Psychopathy is an inherited, physiological condition that re-routes brain function away from "the very qualities required to live in harmony with society" and towards, instead, a predatory and inhumane consciousness in a human body. Those changes include running words like "hate" and "love" through the language centers, but not through emotional-processing programs, as is the neurotypical response. The psychopath amygdala is noted for utterly warping the meanings of emotions in the psychopath's experience, and indeed a great deal of evidence supports the claim that, because their amygdalas are fucked up, psychopaths cannot feel fear. Research indicates, predictably but importantly, that psychopaths learn primarily from rewards and not from consequences; this is the opposite of neurotypical operant conditioning.
Psychopaths, in short, are very bad. I'm a self-righteous supporter of neurodiversity and believe that brain differences give even the least of us unique gifts; the amazing feats of autists, the staggering successes of Aspies, the contribution of nearly all canonical works of painting and literature by manic depressives. Each abnormal neurotype there has observed, researched gifts that we should celebrate.
Psychopaths are just bad. They exist because evolution thinks it can get away with it. Psychopathy strips away every moral power in a human brain to make way for a subspecial suite of hunting gear. The three traits identified by that meta-analysis of sociopaths- impulsivity, fearlessness, and charm- show us in their dark allure the malice of the genotypic adaptation, allowing a psychopath to shoot guns at cops and expect to get away with it. The real technical upgrade in sociopathy, of course, is the elimination of empathy as a perceptual and also conceptual system and its replacement with powerful incentives in the reward systems.
Here's how we'd handle this problem if this country had any spine. Teams of the sort of people you see in action movies go out across the country, searching through stolen psych records and internet sites "for psychopaths." When they identify a psycho, they grab him, drop him, keep the Hare Checklist on a clipboard as they run this portable fMRI they've got now for just this purpose (prisons need to know who's just been naughty, and who's got no soul) and run tests of empathic response on 'em. If you get a positive reading as a psychopath, Glock 19 from your jacket, and he never had a soul anyway. It'd be like Blade Runner. The FBI has nothing to do, they should obey this post. Call it Operation Food Chain. (We're at the top)
The other option (given that psychopaths will likely continue to be alive) is to follow a plan not leading to their extinction as a taxon of Homo Sapiens. In general, I think we have better things to spend our money on than anything nice for psychopaths, but how expensive could it be to go all Soviet on them and make them shock troops in Afghanistan. All the talk about "cures" that I've heard involves protein manipulation and the paralymbic system, so when these researchers demand money and complain it's being spent on schiz., MD, etc. someone should hire Steve Jobs to tell him that we'll deliver the genetic pills on the same day we drop off the Neuron Firing Real-Time Monitor in a car that runs on Diet Coke and Mentos.
And a "treatment" for psychopathy? Not a cure, but a treatment? This doesn't seem like quite the right sort of disease for treatments that do not cure. What're they gonna do once they're on the meds? Break the law at a slightly lower rate that makes the drug company look smart even though all it did was put a leash on a stray pit bull. Yeah, the lease means it can only eat people in an x-foot radius, but it also means that he's sanctioned to exist by the handler and her government. Meds for psychopathy would be the same way; "we're medicated," the debate would go. "Leave us alone." To which I'd have to reply, "yeah, but really the pills have just made you gain a lot of weight, I'm sure you guys still kill people, right? This is off the record." "Off the record? Yeah. Actually, I sold all my pills, said they were malaria medication, shipped em all to Africa for the year. I haven't gained weight; this is just a sumo suit with a secret compartment for my chainsaw." "I see. I was totally right. We shoulda rounded you guys up and shot you in the head. Instead we gave you Seroquel."
because what woman in her right mind would see impulsive spontaneity, absolute fearlessness, and that charm, as attractive?
Your assumption bolded above is not valid. Corporate leaders must ultimately maintain profitability and the blessing of the firm's board of directors. A true psychopath is not likely to be open, truthful, or consistent enough to gain and maintain the favor of so many people, for an extended period of time. It's not how they operate. They are more private because they are deceitful, and darkness likes secrecy.
