I am still
numb from the news about my old friend Wilko Johnson. What is there to say
except…except…keep driving that plane.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
THE LUNATICS BUILT THE ASYLUM
Did you
ever wonder why the ultra-rich and mega-powerful are such unmitigated swine? Kevin Dutton attempts to explain in Scientific
American, in a story titled "What Psychopaths Teach Us About How to
Succeed"
"Traits that are common
among psychopathic serial killers -- a grandiose sense of self-worth,
persuasiveness, superficial charm, ruthlessness, lack of remorse and the
manipulation of others -- are also shared by politicians and world leaders.
Individuals, in other words, running not from the police. But for office. Such
a profile allows those who present with these traits to do what they like when
they like, completely unfazed by the social, moral or legal consequences of
their actions. ...
"If you are violent and
cunning, like the real-life "Hannibal Lecter" Robert Maudsley, you
might take a fellow inmate hostage, smash his skull in and sample his brains
with a spoon as nonchalantly as if you were downing a soft-boiled egg.
(Maudsley, by the way, has been cooped up in solitary confinement for the past
30 years, in a bulletproof cage in the basement of Wakefield Prison in
England.)
"Or if you are a
brilliant neurosurgeon, ruthlessly cool and focused under pressure, you might,
like the man I'll call Dr. Geraghty, try your luck on a completely different
playing field: at the remote outposts of 21st-century medicine, where risk
blows in on 100-mile-per-hour winds and the oxygen of deliberation is thin. 'I
have no compassion for those whom I operate on,' he told me. 'That is a luxury
I simply cannot afford. In the theater I am reborn: as a cold, heartless
machine, totally at one with scalpel, drill and saw. When you're cutting loose
and cheating death high above the snowline of the brain, feelings aren't fit
for purpose. Emotion is entropy -- and seriously bad for business. I've hunted
it down to extinction over the years.' ...
"Psychopaths are
fearless, confident, charismatic, ruthless and focused. Yet, contrary to
popular belief, they are not necessarily violent. Far from its being an
open-and-shut case -- you're either a psychopath or you're not -- there are,
instead, inner and outer zones of the disorder: a bit like the fare zones on a
subway map. There is a spectrum of psychopathy along which each of us has our
place. ...
"[In a test designated as Case 1, subjects were told
they could save five lives, but to do so they had to flip a switch that would
kill one person. In Case 2, they could also save five lives, but they could
only do so by pushing another person to his death.] Just like most normal
members of the population, psychopaths make pretty short work of the dilemma
presented in Case 1. Yet -- and this is where the plot thickens -- quite unlike
normal people [who have difficulty with Case 2 because it is more personal],
they also make pretty short work of Case 2. Psychopaths, without batting an
eye, are perfectly happy to [push that person to his death].
"To compound matters further, this difference in
behavior is mirrored, rather distinctly, in the brain. The pattern of neural
activation in both psychopaths and normal people is well matched on the
presentation of impersonal moral dilemmas -- but dramatically diverges when
things get a bit more personal.
"Imagine that I were to pop you into a functional MRI
machine and then present you with the two dilemmas. What would I observe as you
went about negotiating their moral minefields? Just around the time that the
nature of the dilemma crossed the border from impersonal to personal, I would
see your amygdala and related brain circuits -- your medial orbitofrontal
cortex, for example -- light up like a pinball machine. I would witness the
moment, in other words, that emotion puts its money in the slot. But in a
psychopath, I would see only darkness. The cavernous neural casino would be
boarded up and derelict -- the crossing from impersonal to personal would pass
without any incident. ...
" 'Intellectual ability on its own is just an elegant
way of finishing second,' one successful CEO told me. 'Remember, they don't
call it a greasy pole for nothing. The road to the top is hard. But it's easier
to climb if you lever yourself up on others. Easier still if they think
something's in it for them.'
"Jon Moulton, one of London's most successful venture
capitalists, agrees. In a recent interview with the Financial Times,
he lists determination, curiosity and insensitivity as his three most valuable
character traits.
"No prizes for guessing the first two. But
insensitivity? The great thing about insensitivity, Moulton explains, is that
'it lets you sleep when others can't.' "
Click here for Fun Boy 3
The secret word is Impasse
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ELVIS, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
Did you
notice I was gone? Were you irked by my absence? I figured after the bloody
Maya let us down and the planet went on tediously turning, and at time when the
solstice Saturnalia of alcohol, tryptophan and figgy pudding was rolling, I may as well
low and play with my toys. But now it’s Elvis’ birthday, a long-time post-Yule
call to arms, and thus it’s time to rise up and return to my well-worn personal trench.
In this instance, I will to turn you over to Keith Richards and his fanboy
Presley assessment. Click here
Click here
for “I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone” (referenced by Keith in his comments.)
The secret
number is 78
NOW CAN I WORRY?
In October
1979, a moment in history was created when the reactor accident and potential
meltdown at The Mile Island finally broke Alfred E. Neuman’s cool, clueless,
what-me-worry exterior.
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