Do Sociopaths Have A Conscience?

Yes, but not in the way you might think.

No-Self, Antonio Damasio, and NonDuality

Non-Duality is the term for a view or experience of the world as not two and not even one—not the duality of a person and the world outside him or her, but instead that which is neither subject nor object nor a  unity.  The term derives from Eastern teachings, principally Hindu advaita, which literally means without duality. It also finds support in Buddhism (Zen, for example, in which the Heart Sutra declares that form is emptiness, emptiness form). The teachings are that we live in nonduality right now and we can find out for ourselves but not through intellect. (Zen koans are designed to teach the futility of intellect and reason in understanding it.)

A central tenet of non-duality is that self—that which we call our self—does not exist. The evidence is offered by a methodology.

Zen & The Art of Chicken Sexing

In Japanese commercial hatcheries when chicks are born, trained sex spotters divide them into males and females. This is known as chicken sexing. The divided groups are treated differently. The females are fed because they will produce eggs; a few males are fattened for meat while the rest are deemed useless and early on meet a fate later encountered by all animals in a factory system.

Under pressure from the production line, the chicken sexer must almost instantly choose the correct bin for each chick, a difficult task as cockerels and females look almost exactly the same. Differences appear only after four to six weeks of age.

Never Forget Her Face

Czesława Kwoka in 1943 at Auschwitz. She is 14 and terrified as she looks at the camera.  She was born in Wólka Złojecka, a small village in Poland.  Her mother was Katarzyna Kwoka, a Catholic.  Their crime? Being Poles, who were considered racially inferior. She died on 12 March 1943, her mother on 18 February 1943.

Satyagraha:Ghandi Offers A Murderer A Way Out of Hell

In a scene during Richard Attenborough's fine 1982 movie, Ghandi, a wild-eyed Hindu stands before Mahatma Ghandi. He is desperate, this man, and has just come from the fighting. His head is sweaty, his hands restless. There is rioting in the streets, Hindu against Muslim, Muslim against Hindu. Whole houses have been put to the torch by both sides. Overwrought, unable to contain himself, he cries at Ghandi,

"I'm going to Hell! I killed a child! I smashed his head against a wall."

Ghandi, looks at the man, and tries to sooth him.

"Why?," Ghandi asks.

"Because they killed my son! The Muslims killed my son!"

The man holds his hand up to show the boy's height, only about eight or nine years old. He puts his head in his hands.

Ghandi says softly, "I know a way out of Hell."

Notes for A Modern Descent into Hell

How should I pack?
What should I wear? Walking shorts and a polo shirt? Nothing? (If so, is there a nudist beach?)
Do I need dark glasses?
What should I say if I meet people I know? Good seeing you here! How's business?
Do I tip the ferryman?
Should I carry a foreign language phrase book?
Do they have welcome kits?
Do I take my American Express card?
Can I get a room with at least HBO and cable TV?

From My Cold, Dead Hands

This is far from a complete list.

After  George Hennard  drove his pickup truck through the front window of Luby's restaurant in 1991, killing  23 people, wounding 27 others, the NRA made sure nothing was done about it.

After Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris murdered 13 students at Columbine High School in 1999 the NRA insured nothing was done.

Tranquilized by The Trivial

A life can be spent in avoiding confrontation with itself.  That phrase echoes in the very marrow of our bones.

Faces along the bar cling to the average day. The lights must never go out. The music must always play. (September 1, 1939. W.H. Auden)

Daily lives, culture, society--all is arranged for distraction, else people discover that they and the world are not as they want.  No deep reflection, no serious reasoning--avoid them at all costs, and that is easy as the purchasing power of a wealthy economy allows whatever it takes to keep the music playing, the action coming, the thoughts at bay.

Distraction serves the national agenda, both politically and economically, as it stokes material ambition and acquisition. Climb the corporate ladder, buy a fancier car, a bigger house, a faster boat. Is everybody happy?

Pot Pourri--Chance, Consciousness, AI, Fate, Free Will--Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Roger Penrose, Peter Lynds

Black swans. A black swan is an outlier, an event that lies beyond the realm of normal expectations. Most people expect all swans to be white because that's what their experience tells them; a black swan is by definition a surprise. Nevertheless, people tend to concoct explanations for them after the fact, which makes them appear more predictable, and less random, than they are. Our minds are designed to retain, for efficient storage, past information that fits into a compressed narrative. This distortion, called the hindsight bias, prevents us from adequately learning from the past.

The Enchiridion By Epictetus

1. Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.

The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others. Remember, then, that if you suppose that things which are slavish by nature are also free, and that what belongs to others is your own, then you will be hindered. You will lament, you will be
disturbed, and you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you suppose that only to be your own which is your own, and what belongs to others such as it really is, then no one will ever compel you or restrain you. Further, you will find fault with no one or accuse no one. You will do nothing against your will. No one will hurt you, you will have no enemies, and you will not be harmed.