The age of psychopathy: a society based on manipulation

A few years ago, the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman defined the concept of "liquid modernity", a society that has reached enough technological development that all the comforts are just a button away.

We are saturated with stimuli, information, leisure offers, we live connected to work and everything is so simple with technology that I no longer know it requires depth and reflection, but simply speed: the need to adapt quickly, learn fast, be able to accomplish many tasks in a short time time… Individualism and the manipulation of the behavior of others prevail through all the means that the technological environment puts at our disposal. scope. The era of psychopathy has appeared.

• Related article: "Psychopathy: what happens in the psychopath's mind?"

The dehumanization of society

We live in a society that covers a lot and squeezes little. We have social networks that allow us to contact hundreds of people daily, but that, due to this interface, such exchanges are shallow or inconsequential. In fact, today, depth is not a value. The value of successful people is in many cases in the millions they move, the beauty, the material objects they show off or the empty moments they boast in

Instagram.

If our ancestors needed intelligence to survive their world, today the need for social intelligence prevails. While language, logic, strategy, calculation... have been successfully reproduced in computers and new technologies, it has not been in the same way for other properly human skills, such as facial recognition, humor, and ultimately, those skills that require exchanges interpersonal. However, these qualities can also be affected by the dehumanization of jobs and relationships.

In the field of robotics and artificial intelligence a concept called “haunting valley”; This suggests that when a humanoid looks a lot like a human being but not enough (it has subtle differences), it creates a feeling of discomfort and unease in people. Therefore, it is not surprising that those individuals who today have a higher social intelligence, better social mimicry and adaptation, and why not say it, a greater manipulation skills, go further in life, as their seduction skills can disguise the fact that they move through more robot-like logic.

Characteristics such as pragmatism and utilitarianism, superficial charm (see Instagram), individualism and manipulation they are reflected in our day-to-day society in the same way that they define the psychopathic personality.

The New Dynamics of Violence: The Age of Psychopathy

While violence has declined from century to century, crime is a booming value. And it is worth emphasizing that of violence: while a few centuries ago armies killed each other with a clean sword to conquer or usurp other kingdoms, today the limits of neighboring countries are almost entirely respected and there is even a certain alliance between they. However, every country has an army up its sleeve and increasingly sophisticated weapons "just in case." The agreements between our rulers are as superficial as their handshakes and fake smiles. And the power that some exercise over others is based on economic power.

Crimes change and thus we go from armed robberies to scams in large companies, exploitation, political corruption and creation laws that can hide the whole thing under the rug or scandals that distract the public from more social issues important... Psychopathic ways to obtain benefits and power using others that are becoming more common to the point of legalizing the fact that they trade with each other's private information and data.

Society is evolving psychopathically, and the best adapted individual will be the one who develops the traits valued socially today: the one who shows you the best side of him while he doesn't give a damn about everything, and in particular you. To understand this superficial charm, this search for power being used and using others disguised as kindness that is dominating the world, this social face of hypocrisy, just watch the first episode of the third season of Black Mirror, Nosedive.