[Psychthowaway]

Right, so that's the trouble with a self aware psychopath - I'm not sure what my motivations are beyond supporting my own ego and increasing my influence.

I have argued for a long time that everything everyone does is self-serving, it's just wrapped in all of this social/behavioral expectation. Maybe that's because I am unfamiliar with actual selflessness.

Can sociopaths express altruism - I argue yes insofar that the outcomes are mutually beneficial. I spent the first half of my professional life in public service, taking much less pay than I could have doing something else. I make special effort to volunteer and spend time during the holidays with the indigent - going so far as not to post or boast publicly because that is transparently self serving - letting others do that on my behalf.

All that is done though so I am "beyond reproach." So you can't say that I'm not great, that I haven't done everything possible to be a "good person." So when it comes time to implement what I want to implement, nobody can find any dirt on me or say I'm a selfish bastard - cause just look at all the good works people can prove that I've done and I never even boasted about them!!

I think this is on the higher end of the functional sociopath spectrum though.