Dr. Gad Saad

There's nothing racist or bigoted about that, right? my my house cat is a feline so is the wild lion in the savannah jungle they're both feline one of them wants me to pet it the other one wants to eat me for lunch and so i'm not bigoted against cats because i recognize that a lion is not the same thing as fido my cat and so

Criminality, how we navigate through the penal system is a case of suicidal empathy. Why don't we give the noble criminal an 87th chance? He's already been criminalized by white patriarchy. If we now put him in prison, we're double whammying him. And so every lunatic public policy that you could think of that is truly insane ultimately is rooted in the reflex of suicidal and misguided empathy.

Criminality, how we navigate through the penal system is a case of suicidal empathy. Why don't we give the noble criminal an 87th chance? He's already been criminalized by white patriarchy. If we now put him in prison, we're double whammying him. And so every lunatic public policy that you could think of that is truly insane ultimately is rooted in the reflex of suicidal and misguided empathy.

Yeah, so look, as you are, of course, I am elated that Donald Trump won, but I keep warning people, please don't be complacent. The fact that he won doesn't mean that all of the parasitic ideas, all of the suicidal empathy magically is eradicated, right? It took 50 to 100 years for each of these disastrous ideas and these misguided emotional responses to

Yeah, so look, as you are, of course, I am elated that Donald Trump won, but I keep warning people, please don't be complacent. The fact that he won doesn't mean that all of the parasitic ideas, all of the suicidal empathy magically is eradicated, right? It took 50 to 100 years for each of these disastrous ideas and these misguided emotional responses to

to proliferate through every nook and cranny of society. So it's going to take more than just the four years of Donald Trump for us to win the battle. So yes, let's rejoice that he won and the opposite would have been, the alternative would have been a disaster, but it doesn't end here. A lot more work needs to be done.

to proliferate through every nook and cranny of society. So it's going to take more than just the four years of Donald Trump for us to win the battle. So yes, let's rejoice that he won and the opposite would have been, the alternative would have been a disaster, but it doesn't end here. A lot more work needs to be done.

Yeah, well, it's to remind people that orgiastic, unadulterated empathy is not a virtue, right? Like most things in life, We've evolved the capacity to discriminate between people. I'm more likely to jump in front of a moving bus to save my biological children than I am to save a random child in Namibia. That's not because I'm callous. That's not because I'm sinister.

Yeah, well, it's to remind people that orgiastic, unadulterated empathy is not a virtue, right? Like most things in life, We've evolved the capacity to discriminate between people. I'm more likely to jump in front of a moving bus to save my biological children than I am to save a random child in Namibia. That's not because I'm callous. That's not because I'm sinister.

It's because I've evolved the emotional system that allows me to met out my investments in a way that makes evolutionary sense. And so we need to remind people that it is perfectly reasonable to care more about your country than to care about a country that's 2000 miles away, to care more about your children than about some, you know, poorly mistreated child in Waziristan.

It's because I've evolved the emotional system that allows me to met out my investments in a way that makes evolutionary sense. And so we need to remind people that it is perfectly reasonable to care more about your country than to care about a country that's 2000 miles away, to care more about your children than about some, you know, poorly mistreated child in Waziristan.

Again, that doesn't mean that we should never met out empathy and kindness to strangers, but it means that it has to be better regulated. And so the quicker we can remind people that it is perfectly reasonable, for example, to be patriotic, to love your family first, the quicker we can eradicate this reflex of suicidal empathy.

Again, that doesn't mean that we should never met out empathy and kindness to strangers, but it means that it has to be better regulated. And so the quicker we can remind people that it is perfectly reasonable, for example, to be patriotic, to love your family first, the quicker we can eradicate this reflex of suicidal empathy.

So I think it originally started with the parasitic ideas, right? So, you know, all cultures are equal. Who are you to judge other cultures? But of course, our own culture is not equal in that it's inferior, right? The West is inferior to the noble Afghanis, right? And what that does then is it creates a sense of what I argue in the book, in my forthcoming book, a sense of survivor guilt.

So I think it originally started with the parasitic ideas, right? So, you know, all cultures are equal. Who are you to judge other cultures? But of course, our own culture is not equal in that it's inferior, right? The West is inferior to the noble Afghanis, right? And what that does then is it creates a sense of what I argue in the book, in my forthcoming book, a sense of survivor guilt.

So let me expand on this idea. If you're in a plane crash, God forbid, and in your row everybody dies except you, at first you're elated, thank God I survived. But then you might go through a ruminative period where there is a constant intrusive thought in your mind, why did I deserve to live while all those perfectly lovely people survived?

So let me expand on this idea. If you're in a plane crash, God forbid, and in your row everybody dies except you, at first you're elated, thank God I survived. But then you might go through a ruminative period where there is a constant intrusive thought in your mind, why did I deserve to live while all those perfectly lovely people survived?

Well, I argue that the West suffers from this kind of survivor guilt, but at the collective level. Why was I born in the West and therefore I've got all these privileges, whereas these poor people in Waziristan don't have my ability to thrive and flourish? And so there is several roots of the genesis for where that comes from. But it all originates from those parasitic ideas.

Well, I argue that the West suffers from this kind of survivor guilt, but at the collective level. Why was I born in the West and therefore I've got all these privileges, whereas these poor people in Waziristan don't have my ability to thrive and flourish? And so there is several roots of the genesis for where that comes from. But it all originates from those parasitic ideas.

That's why my first book, Parasitic Mind, was about what happens to our cognitive system when it is zombified. And then the next book is what happens to our emotional system when it becomes zombified. If our cognitive system is zombified and then our emotional system is zombified, here we go to the abyss of infinite lunacy.