Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Geminidog 2031 days ago
I'm similar to you but there are people who are very different. Psychopaths exist on the end of this spectrum but there are many people in between as it is a spectrum and can be measured physically and determined genetically. People not like us are much more common than you think.

I'd peg the number at 30-40% of people who are largely indifferent to murder and abide by the rules simply because of consequences society or habit. This is of course is just a anecdotal and hypothetical number.

The problem is when people judge humanity they instinctively reach for a mirror and believe that other people are a reflection. This is partly true but it causes people to miss many parts of the personality spectrum that are massively different.

Case in point:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-neuroscien...

The above is an example of a psychopath who probably would have lived his life as a normal person were it not for his occupation and a serendipitous brain scan.

You will note that he has confirmed psychopathy through genetic evaluation and physical evaluation of the structure of his brain.

Also just want to say that I lied. I'm not like you. I'm a bit lower on the spectrum. I won't murder someone but if a stranger dies in front of me, I won't care. I'll definitely try to help him, but I won't be having problems sleeping at night.