Sociopaths

Elon Musk is definitely a very high functioning one and after watching The Billionaires Who Made Our World, on Ch4, Bill Gates, Bezos and Zuckerberg all fit the mould.
 
Last edited:
Elon Musk is definitely a very high functioning one and after watching The Billionaires Who Made Our World, on Ch4, Bill Gates, Bezos and Zuckerberg all fit the mould.
Is that because they're wealthy and you don't like it or because they've actually done something wrong? I don't see how they do anything different from what we do for ourselves every single day.

Elon Musk wants his companies to do well but I go to work to want to do well so I can progress and get paid more etc, what is the difference?

Ask yourself who works for free and only cares about everyone else? Nobody, we only turn up to work to earn money or achieve something for ourselves so what's the difference? If we were told to work for free for the next month so we can give someone else a pay rise then very few people would do it.

A question for the left on here is do you want any single business to suffer, fail or go bust? If you do then consider the jobs, pay-rises and wealth lost.... Who is the true sociopath now?

Human progress requires pain unfortunately and we're lucky because we've learnt to lessen the pain but that's the only reason why we're no longer living in mud huts and killing each other for food, the latter we're hardwired to do if absolutely necessary..... Maybe actually we're all sociopaths to some degree either way?
 
Is that because they're wealthy and you don't like it or because they've actually done something wrong? I don't see how they do anything different from what we do for ourselves every single day.

Elon Musk wants his companies to do well but I go to work to want to do well so I can progress and get paid more etc, what is the difference?

Ask yourself who works for free and only cares about everyone else? Nobody, we only turn up to work to earn money or achieve something for ourselves so what's the difference? If we were told to work for free for the next month so we can give someone else a pay rise then very few people would do it.

A question for the left on here is do you want any single business to suffer, fail or go bust? If you do then consider the jobs, pay-rises and wealth lost.... Who is the true sociopath now?

Human progress requires pain unfortunately and we're lucky because we've learnt to lessen the pain but that's the only reason why we're no longer living in mud huts and killing each other for food, the latter we're hardwired to do if absolutely necessary..... Maybe actually we're all sociopaths to some degree either way?
PD wasn't considered mental health as it it couldn't be treated like MH, until they decided they wanted to put a dangerous PD in Broadmoor and reclassified it.

You are right there are various degrees, or else people would all be the same, and social media is rife with NPDs showing off about minor achievements or just bullshitting.
 
Is that because they're wealthy and you don't like it or because they've actually done something wrong? I don't see how they do anything different from what we do for ourselves every single day.

Elon Musk wants his companies to do well but I go to work to want to do well so I can progress and get paid more etc, what is the difference?

Ask yourself who works for free and only cares about everyone else? Nobody, we only turn up to work to earn money or achieve something for ourselves so what's the difference? If we were told to work for free for the next month so we can give someone else a pay rise then very few people would do it.

A question for the left on here is do you want any single business to suffer, fail or go bust? If you do then consider the jobs, pay-rises and wealth lost.... Who is the true sociopath now?

Human progress requires pain unfortunately and we're lucky because we've learnt to lessen the pain but that's the only reason why we're no longer living in mud huts and killing each other for food, the latter we're hardwired to do if absolutely necessary..... Maybe actually we're all sociopaths to some degree either way?
I'm by no means left leaning and it has nothing to do with wealth. If it was wealth then I would have included many others such as Mittal, Rausing etc. Its how they operate at a personal level.

A sociopath has the following traits...

  • Lack of empathy for others
  • Impulsive behavior
  • Attempting to control others with threats or aggression
  • Using intelligence, charm, or charisma to manipulate others
  • Not learning from mistakes or punishment
  • Lying for personal gain
  • Showing a tendency to physical violence and fights

Musk has a history of threatening or firing employees who disagree with him, forced the reopening of a Tesla factory that was subjected to over 450 public health orders and operating business that have been described as sweat shops by employees.

Gates best friend through university Paul Allen, who set up Microsoft with him, got cancer and was fired by Gates, because he was no longer useful. Just like Musk, he wouldnt tolerate anyone with different opinions or criticism.

Have a watch of the documentaries and then tell me that they dont have the characteristics listed above.

