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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   11022 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026

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I think mental health in general is overrated when it comes to predicting or stopping future shooters.

I see lots of comments about needing better mental healthcare, but is the baseline treatment there really such that we can choose an arbitrary person with a mental illness and "fix" them? There are quite a few around here that know better than me. I've always assumed no on the basis that there are plenty of examples of people, even from families of means, not getting better. I get that addiction and tendencies to violence are hard, but it seems like we'd have figured it out by now if it was just a few pills and some therapy.

I wonder if AI would give us the tools to really handle this, either directly with models or on the basis of understanding and aligning complex unknown neural systems. But that has its own draconian failure modes to worry about: the Ministry of Love would, uh, love such tools.

There is no reliable way to "fix" someone with violent tendencies of this nature. Therapy and meds work, as do positive life experiences and other holistic measures, but it's far from an exact science. Even round-the-clock intensive care over several months is no guarantee - I once crossed paths with a man who had received such care only to find out he murdered someone afterward. The psychiatric facility was not found to be liable, because it was well-documented that they did everything they could within the capabilities of modern mental health care.

In an isolated world without any negative externalities, ThomasdelVasto's suggestion to pump people with antipsychotics is legitimately effective. They are quite good at mellowing people out in such a way that they're not going to be able to do much wrong, especially commit violent crimes. However, there are significant ethical concerns involved in doing so, and there is not enough social will to just blast potentially problematic people with mind-numbing substances if they display traces of violent behavior. We could do it, but no one wants to. At significant doses, they're effectively a chemical lobotomy.

Can we fix them? No

Can we make them somewhat better? Maybe/Sometimes

Can we make them not dangerous? Yes* (*there may be some side-effects and we may need to force medication compliance, possibly in an in-patient setting, though long acting injectables are underutilized; also, has a lobotomized person ever shot up a school? a more targeted ablation may really be the best option for some)

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