[biff]

But there are worries the harsher penalties may have actually led some women to falsely accuse men of groping in the hope of a cash settlement.

It looks like until Japanese men and women – but especially men – learn to behave themselves on trains in mixed company, completely gender-segregated cars might sadly be the safest way to ride.

I leafed through a book once (and fully intend to actually buy and read though the thing soon) called the "No Asshole Rule". [1] My takeaway was that there are people who on the surface are extraordinarily productive but who are so destructive in interpersonal relations as to contribute negative value overall to a business.

Reading this article makes me wonder if, on a more general level, anybody's tried to quantify the amount assholes cost society in general. And how much of that cost is truly wasted vs. that which creates industry of benefit to all of us. I know effort's gone into using our understanding of psychology to steer people into more responsible social behaviors, but I wonder if all things considered we somehow end up in a better place because assholes are constantly testing limits and we come up with social accommodations for that behavior.

1: http://www.amazon.com/The-Asshole-Rule-Civilized-Workplace/d...

[philwelch]

The US actually ran a massive social experiment like this in the 80's and 90's, where repeat criminal offenders eventually got life imprisonment if they committed enough crimes. Now we have the world's largest prison population.

(I'm being a little wry.)

[mikeash]

It seems impossible to quantify, but it's interesting to think about.

Lots of our tech heroes are assholes in one way or another. Many aren't, of course, but I think at least some of those who are owe some of their success to it.

Steve Jobs seems like an obvious example. Everything I know about him paints him as a total jerk, but a brilliant and inspiring total jerk. My guess is that the same personality traits that led him to change the world a few times also led him to deny paternity of his daughter. It's not too hard for me to imagine an alternate life for Jobs where he never manages to succeed in business (maybe he gets smacked down a little too hard for his phone phreaking activities) and ends up a run-of-the-mill asshole none of us ever heard of.

[sliverstorm]

I wonder if all things considered we somehow end up in a better place because assholes are constantly testing limits and we come up with social accommodations for that behavior.

I'm sure in certain cases this works out to be true, but taking this example, segregated traincars seems like a big-picture loss (groping assholes aside). While it makes sense given the circumstances, it's not the desirable option. Sub-optimal from a transport POV, and further isolates the genders.