Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution

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Dream Walker, modified 7 Years ago at 7/22/16 1:38 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 7/22/16 1:38 AM

Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution

Posts: 1657 Join Date: 1/18/12 Recent Posts
I do enjoy reading David Chapman and happened across this article that I somehow missed.

Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution -
http://meaningness.com/metablog/geeks-mops-sociopaths


As meditation becomes more popular I tend to see more suspected sociopaths circling the geeks of dharma. They tend to be asking great questions and milking the geeks for answers about all sorts of things that seem not to be related to their practice whatsoever. They actually tend to not speak about their personal experiences/practice in phenomenological ways as they hate to be pegged down to anthing specific. It is if they need more information to become competent at blending in and finding some advantage to a growing movement.
Anyway, its a fun article.
Good Luck
~D
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Daniel M Ingram, modified 7 Years ago at 7/22/16 5:50 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 7/22/16 5:50 AM

RE: Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution

Posts: 3268 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
Nice article. Very timely and filled with personal relevance. Thanks for that. Hope you are well.
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tom moylan, modified 7 Years ago at 7/22/16 5:53 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 7/22/16 5:53 AM

RE: Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution

Posts: 896 Join Date: 3/7/11 Recent Posts
circling the geeks or circling the drain?

i agree that the more spiritual traditions emerge and or grow the more we will see 'teachers' abuse that position or fulfill their own dreams of greatness.

always was always will be, just like politics.

places like this provide the antidote, as do people like you.

cheers
Monsoon Frog, modified 7 Years ago at 7/22/16 8:02 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 7/22/16 8:02 AM

RE: Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution

Posts: 73 Join Date: 3/16/14 Recent Posts
Dream Walker:
I do enjoy reading David Chapman and happened across this article that I somehow missed.

Chapman references this piece of writing by Venkatesh Rao:

The Gervais Principle, Or The Office According to “The Office”
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/

It's a fascinating analysis on the structural dynamics of organizations comprised of three personality types: sociopaths, losers, and clueless.
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Dream Walker, modified 7 Years ago at 7/22/16 4:01 PM
Created 7 Years ago at 7/22/16 4:01 PM

RE: Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution

Posts: 1657 Join Date: 1/18/12 Recent Posts
Monsoon Frog:
Dream Walker:
I do enjoy reading David Chapman and happened across this article that I somehow missed.

Chapman references this piece of writing by Venkatesh Rao:

The Gervais Principle, Or The Office According to “The Office”
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/

It's a fascinating analysis on the structural dynamics of organizations comprised of three personality types: sociopaths, losers, and clueless.


I just downloaded the following book by that guy, just started reading it. It looks to be interesting if not a lot of tongue in cheek. It is based off of watching the tv show "The Office"

Be Slightly Evil: A Playbook for Sociopaths Kindle Edition by Venkatesh Rao (Author)


Contents

Preface
The Soul of Being Slightly Evil
How Deep is Be Slightly Evil?
Be Somebody or Do Something
Double-Talk and Chaos-Making
No Free Lunch Instincts
Personality Archetyping
Why Does Power Corrupt?
The Perils of Bitter Loserdom
The Unreasonable Man Effect
Shadowboxing with Evil Twins
Rousseau vs. Hobbes Redux
Preparing to Play
Status 101
Should You Show Your True Colors?
Small and Honest Moves
The First Day in Prison
Following the Rules
Observation
An Easy Way to Read People
Candor, Cursing and Clarity
On Cold-Blooded Listening
Orientation
Organizing the World’s Delusions
Status, Harmony and Conflict
Conflict Without Ego
The Basics of Negotiation
Decision
Indifference to Sunk Costs
Vindictiveness and Revenge
Action
On Petards
Crisis Non-Response
The Hierarchy of Deceptions
The Art of Damage Control
Disrupting an Adversary
On Annoying Others
Derailing the Data-Driven
Rebooting Conversations
Case Studies
The Game of Hallway Chicken
Door-Holding and Illegible Queues
Napping in the Trenches
Pistols, at Dawn
How to Interrupt
On Dodging Decisions
Inside the Tempo
Acknowledgements
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Dada Kind, modified 7 Years ago at 7/22/16 6:15 PM
Created 7 Years ago at 7/22/16 6:15 PM

RE: Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution

Posts: 633 Join Date: 11/15/13 Recent Posts
Agreeing with all David Chapman and Venkatesh Rao praise.

