Yeah, I can imagine he faced many money/moral tradeoffs in his career, as do many of us, and perhaps he became more and more numb over time as he kept choosing the money, the whole boiling frog theory (if I used that correctly).
I guess I still see it as an issue of how connected he felt to himself and other people. I know plenty of people right now, who, if they were offered his salary to do the same job, would never do it. And others who were probably in a field like that and quit because it was getting too much, or maybe even became whistleblowers.
Makes me also think about how some of us can become workaholics to avoid pain in our lives, or crave lots of money to cover up for fears of not having or being enough.
I very much appreciate the way you’ve discussed these topics in this thread. You definitely have a tendency to give people the benefit of the doubt and I don’t think that quality is inherently faulty. I do think we have to recognize that some actions may require a certain level of sociopathic behavior and that sociopathy is very real.
And I appreciate you saying this! I sometimes feel guilty for how I communicate on HN, being maybe a bit more emotional or colorful than other comments, but perhaps that's just me being self-conscious. So thank you.
I guess with sociopathy, even if they are behaviors that are very difficult or impossible for a person to change (something I strongly doubt in most cases), I'm still curious as to what brought a person to that stage.
This reminds me of one of the speeches that has touched my heart the most—"Love Your Enemies" by Martin Luther King, Jr.[1]—where he discusses how he strives to love a person, even if he doesn't like how they behave. I see sociopathy similarly—if the person can't change, I may remove myself as much as I can from their behaviors, but still wish them well. I don't know if it will help them change, but it sure helps me feel better :-)
I guess I still see it as an issue of how connected he felt to himself and other people. I know plenty of people right now, who, if they were offered his salary to do the same job, would never do it. And others who were probably in a field like that and quit because it was getting too much, or maybe even became whistleblowers.
Makes me also think about how some of us can become workaholics to avoid pain in our lives, or crave lots of money to cover up for fears of not having or being enough.