The predatory and exploitative attributes of the PPP

Read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here and Part 4 here

Chapter 4 of Karen Mitchell's thesis - the core attributes of the dark personality

Read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here

"It is truly terrifying being up against them. It is also isolating. It is also very difficult to describe. Once you know the type you can recognise it, even when others can't see it. They are highly dangerous people." (Category 2 participant)

Now for the stuff we've all been waiting for. Chapter 4 of Karen Mitchell's thesis summarizes the results of her study, listing each of the core attributes of the persistent predatory personality, with quotations from her various participants. But first, an important point: "the data indicate that all adults of DP are equally as exploitative, dangerous, manipulative, and self-focused."

In other words, it's not as if non-incarcerated predators are just "a little bit" psychopathic. No, they're the full deal. They just differ in other ways.

Insights from chapter 3 of Karen Mitchell's thesis

Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

How can we effectively study "successful" psychopaths? It's easy enough to study the unsuccessful ones: prisons provide a captive audience for researchers. But what about the elusive corporate psychopath? The corrupt but charismatic governor? The well-respected bank exec who is also a pedophile? Maybe we can gain access to one or a few for close study, but they're hidden by their very nature. Try to imagine conducting a study on congressional or executive branch psychopathy. How would you gain access to such a sample, let alone get them to agree to be studied?

Lobaczewski found one such method purely by happenstance: in a pathocracy, all such types migrate to leadership positions. He didn't have to go looking for them; they were all right there on the local committees of the communist party. But what about non-pathocratic countries or "mixed pathocracies" (i.e. pathocratically captured democracies)? The best way to get data on such people is relatively simple: talk to the individuals who have had to deal with them due to the nature of their work. This may not provide direct access, but has the advantage of utilizing the normal person's insight gained from close proximity and years of experience. At the very least, it's the place to start before better methods of detection become available.

Read Part 1 here.

Chapter 2 of Dr. Karen Mitchell's thesis covers the "areas of contention regarding attributes of people of dark personality," highlighting a handful of disagreements between the various models on the market and the academics who have developed them. Her own research, covered later in the thesis, is designed to resolve as many of these inconsistencies as possible. For instance, are all PPP's (persistent predatory personalities) sadistic, or only a subset? Are they all impulsive and poor at planning, or controlled and premeditated in their actions? How does sexuality fit into the picture?

But the disagreements go deeper than that. For instance, some researchers believe that the three "dark triad" conceptualizations (psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism) are really three ways of describing the same thing. Others think they are distinct from each other, perhaps with some overlap. Still others add several varieties of narcissism, for instance. Researchers like Robert Hare include criminality as feature of psychopathy; others like David Cooke see it not as a core attribute but as a behavioral manifestation. There is also disagreement over whether these types should be conceptualized as discrete disorders or just as extremes on the continuum of "normal personality."

Some see God in the Machine. I can't help but see a Devil leering back at me. You might say that's a personal quirk, but it's every writer's duty to transfer neuroses to a captive audience. So stay with me here.

For the past three years, my tech coverage has been an elaboration on David Noble's incisive 1997 book The Religion of Technology. Anything I've contributed was a mere update to his core insight — that technology is religious — which Noble himself owed to centuries of previous thinkers. With careful attention to detail, though, he documented the historical evidence, weaving together an incredible story. My job is to add gloomy adjectives and smartass remarks.

This innate spiritual principle is so apparent, you'd think there's no reason to mention it at all, but it bears repeating. Technology emerged from religious culture, and so naturally, our ideas about technology are essentially religious. In the end, technology itself has become a source of religious authority and an object of religious devotion.

For a recent example, see the AI-generated image of Jesus superimposed on the Shroud of Turin. For many centuries, Catholics revered this sacred object according to their faith. Today, they look upon it through an inverted tech-gnostic lens.

Even atheists can't help but see the world with a religious aura. Left to their own devices, they desperately grasp for the divine. I believe it's due to an eternal longing within our souls. They'd probably say that's just how humans are wired.

Whatever. You say "toe-MAY-toe." I say "angels and demons."

At the risk of oversimplification, allow me to lay out four ways the human spirit responds to high technology: 1) the devout believer who clings to techno-optimism; 2) the atheist techno-optimist counterpart; 3) the pessimistic atheist who rejects technology; and lastly, 4) the devout believer who sees the Devil in the Machine.

