves—
Great post! Though, I think your point about therapy misses some nuance. People do sometimes get attached to video game NPC, just like they get attached to book or movie characters. So it wouldn't surprise me if someone was receptive to therapy from one. Also, some people find therapy from AI chatbots helpful, and those are much like NPCs.
I don't expect this to work on psychopaths, though. You have to be receptive to therapy for it to work, but psychopaths don't want to stop being psychopaths.
There is the fascinating case of David Wood, who was a diagnosed sociopath who nearly killed his dad, but has since become a Christian apologist (mostly against Muslims). I think he’s is a rare case of a rehabilitated sociopath.
I think he’s the perfect anti-Muslim apologist because the Muslims online are unhinged, and he doesn’t really experience emotions much so it probably doesn’t bother him.
Are we justified in giving retributive punishments to sociopaths? If it doesn't appear to them that the pain of others is bad, then they aren't justified in thinking that causing pain is wrong. Isn't this like punishing an animal that has no ability to tell right from wrong?
If we aren't justified in retributively punishing sociopaths then deterrence is the only justification for such punishment. Should we punish sociopaths less than we punish normal people? We should punish normal people proportionally to their wrongdoing and the necessity of deterrence but with sociopaths there is only the latter consideration.
Could be that retributive punishment is actually never justified, and only instrumental punishment can ever be morally legitimate, so for both psychopaths and normal people the only consideration should be deterrence
Great post! Though, I think your point about therapy misses some nuance. People do sometimes get attached to video game NPC, just like they get attached to book or movie characters. So it wouldn't surprise me if someone was receptive to therapy from one. Also, some people find therapy from AI chatbots helpful, and those are much like NPCs.
I don't expect this to work on psychopaths, though. You have to be receptive to therapy for it to work, but psychopaths don't want to stop being psychopaths.
What percentage of politicians and journalists do you think are predators?
There is the fascinating case of David Wood, who was a diagnosed sociopath who nearly killed his dad, but has since become a Christian apologist (mostly against Muslims). I think he’s is a rare case of a rehabilitated sociopath.
I think he’s the perfect anti-Muslim apologist because the Muslims online are unhinged, and he doesn’t really experience emotions much so it probably doesn’t bother him.
https://youtu.be/jb2ggj9mKM0?si=212jb_eUjfR1C-co
Are we justified in giving retributive punishments to sociopaths? If it doesn't appear to them that the pain of others is bad, then they aren't justified in thinking that causing pain is wrong. Isn't this like punishing an animal that has no ability to tell right from wrong?
If we aren't justified in retributively punishing sociopaths then deterrence is the only justification for such punishment. Should we punish sociopaths less than we punish normal people? We should punish normal people proportionally to their wrongdoing and the necessity of deterrence but with sociopaths there is only the latter consideration.
Could be that retributive punishment is actually never justified, and only instrumental punishment can ever be morally legitimate, so for both psychopaths and normal people the only consideration should be deterrence