Power destroys empathy

[cjsmith]

If power were a prescription drug, it would come with a long list of known side effects. It can intoxicate. It can corrupt. It can even make Henry Kissinger believe that he’s sexually magnetic. But can it cause brain damage?

Tl;dr: yes.

(Yeah, I know. Water, wet.)

What's most interesting to me is that even when the people affected know exactly what's happening and why, they can't consciously fight it.

Comments

[cjsmith]

Wow, that's... so not how I think about such stuff. I can feel powerful when I fly, for example, or when I make progress on a brain hack. I have an instinctive revulsion for equating "powerful" with "power over other people".

At least if the illusion of power were to be handed out, then it's comforting to think that empathy would then be harmed only in those who can't do damage with their broken brains.

[hitchhiker]

i assumed that wasn't the kind of power they were talking about, because it's not the "power corrupts" sort. it's totally the kind everyone should be pursuing instead, i agree!

[cjsmith]

But IS it the "power corrupts" sort as well? I am not sure that's clear.