So I’m reading a certifiably crazy novel from 2012, Wild Thing by Josh Bazell, and he has, on page 180, a footnote about psychopaths that strikes me as both a little shallow and yet right on the money:

Psychos are at heart people who think they’re smarter than everyone else. If they’re wrong it’s a debilitating condition, because education and hard work are galling to them, yet being exposed as unexceptional enrages them.  The ones who are actually clever, though—as long as they stick to fields that prize social manipulation and high self-esteem over technical skills—can do anything.

Now, who does that make you think of?