Cannonpointer » 24 minutes ago » wrote: ↑
People do not behave in their societies' best interests even now. And people are literally helpless and hopeless without the tribe - without society. So what is best for society is at the meta level best for the individual. Yet individuals - even reasonably moral and non-psychotic ones - often act to further their own personal interests over those of their societies. Put psychopathy into the mix and you have a virulent extinction soup.
The question you are asking is not taking into account the fact that working as empathetic members of a community tied together by their shared humanity is an integral and indispensable aspect OF that humanity - that without empathy, we would not be yuman beans. We would be something other than yuman beans. This is not a meaningless distinction - a mere quibble for quibbling's sake. It gets up UNDER your question and topples it like a turtle on its back. You might as well ask what if frogs couldn't jump. The answer would be, they wouldn't be frogs. They'd be something else.
I think you are onto something. I am not concerned as to whether humans would be humans or something more "shark" like. The question is whether a society of pure psychopaths could survive, or if not, how long would it take for the last one to die off?