Encounters with Psychopaths and Sociopaths

[Ideologue]

No, that's sober-minded advocacy.  The improvement of the human race is one of the great possibilities of the 21st century, as long as we approach it with decency and humility.  In a hundred years, it's possible that no person born will ever be susceptible to depression, anxiety, antisociality, cognitive deficiencies or any the myriad of other issues that have plagued us since before history.  It'll be a better world.

[garbon]

A lot less creative.

[Ideologue]

I strongly doubt it.

[garbon]

I think it will be. A lot of famous works have stemmed from people facing said challenges.

[Ideologue]

And how many works remained uncreated because mental disorders and the problems associated with them got in the way?

In any event, that's a canard that gets brought out frequently when the prospect of suffering's end is brought up; it's so anti-human I don't know where to begin.  Does a handful of famous novels and poems really justify the torment undergone by millions if not billions of lives?  Sure, why not, I love Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas.

[DontSayBanana]

And how many works remained uncreated because mental disorders and the problems associated with them got in the way?

In any event, that's a canard that gets brought out frequently when the prospect of suffering's end is brought up; it's so anti-human I don't know where to begin.  Does a handful of famous novels and poems really justify the torment undergone by millions if not billions of lives?  Sure, why not, I love Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas.

Or the super-special non-western way of abusing it?  Supposedly, the producers of Neon Genesis: Evangelion dumped the writer's anti-psychotic meds down the drain because his work wasn't as appealing when he was lucid.

[Eddie Teach]

The South had fuck all to do with eugenics, though I suppose that line was more of Ide's self hatred.

[Ideologue]

Or the super-special non-western way of abusing it?  Supposedly, the producers of Neon Genesis: Evangelion dumped the writer's anti-psychotic meds down the drain because his work wasn't as appealing when he was lucid.

I'm not 100% convinced it was ever all that appealing.

That's a nutty dude.  As far as I can tell, he'll keep remaking Evangelion till he dies.  Maybe this time, Hideaki, maybe this time...

The South had fuck all to do with eugenics, though I suppose that line was more of Ide's self hatred.

No, we totally did.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_Eugenics_Board

In fairness, eugenics laws existed all over America.

[Razgovory]

No, that's sober-minded advocacy.  The improvement of the human race is one of the great possibilities of the 21st century, as long as we approach it with decency and humility.  In a hundred years, it's possible that no person born will ever be susceptible to depression, anxiety, antisociality, cognitive deficiencies or any the myriad of other issues that have plagued us since before history.  It'll be a better world.

No gays either.

[LaCroix]

And how many works remained uncreated because mental disorders and the problems associated with them got in the way?

or were created because of it

[Ideologue]

Yeah, that was garb's initial point.

You realize that people with serious mental disorders have, practically by definition, serious problems living effectively, right?  And that this includes producing creative work, not to mention developing the connections and friendships necessary to have creative work produced?

The whole idea is anti-human, and it's ignorant, and it's selfish.  It's looking at a fraction of a percent of the mentally ill--and for some reason ignoring the majority of great art made by perfectly functional folks, and ignoring that the art produced by the mentally ill could probably have still been made--and saying "Oh, isn't it so fucking great they suffered intense pain, so that I could be briefly entertained."  Jesus Christ.  It's like that Ursula Le Guin book except putting the kid on the box doesn't do anything except produce a middling novella every few years.

[garbon]

Entertained?

[The Brain]

garbon doesn't like great art. Shocker.

[Ideologue]

Entertained?

Or however you respond to art.

[LaCroix]

Yeah, that was garb's initial point.

You realize that people with serious mental disorders have, practically by definition, serious problems living effectively, right?  And that this includes producing creative work, not to mention developing the connections and friendships necessary to have creative work produced?

The whole idea is anti-human, and it's ignorant, and it's selfish.  It's looking at a fraction of a percent of the mentally ill--and for some reason ignoring the majority of great art made by perfectly functional folks, and ignoring that the art produced by the mentally ill could probably have still been made--and saying "Oh, isn't it so fucking great they suffered intense pain, so that I could be briefly entertained."  Jesus Christ.  It's like that Ursula Le Guin book except putting the kid on the box doesn't do anything except produce a middling novella every few years.

now i could be wrong, but aren't you suggesting we "cure" every potentially harmful condition? it's easy to argue for that when considering the low-functioning persons, but have you realized that there are a ton of people that are high-functioning? it is they, not the low-functioning, that tend to provide either works of art, scientific advances, etc. that the rest of society benefits from. take dyslexia, for example. wouldn't that be eradicated under your regime? yet studies have shown those with dyslexia are able to think differently (in positive ways) than the normal mind - they suffer a disadvantage but gain an advantage

not to mention that there might be wide consequences when considering the potentially large number of people who are so high functioning that they wouldn't appear on your standard spectrum espoused by psychologists - people who think differently than the average person yet are able to traverse society without much issue. people think differently, hear differently, and experience senses differently. who knows what the cause of that is, and who knows how it later lends to/influences some creation/invention.

what you are suggesting is akin to normalizing earth's population, and i don't think that's a good thing. i think your suggestion is far more "anti-human"