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GWYNNE DYER: Is the moment of maximum danger closer than we think?

The number of sociopaths in the world are increasing, leaving Gwynne Dyer worried about what will happen after the US midterm elections

A long time ago, I was interviewing a professor at the University of Michigan (whose name I cannot recall) on various topics of no great interest. I was about to give up when I accidentally asked the right question.

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“Have any major human behaviours really changed in the past few centuries?” I asked, and he said, “No, but the sociopaths are multiplying.”

I was dealing with a full-time sociopath in my work at that time, so I immediately went back into interview mode. (‘Sociopath’ and ‘psychopath’ both describe essentially the same behaviours, although they may be more extreme in the latter case.) And the professor proceeded to explain it in evolutionary terms.

The typical sociopath is male, above average intelligence, highly manipulative, and utterly without empathy (but he is able to mimic it).

He lies often and very persuasively, because he totally believes his own lies as soon as he says them (while retaining the ability to modify them if necessary).

He is often charismatic and usually has many........

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