Highly Functioning Sociopaths

At the center of sociopathy is a lack of empathy for others. Or rather an inability to experience, to feel, for others.
It is a necessary but not sufficient condition of sociopathy.
Add in a lack of conscience,a large dose of narcism, and a grand and glorious "master plan" to finally obtain the power, control, and glory owed - not earned - owed - and you have all the conditions necessary for a highly functioning sociopath.
Dick Chaney, Carl Rove as examples.
But this idea that one has to be a smart or as good at it as they are to be sociopathic is wrong.
I know lots of less successful sociopaths - academic medicine in my experience - full of small minded, less intelligent, highly functioning sociopaths.
I can only imagine Wall Street, and big business.
Here's the thing.
They are not to be admired as cunning, focused, and skilled at what they do.
Take away empathy and conscience and almost any fool can do the same.

Verizon and a weapon of mass financial destruction

As you travel internationally data roaming on your smart phone can be expensive - very expensive.
So you do what I do - turn it off.
Here's a little secret - Verizon has now turned your phone into a financial bomb.
Ticking away in your pocket.
If that roaming gets turned on, even for just a minute, while you're still roaming you can be billed $500, $1000, $2000 in data roaming usage.
What they do is stack all the undelivered data waiting for that moment when that data gets turned on - then they dump it all -  make a one minute mistake - get a $500 bill.
Tick tick tick......