Anonymous asked:
If high-functioning psychopathy/dark triad traits give a significant advantage in career and are often found attractive, should we expect their prevalence to increase in the "race to the bottom" scenario, either through genetic (more offspring, epigenetics) or memetic effects (social learning, dystopian capitalists willingly reducing their empathy and practicing Machiavellian attitudes)?
I remember reading somewhere that people think there’s an equilibrium. If a few people are psychopaths, then they successfully defect against a gullible society that never expected them. If lots of people are psychopaths, then everyone just screens for psychopaths really hard, or the psychopaths start trying to psychopath each other.
I remember the way it was phrased was really convincing, but it doesn’t sound that convincing when I talk about it, especially if I’m not allowed to bring in group selection.
On the other hand, something like this *has* to be true, since we’ve been social animals for tens of thousands of years but psychopath genes haven’t come to dominate everything.