The Genetics Of Tyranny; Psychopathy, Parasites And Totalitarianism.
7:48 pm in Uncategorized by Richard William Posner
SINKING
Preface: It should always be understood that whatever I put forth is merely my opinion. I am presenting neither mandate nor revelation carved in stone to be obeyed or believed. We all have free will, don’t we?
PSYCHOPATHY: THE CAUSE OF EVIL
Inherited and acquired psychological disorders and ignorance of their existence and nature are the primal causes of evil. The magic number of 6% seems to represent the number of humans who either carry the genes responsible for biological evil or who acquire such disorders in the course of their lifetime. This small percent is responsible for the vast majority of human misery and crime, and for infecting others with their flawed view of the world. (source)
Just Lucky I Guess.
Whilst doing research online I sometimes chance upon some really fascinating information not directly related to what I’m working on. One small joy in a world becoming grimmer each day.
Scrolling down any given web page, checking for information pertinent to the current project, I may notice a heading or a phrase, linked to another page, that I find intriguing even though it’s not specifically relevant. Often it’s just a waste of time, sometimes it’s so enticing that I abandon what I’m doing and become engrossed in the new find.
In some of my own writing and in comments I have made, I have alluded to my opinion that the psychopathic condition of the people who desire dominance over all others, especially those who literally seek to rule the world, might be the result of a genetic aberration. Thanks to a chance discovery like the one described above, which led to further supporting documentation, I find that this conjecture may not be without merit.
I once put forth in a comment, March 23, 2009, the opinion that inimical traits, deceitful, predatory, tyrannical, ruthless, pitiless, manipulative, which describe virtually all those who crave supremacy over others, are not significantly manifested among humans in general but are predominant, rather, only in a small portion of the population.
I also expressed my view that it is our intrinsically cooperative nature and our innate desire to be helpful that makes such a large segment of the human race susceptible to victimization by a small minority of individuals who are afflicted with what could be a genetic flaw.
What I said:
“For my part, I will say this; I do not accept that human morality, for the vast majority, is based upon hate, envy, greed or self-interest. In fact, quite to the contrary, the basic benevolence and cooperative nature of most people is what has allowed a very small, depraved and abhorrent group to prey upon the majority of the species for millennia.
I like to think that this negative trait will eventually be eliminated by the process of evolution, provided our species can survive long enough. That small group of deviant individuals is like a parasite within the body of humanity. They have managed to pass along whatever genetic flaw they possess through the ages. They can only survive if there is a significantly larger population of healthy, sane and basically good people to sustain them.”
It turns out this may not be quite as incredible as it sounds.
Genetics And Anthropocentricity; Mutually Exclusive?
“Human behaviour is widely believed to be essentially rational and therefore fundamentally distinct from the behaviour of all other animals. This leads automatically to a belief system that is best described as ‘anthropocentric’.”
Anthropocentrism:
(1) Viewing the world in terms of human experience and values. (2) The belief that our species is the star that crowns an evolutionary Christmas tree of life. (3) The belief that humans are the pivot upon which our divinely ordained universe turns.
“Yet we share the planet with some 20 to 100 million other species, all of them genetically driven. One would think that only a deranged gambler would be fool enough to bet on the presence of a solitary exception in such a vast biota. In other words, anthropocentrism hinges on an extraordinary proposition, one that demands extraordinary proof. Unfortunately, none exists.
Not the slightest scrap of hard evidence, either morphological or genetic, suggests that Homo sapiens is not, like all animals, a natural by-product of genetic and Darwinian evolution. We should therefore assume that we, like they, are uncontaminated by any supra-natural influences. We may well be excellent communicators and tool-makers, and also the most self-aware, mystical and malicious animals on Earth, but overwhelming evidence shows that all these distinctions are of degree, not of kind. And yet the myth lives on.” (source)
Totalitarianism And The Parasitic Psychopath.
“…it should be possible to discover the hidden mechanics by which all traditional elements of our political and spiritual world were dissolved into a conglomeration where everything seems to have lost specific value, and has become unrecognizable for human comprehension, unusable for human purpose.”
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, preface to the first edition, pg. VIII, First Meridian printing September 1958, Seventh printing September 1962 Read the rest of this entry →




