For what it’s worth, your struggles with modeling others via ToM probably had very little to do with your interest in Objectivism, individualism and the like. It seems that many, perhaps most children and teenagers share this trait in the first place; moral development is a slow process, even for those with entirely normal emotions and a normal substrate for affective empathy (i..e the non psychopathic/ODD/ASPD!).
I do have to caution though that the basic other-awareness that being non-psychopathic gives you also makes you a lot more effective at modeling others’ preferences and being able to enter into efficient win-win deals and arrangements with them. Renouncing that other-awareness thus has very real costs, while OTOH the benefits of doing so are quite dubious. After all, even though you’re obviously self-interested in some sense, you aren’t trying to pursue the same preferences as a psychopath/ASPD would. And when you say “I’m able to constrain others rather heavily” by doing this, you’re probably fooling yourself since expectations, implicit demands and social constraints are inherently a two-way street—they empower you to influence others even as they act as constraints on your own behavior!
For what it’s worth, your struggles with modeling others via ToM probably had very little to do with your interest in Objectivism, individualism and the like. It seems that many, perhaps most children and teenagers share this trait in the first place; moral development is a slow process, even for those with entirely normal emotions and a normal substrate for affective empathy (i..e the non psychopathic/ODD/ASPD!).
I do have to caution though that the basic other-awareness that being non-psychopathic gives you also makes you a lot more effective at modeling others’ preferences and being able to enter into efficient win-win deals and arrangements with them. Renouncing that other-awareness thus has very real costs, while OTOH the benefits of doing so are quite dubious. After all, even though you’re obviously self-interested in some sense, you aren’t trying to pursue the same preferences as a psychopath/ASPD would. And when you say “I’m able to constrain others rather heavily” by doing this, you’re probably fooling yourself since expectations, implicit demands and social constraints are inherently a two-way street—they empower you to influence others even as they act as constraints on your own behavior!