Aug 10, 2026 · 43 min · 13 segments
Civilizations die from suicide, not murder, as a famous historian once said. And Canada’s in the process of administering MAID on itself, says author and professor Gad Saad. He discusses his new…
Gad SaadGuest
Brian LilleyHost
It does seem like our, many in our society like to, um, um, sit in the town square wearing a hair shirt talking about how awful we are.
You know, we, we used to all talk about, uh, you know, you, you and I are sitting in Canada right now.
Uh, we grew up with politicians, with leaders, with, um, you know, community pillars who would say, "Oh, we live in the greatest country on Earth." And now we're a, you know, the best hotel on Earth and a multicultural society that is still racist and xenophobic and not welcoming enough, despite welcoming everyone from around the world, and by the way, as you said, genocide and stolen land.
How did we get here? Uh, because some of this was in the academic world years ago.
And, you know, I remember seeing it at places like McMaster University or when I moved to Montreal, Concordia, where you have taught for many years.
Um, a- and, and you think, "Well, this is just crazy." But it, it morphed, it grew.
Uh, so the, your question is a, is actually a, a nice prompt to explain how Suicidal Empathy, my current book, is linked to one of my previous books, The Parasitic Mind, uh, because it's going to answer your question.
It's, it's w- the, the, the old tension between reason and emotion is actually a, a false and a moot dichotomy.
Uh, in many cases, having our affective system invoked makes perfect evolutionary sense.
If I'm walking down a dark alley to take a shortcut to get home, and I notice that there are these young men loitering around in the dark alley, I will get an emotional, an affective response that makes perfect evolutionary sense.
My blood pressure will go up, my breathing will become more shallow, my heart will race more, and that makes perfect evolutionary sense.
Now, why am I saying all this? In order for me to completely hijack your capacity to reason and to be wedded and tethered to reality, I need to do two things.
I need to parasitize your cognitive system, your thought processes, and I also need to parasitize your emotional system.
The Parasitic Mind, my previous book, talked about how do we parasitize our cognitive system, and Suicidal Empathy talks about the affective system.
Now, why am I saying all this? Because all of the ideas that led to us merrily swimming in the infinity pool of suicidal empathy come from academia.
It does seem like our, many in our society like to, um, um, sit in the town square wearing a hair shirt talking about how awful we are.
You know, we, we used to all talk about, uh, you know, you, you and I are sitting in Canada right now.
Uh, we grew up with politicians, with leaders, with, um, you know, community pillars who would say, "Oh, we live in the greatest country on Earth." And now we're a, you know, the best hotel on Earth and a multicultural society that is still racist and xenophobic and not welcoming enough, despite welcoming everyone from around the world, and by the way, as you said, genocide and stolen land.
How did we get here? Uh, because some of this was in the academic world years ago.
And, you know, I remember seeing it at places like McMaster University or when I moved to Montreal, Concordia, where you have taught for many years.
Um, a- and, and you think, "Well, this is just crazy." But it, it morphed, it grew.
Uh, so the, your question is a, is actually a, a nice prompt to explain how Suicidal Empathy, my current book, is linked to one of my previous books, The Parasitic Mind, uh, because it's going to answer your question.
It's, it's w- the, the, the old tension between reason and emotion is actually a, a false and a moot dichotomy.
Uh, in many cases, having our affective system invoked makes perfect evolutionary sense.
If I'm walking down a dark alley to take a shortcut to get home, and I notice that there are these young men loitering around in the dark alley, I will get an emotional, an affective response that makes perfect evolutionary sense.
My blood pressure will go up, my breathing will become more shallow, my heart will race more, and that makes perfect evolutionary sense.
Now, why am I saying all this? In order for me to completely hijack your capacity to reason and to be wedded and tethered to reality, I need to do two things.
I need to parasitize your cognitive system, your thought processes, and I also need to parasitize your emotional system.
The Parasitic Mind, my previous book, talked about how do we parasitize our cognitive system, and Suicidal Empathy talks about the affective system.
Now, why am I saying all this? Because all of the ideas that led to us merrily swimming in the infinity pool of suicidal empathy come from academia.
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