Don't forget Be Slightly Evil: A Playbook for Sociopaths
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bernd the broter, modified 7 Years ago at 7/23/16 4:23 PM
Created 7 Years ago at 7/23/16 4:23 PM

RE: Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution

Posts: 376 Join Date: 6/13/12 Recent Posts
Dream Walker:
I do enjoy reading David Chapman and happened across this article that I somehow missed.

Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution -
http://meaningness.com/metablog/geeks-mops-sociopaths


As meditation becomes more popular I tend to see more suspected sociopaths circling the geeks of dharma. They tend to be asking great questions and milking the geeks for answers about all sorts of things that seem not to be related to their practice whatsoever.
I actually did read this article some weeks ago.
But I did not notice such activity.
Any examles?
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Dream Walker, modified 7 Years ago at 7/23/16 5:29 PM
Created 7 Years ago at 7/23/16 5:29 PM

RE: Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution

Posts: 1657 Join Date: 1/18/12 Recent Posts
bernd the broter:
Dream Walker:
I do enjoy reading David Chapman and happened across this article that I somehow missed.

Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution -
http://meaningness.com/metablog/geeks-mops-sociopaths


As meditation becomes more popular I tend to see more suspected sociopaths circling the geeks of dharma. They tend to be asking great questions and milking the geeks for answers about all sorts of things that seem not to be related to their practice whatsoever.
I actually did read this article some weeks ago.
But I did not notice such activity.
Any examles?


This is a personal observation and the key word here is - suspected sociopaths.
I'd rather not point fingers nor explain to others how I would go about it.

If you feel like you're getting pumped for information and you know next to nothing about the person or their practice, you may very well be. It is flattering to be the expert and to have an audience.

Just keep it in mind that "supposedly" approximently 1 out of 20 people are sociopaths and due to the closed nature of speaking about attainments, the Dho is a rare opportunity to gain insider knowledge that only us geeks care to know and share.

I do hate vague warnings, so sorry about that.
~D
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CJMacie, modified 7 Years ago at 7/24/16 7:17 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 7/24/16 7:10 AM

RE: Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution

Posts: 856 Join Date: 8/17/14 Recent Posts
re: Dream Walker (7/22/16 1:38 AM)

I found it also an interesting article,well-written. IMO, he's also manipulating readers along the samelines as what he presents, when he claims the role of leading us beyond, to "(his) hoped-for future".

A fundamental criticism would be tha this "meta" stance (as in "metablog", and the general attitude of being above it all with a sort of anthropological psychology) isn't quite as meta as it might seem.

"Subcultures were the main creative cultural force from roughly 1975 to 2000, when they stopped working… The “classical model” of subcultures no longer works…"

What's so special about 1975-2000, other than it happens to be the era which conditioned the author's (and many of ours) world-view? His analysis is a product of, and reflection upon that time period. The topic of analyzing the formation and progression of human organizational efforts and the principles thereof has been around for a long, long time – as in all of recorded history. It often shows up in the form "that's the old order, here's where we go next…", usually with some ambition to become the leader to the new promised land.

"However, the
fluid mode—my hoped-for future—resembles the subcultural mode in many ways."

Similarly, attempts at reshaping religious (or whatever they happen to be called) traditions occur regularly, since forever. Think the various currents presently swirlling around "Buddhist" versions, like "secular…", "pragmatic…", "natural…", etc. The point here, however, is that at any given time, there's a strong tendency, caught in the historically local perspective, for people to nurture an exaggerated sense of their own self-importance – a curious combination of craving (a fetter relatively self-apparent) and conceit (a fetter far more deeply concealed).

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