If you have someone in your local LW group who tells you that his utility function is that he maximizes his own utility and who doesn’t have empathy that would make him feel bad when he abuses others, the rational thing is to not trust that person very much.
Intelligent sociopaths generally don’t go around telling people that they’re sociopaths (or words to that effect), because that would put others on their guard and make them harder to get things out of. I have heard people saying similar things before, but they’ve generally been confused teenagers, Internet Tough Guys, and a few people who’re just really bad at recognizing their own emotions—who also aren’t the best people to trust, granted, but for different reasons.
I’d be more worried about people who habitually underestimate the empathy of others and don’t have obviously poor self-image or other issues to explain it. Most of the sociopaths I’ve met have had a habit of assuming those they interact with share, to some extent, their own lack of empathy: probably typical-mind fallacy in action.
Intelligent sociopaths generally don’t go around telling people that they’re sociopaths (or words to that effect), because that would put others on their guard and make them harder to get things out of.
The usually won’t say it in a way that the would predict will put other people on guard. On the other hand that doesn’t mean that they don’t say it at all.
I don’t find the link at the moment but a while ago someone posted on LW that he shouldn’t have trusted another person from a LW meetup who openly said those things and then acted like that.
Categorising Internet Tough Guys is hard. Base rates for psychopathy aren’t that low but you are right that not everyone who says those things is a psychopath.
Even that it’s a signal for not giving full trust to that person.
Intelligent sociopaths generally don’t go around telling people that they’re sociopaths (or words to that effect), because that would put others on their guard and make them harder to get things out of. I have heard people saying similar things before, but they’ve generally been confused teenagers, Internet Tough Guys, and a few people who’re just really bad at recognizing their own emotions—who also aren’t the best people to trust, granted, but for different reasons.
I’d be more worried about people who habitually underestimate the empathy of others and don’t have obviously poor self-image or other issues to explain it. Most of the sociopaths I’ve met have had a habit of assuming those they interact with share, to some extent, their own lack of empathy: probably typical-mind fallacy in action.
The usually won’t say it in a way that the would predict will put other people on guard. On the other hand that doesn’t mean that they don’t say it at all.
I don’t find the link at the moment but a while ago someone posted on LW that he shouldn’t have trusted another person from a LW meetup who openly said those things and then acted like that.
Categorising Internet Tough Guys is hard. Base rates for psychopathy aren’t that low but you are right that not everyone who says those things is a psychopath. Even that it’s a signal for not giving full trust to that person.