Overall, my sense is that MDMA and psychedelics might have a chance to substantially decrease malevolent traits if these substances are taken with the right intentions and in a good setting—ideally in a therapeutic setting with an experienced guide. The biggest problem I see is that most malevolent people likely won’t be interested in taking MDMA and psychedelics in this way.
Our estimates of the likelihood of malevolent people being interested probably hinge on our theory of where malevolence comes from.
e.g. if we think malevolence mostly arises as a maladaptive coping response to early trauma, you could imagine interventions that resolve the trauma and replace the maladaptive response with a more prosocial & equally fit response (and malevolent people being interested in those interventions).
But if we think malevolence is mostly a genetically-mediated trait, it’s probably harder to change.
Our estimates of the likelihood of malevolent people being interested probably hinge on our theory of where malevolence comes from.
e.g. if we think malevolence mostly arises as a maladaptive coping response to early trauma, you could imagine interventions that resolve the trauma and replace the maladaptive response with a more prosocial & equally fit response (and malevolent people being interested in those interventions).
But if we think malevolence is mostly a genetically-mediated trait, it’s probably harder to change.
I haven’t poked the literature on this yet.