Category Archives: MRI

The little boy who cried #$*#@!

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wolf

My metamind was hard at work last night.  I woke up from a sound sleep, after a vivid highly logical dream.  I may talk about that another time, but I had a second insight.  Sort of a eddie in the sea of unlike things.

two-brains

You should recognise this by now as the comparison between a psychopaths mind and an empaths mind when shown an emotionally charged word.   You know like ones George Carlin used to like to razz humans about.

So I got to thinking about manners. You know that old axiom that “Etiquette is the invention of wise men to keep fools at a distance.”  But why?   Well suddenly it seemed pretty obvious.  It looks like your metamind is exploding in that picture.  Who wants to be teetering on the edge of revelation, only to have an emotion-explosion completely detail your fragile insight.  Like adding three of the letter X into any web search.  Instant garbage.

I can think of a fairly critical use.  When someone hurls a colourful metaphor,   (usually involving a body part, a bodily fluid or a possible use of said parts) they suddenly have the attention of every empath in the room.  Sort of like crying ‘wolf!’  I guess Peter was a potty mouth too.

Can’t be using those words on the news.  Fragile remapping may be interrupted.  Everybody might look up and start asking the tough questions.

Can psychopaths love?

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couple

They are as capable of love as any other animal, except other humans.  Humans have the title when it come to complex emotions, and what is more complex than love?

It’s been shown via MRI scan that love is really two different emotions.

  • That puppy love a 6th grader feels when they have their first crush.
  • An intellectual love like a adult child feels for their parents, or spouses feel or parents and children.

They activate and use different parts of the brain.  Of course there is a spectrum in between for most people.   As with most emotions.  But they should be distinguishable via MRI.

The former is of course the simple primitive bliss.   Sex (as Freud suggested even if we are too young to recognize it early on) and food are primary drivers.  So of course any animal can experience bliss resulting from mating or the near term potential to do so.

The more complex love I would say they can’t experience it.  One marked exception may be immediate family.   Some sort of base loyalty?  There does seem to be something of a legitimate bond there, sometimes.  Makes sense as a tribal psychopaths would have advantages over lone ones.  Many other animals display behaviors for family loyalty, so there is a genetic precedent for sure.  Fossil records indicate early humans living in small family tribes.

This would be a great thing to test in a study.

Take MRIs of long time known empath couples looking at photos of each other and then a control photo.  Also Take MRIs of new known empaths looking at photos of each other and a control.  Do the same for psychopaths and compare.  I’d bet the long term ‘love’ photos would look quite different, where bliss may be indistinguishable.

There was a recent MRI study which indicates some couples never leave bliss.  Obviously a long term couple with bliss brain patterns could not participate.  Again this should be easily distinguishable.  Interestingly it is possible that the only successful long term relationship involving a psychopath would be the less common persistent bliss type.

So they may be telling the truth when they say they love you but not as you think of it .  Keep in mind they have no mechanism to experience the complex warm love as we can.  Bliss (or lust) sure, but we know that wears out for most.  You can bet the psychopath will not feel guilt when it does.

Violence is not a solution

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two-brains

It could be said that there is no problem that can not be solved with violence.   I would concur that some problems can be solved with violence, but problem is the solution is always temporary.  Philosophies, even bad ones, are ratified in the blood of their purveyor.  Populations become more fearless as they cornered and become more threatened.   Natural resources and lives are wasted in conflict.  Psychopaths are no exception.

It seems that the lack of the civilization gene is not dominant.  Everyone has the warrior gene, if there even is such a single gene.  The behaviors it promotes are observed in all higher mammals.  Past civilizations have routed psychopaths.  To them all they had was a hammer so every problem looked like a nail.   They thought the effectiveness of their campaign would end their rein forever, not realizing their yet unborn child could be the next psychopath, through no fault of their own.  The best tool we have had until the 1970s, was a system that focused their aggression, drive, and selfish logic on the public good, a capitalist republic.

But we live in a different world now.  With work we can positively identify psychopaths with use of an MRI AND written tests.  With known pools of genetic material we can search for the civilization gene.  Once we have it we can screen.  Without the risk of intelligent test takers providing the answers the test expects.  Simply knowing what an ethical course of action is does not indicate an intent to follow it.

The ethics of screening are clear.  Law enforcement agencies already do it.  So do parole boards.  So corporations.  There is no outcry.  No once says this is unfair to the psychopaths.  We have already signed off on screening, so why not be effective at it.

It is insane to leave these tools on the table unused.  The clock is ticking and we will reach some critical mass of waste.  Once that happens the economy will fold and the empaths loose the opportunity to screen rather than exile and murder.  Probably forever.

A vote for no action is a vote for violence.  If we are lucky, which I doubt, it will simply land us right back where we are right now one day.  In the nuclear age it seems to me to be a pointless risk.  A temporary solution is no solution at all.