This is a continuation of the previous post.  The crux of my dilemma in last night’s post was that I was unsure whether one’s natural state can be augmented.  If psychopaths are animalistic, can they evolve to be human?  Restated, does one’s past dictate one’s future?  Or, because of our modicum of free will, are we given the opportunity to have a future that diverges from our past?  I spoke with many readers and read comments from many more as the concept seemed quite polarizing.  However, I think I’ve answered my question.  Because we have free will, however limited that may be, we have the opportunity to break free of whatever alignment we are born with or become.  It may not be easy; it may require contortions, but we have that opportunity as humans.

I currently think of the problem as one of gravity.  We have a latent state whose gravitational pull is immense.  We are drawn to our latent proclivities and desires as that is what is comfortable and most well-known.  However, just as the satellite can reach a state beyond the ground of this earth, so can we break free of that gravity and reposition ourselves in a different location.  The psychopath can find a relatively prosocial location and the neurotypical can find a relatively antisocial home – if one so chooses.  So yes, we antisocials are human.  We must choose whether, however, to be victims of gravity or not.

A close friend summed it up nicely in response to the dilemma I posed to them.

“We are human, but inhumane.”

Of course, anyone born from a human mother’s womb is human.  It is where we position ourselves in accordance or otherwise with those latent positions nature and nurture has forced upon us that truly matters.  Beasts can become man in this world.  And, man can become beast.