September 21, 2014, OpEdNews Proposal: The Psychopathy Defense and Optimization Research Project   By Rob Kall A first attempt to outline an ambitious, serious proposal to do something about the problem of predatory personalities-- psychopaths, sociopaths, narcissists, anti-social personalities.... My hope that this project will be taken as seriously as, an funded as ambitiously as the Apollo Moon Landing program and the more recent projects to understand the genome and the brain. This is a first attempt to outline an ambitious, serious proposal to do something about the problem of predatory personalities-- psychopaths, sociopaths, narcissists, anti-social personalities.... My hope that this project will be taken as seriously as, an funded as ambitiously as the Apollo Moon Landing program and the more recent projects to understand the genome and the brain. It is estimated that one percent of people are psychopaths, as many as 8-12 percent are psychopath-like- "cousins"- sociopathic, borderline, narcissist-- with some of the traits, characteristics and behaviors of psychopaths. The FBI has estimated that it costs the US close to $500 billion a year to deal with the most obvious, most destructive psychopaths-- and that doesn't include the "successful psychopaths"-- the ones who are not caught and jailed. We know that psychopaths and their "cousins have certain characteristics. They are predators with incredible charisma and charm, able to manipulate people very effectively. They don't experience emotions like most people. They don't experience empathy or guilt and are often fearless, with great bravado, staying cool in stressful situations that would unnerve most people. It is essential to remember the predation aspect of psychopathy. Psychopaths are known to enjoy, even to live for "winning" the game of control and manipulation. This often manifests in relationships where a female victim (most psychopaths are male) is exploited financially, sexually, I've asked a number of researchers what they estimate is spent on research annually on psychopathy and related disorders. They estimate less than $20 million a year. Weigh that against costs estimated close to $500 billion a year. Some have expressed concern that this "mission" would end up creating something like the movie Majority Report, where people are arrested before they commit crimes. That's not the goal. The goal is to learn a lot more about what we are dealing with and to get a clearer picture about what can be done in a compassionate, just, fair way that reduces the damage, the costs and the hurt that is done. On the other hand, some of the traits of psychopaths, like charisma, fearlessness, bravado, self-confidence-- can be positive assets. These would also be subjects of the research. Understand Origins/Etiology genetics and epigenetics psychology nurture culture anthropology sociology relation of domination to hierarchy and centralization Identify characteristics strengths boldness charisma fearlessness how to tame them for good targets victims vulnerabilities goals behaviors genetics neuroscience of predators AND victims Predation/Exploitation/Manipulation corporate malfeasance relationships government/politics corruption gangs domination / subordination patriarchy slavery institutionalization Hurt/Damage/Costs cruelty predation crime relationships/families costs ecology military business/corporate-- middle management, executives politics/government arts church Protect Prevent Punish identify, screen, flag treat/rehab/therapy imprison/isolate Educate the public understand history and prehistory of how cultures and tribes have dealt with them Ethical Considerations interventions flagging/identification education Interested Parties victims corporations military police justice system-- courts, lawyers educators Government Educate students, employers, organizations about the existence of these people about characteristics of these people ways to defend against these people There is so much that even researchers don't know. The public's awareness is woefully inadequate. Awareness of the risks and signs of psychopathy, narcissism, predation, manipulation, etc., should be as great as the awareness of disease prevention hygiene. It should be a core part of training children about hygiene-- and the adults who have never learned it. I would like to see the federal government invest at least a billion dollars in a ten year program, eventually ramping up to spending a billion a year or more-- the funds coming from savings recovered as these programs produce reductions in the costs and damages done by psychopaths and their cousins. I do not, as some have commented in my past articles, advocate putting psychopaths in camps. But we already jail a percentage of the not-so-smart, impulsive ones who end up in jail. We label and identify sexual predators who prey upon children. We need to explore and weigh the ethical considerations, once we know, from brain scans, gene studies, psychological assessments, co-worker observations, etc., just what is the right and best way for everyone to handle these people and the information we have about them. This is a first draft. I invite your feedback on how to proceed and how to think about all of the items mentioned. Submitters Bio: Rob Kall has spent his adult life as an awakener and empowerer-- first in the field of biofeedback, inventing products, developing software and a music recording label, MuPsych, within the company he founded in 1978-- Futurehealth, and founding, organizing and running 3 conferences: Winter Brain, on Neurofeedback and consciousness, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology (a pioneer in the field of Positive Psychology, first presenting workshops on it in 1985) and Storycon Summit Meeting on the Art Science and Application of Story-- each the first of their kind. Then, when he found the process of raising people's consciousness and empowering them to take more control of their lives one person at a time was too slow, he founded Opednews.com-- which has been the top search result on Google for the terms liberal news and progressive opinion for several years. Rob began his Bottom-up Radio show, broadcast on WNJC 1360 AM to Metro Philly, also available on iTunes, covering the transition of our culture, business and world from predominantly Top-down (hierarchical, centralized, authoritarian, patriarchal, big) to bottom-up (egalitarian, local, interdependent, grassroots, archetypal feminine and small.) Recent long-term projects include a book, Bottom-up-- The Connection Revolution, debillionairizing the planet and the Psychopathy Defense and Optimization Project.