Whether you need to have those traits to survive around other sociopaths is an entirely separate question. There's no doubt in business that you need to make difficult decisions, but its how you go about them that separates just good business from acting in a sociopathic manner.

It says a lot for the likes of John Cadbury and Joseph Rowntree who didnt see money as the sole purpose of being in business.
 
I'm by no means left leaning and it has nothing to do with wealth. If it was wealth then I would have included many others such as Mittal, Rausing etc. Its how they operate at a personal level.

A sociopath has the following traits...

  • Lack of empathy for others
  • Impulsive behavior
  • Attempting to control others with threats or aggression
  • Using intelligence, charm, or charisma to manipulate others
  • Not learning from mistakes or punishment
  • Lying for personal gain
  • Showing a tendency to physical violence and fights

Musk has a history of threatening or firing employees who disagree with him, forced the reopening of a Tesla factory that was subjected to over 450 public health orders and operating business that have been described as sweat shops by employees.

Gates best friend through university Paul Allen, who set up Microsoft with him, got cancer and was fired by Gates, because he was no longer useful. Just like Musk, he wouldnt tolerate anyone with different opinions or criticism.

Have a watch of the documentaries and then tell me that they dont have the characteristics listed above.

Whether you need to have those traits to survive around other sociopaths is an entirely separate question. There's no doubt in business that you need to make difficult decisions, but its how you go about them that separates just good business from acting in a sociopathic manner.

It says a lot for the likes of John Cadbury and Joseph Rowntree who didnt see money as the sole purpose of being in business.

Kind of hard to take you seriously when you're arguing that the biggest philanthropist in history is a sociopath.
 
I'm by no means left leaning and it has nothing to do with wealth. If it was wealth then I would have included many others such as Mittal, Rausing etc. Its how they operate at a personal level.

A sociopath has the following traits...

  • Lack of empathy for others
  • Impulsive behavior
  • Attempting to control others with threats or aggression
  • Using intelligence, charm, or charisma to manipulate others
  • Not learning from mistakes or punishment
  • Lying for personal gain
  • Showing a tendency to physical violence and fights

Musk has a history of threatening or firing employees who disagree with him, forced the reopening of a Tesla factory that was subjected to over 450 public health orders and operating business that have been described as sweat shops by employees.

Gates best friend through university Paul Allen, who set up Microsoft with him, got cancer and was fired by Gates, because he was no longer useful. Just like Musk, he wouldnt tolerate anyone with different opinions or criticism.

Have a watch of the documentaries and then tell me that they dont have the characteristics listed above.

Whether you need to have those traits to survive around other sociopaths is an entirely separate question. There's no doubt in business that you need to make difficult decisions, but its how you go about them that separates just good business from acting in a sociopathic manner.

It says a lot for the likes of John Cadbury and Joseph Rowntree who didnt see money as the sole purpose of being in business.
I understand but he's running a company to achieve goals and not to do good for his employees. It's well known that working for SpaceX for example is very difficult because you have to put the company first above all else including your social life and life in general. Not many people can cope with that but clearly enough people can or they wouldn't be building rockets and sending people to space.

Every billionaire could retire and sit on their wealth knowing it's impossible to ever spend it but they don't. The reason they don't is because they have the personalities that put goals above all else and that includes people and money. Money is just an obstacle to achieving goals but once they get it no-one at that level is driven by money anymore because really what is the difference between being worth £50bn, £100bn or £150bn?

A good example I did read about Musk in particular comes from the early days of SpaceX. An engineer smashed his glasses and because they were working on an island abroad he couldn't work for a few days until his new ones arrived. It then happened again and so Musk paid for him to have LASIK surgery back in the US. You could say Musk only paid for his surgery to avoid further delays or you could say he helped the guy? Who knows but it's actually both.

It's not necessarily that they're sociopaths but they're just different in that they're so driven to achieve a goal. Steve Jobs was fairly similar, he was difficult and often treated employees like shite... However can you look at your iPhone and say we'd be better off without him? Apple is now one of the most valuable companies in the world and so do Apple employees wish it had never happened and would they rather be unemployed?
 
Last edited:

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.