I touched on these viewpoints in a previous article, albeit from a different angle. This religious landscape is also covered in my book, often within rhymes and riddles. Since one or two of you have not yet read Dark Aeon, though, I should lay down a solid foundation here. It'll be useful going forward.

Devout techno-optimists see the Mind of God creating technology by way of human hands. Cities, steamships, guns, televisions, antibiotics, atom bombs, planetary surveillance grids — all of these are built according to divine will. Therefore, our tools are essentially good, even if some people might turn them toward evil ends. "Technology is neutral," we hear again and again. It's unclear if that includes torture devices.

The intel contractor and politically incorrect billionaire Peter Thiel expressed this view in his essay "Against Edenism." He argued that humankind, bound to history, cannot return to the pristine Garden. Rather, our task is to build an approximation of the City of Heaven. "Judeo-Western optimism differs from the atheist optimism of the Enlightenment in the extreme degree to which it believes that the forces of chaos and nature can and will be mastered," Thiel wrote. "The tyranny of Chance will give way to the providence of God."

Noticing is different from simply seeing or hearing. If I say that I see a bowl of fruit on the table or I hear a dog barking down the street, it's possible that the fruit bowl has just been placed there, or the dog has woken up and is barking for the first time. But if I say that I notice the fruit bowl or the dog barking, the implication is that it was there already, but I have only just now taken note of it.

The environment in which we find ourselves enters our field of perception, whether visual, auditory or via any of the other senses, in the form of information, the vast majority of which never reaches our conscious awareness. And that's a good thing.

'We are actually incapable of appreciating more than just a very little of our surroundings. In every sensory moment, we are absolutely flooded with input, much of which is irrelevant.'
- Joyce Schenkein (PhD)

Today on MindMatters, Dr. Karen Mitchell, founder and CEO of the Kalmor Institute, shares insights from her pioneering PhD research on the "persistent predatory personality." Unlike previous studies that relied primarily on incarcerated populations or graduate students, Dr. Mitchell's work draws from the extensive experiences of practitioners who have dedicated their careers to working with individuals exhibiting dark triad traits and psychopathic tendencies.

Her research includes data from professionals with an average of 22 years' experience in fields such as child sex abuse, domestic violence, cults, terrorism, toxic leadership, including an FBI agent with the highest number of serial killer cases. By canvassing these unique perspectives, her work offers a fresh approach to understanding and identifying the persistent predatory personality, highlighting the limitations of existing models like the Psychopathy Checklist developed by Robert Hare.


Running Time: 01:36:05

Download: MP3 — 132 MB

Inner speaking, inner seeing, feelings, sensory awareness, unsymbolized thinking. Do we all have the same inner experiences? And how aware are we of what we actually experience from moment to moment?

In this episode of Mind Matters, we interview Dr. Russell T. Hurlburt, a pioneering psychologist from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Hurlburt discusses his groundbreaking work investigating "pristine inner experience" - the unfiltered, moment-to-moment contents of our consciousness. He introduces his innovative method, Descriptive Experience Sampling, which aims to capture and analyze inner experiences with the aid of specialized beeper and an in-depth interview process.

This episode provides a unique perspective on the study of human consciousness and the complexities of inner experience. Dr. Hurlburt's insights shed light on the importance of understanding our internal mental processes and how they relate to our self-representations. Whether you're a psychology enthusiast, a student of cognitive science, or simply curious about the workings of the human mind, this interview provides valuable insights into cutting-edge research on consciousness and experience.

• Russ's DES interview videos and transcripts
• Russ's book
• Our previous discussion on Russ's work

Running Time: 01:43:18

Download: MP3 — 142 MB

A steady diet of adversity prepares one for both the low-level adversities of daily life but also for the metaphorical droughts and floods that push us to our limits of endurance and adaptability.

We all know the downside of adversity: it's tiresome, and if it pushes us up against our limits long enough, it can break us.

If my life is any indication, some of our adversity is outside our choosing and control, while other instances of adversity result from our own decisions and/or traits. We may take risks with the goal of advancing, and end up with adversity. We may choose a difficult path and find it far more arduous than we could possibly have imagined. Or we may have experienced success from the start, and be unprepared for the adversity that inevitably follows easy success.

The saying Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad, sometimes given in Latin as Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat (literally: Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first deprives of reason), has taken on an ominous resonance in today's world. As I sit here, reflecting on the chaos that seems to engulf every corner of our existence, it is hard to ignore the parallels between this ancient wisdom and the modern madness that rages unchecked across the globe.