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Cancer cells divide and healthy cells divide.

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The only difference between the two is that the former have unchecked cell division.

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They don't have a stopping mechanism for the division to stop.

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Now, why is that related to the distinction between empathy and suicidal empathy?

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Well-modulated empathy is a perfectly rational virtue for humans to possess.

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We are a social species, therefore, we interact with each other.

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For you and I, Laurie, to have a meaningful conversation, I need to put myself in

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your mind and vice versa. That's called cognitive empathy or theory of mind.

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So there is nothing wrong with well-calibrated empathy.

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Suicidal empathy, though, does something akin to what cancer cells do.

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It hyper fires in the wrong situations towards the wrong targets.

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Once that rational empathetic module is gained, it

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becomes suicidally, uh, you know, faulty.

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Now... And let, let me draw another very quick reference.

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Aristotle, several thousand years ago, explained through his golden mean the idea

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that too little of something is not good, too much of something is not good, and much

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of life is about finding that sweet spot, that golden mean.

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That exact principle applies to empathy versus suicidal empathy.

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No empathy renders me a psychopath.

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Too much empathy towards the wrong targets makes me suicidally empathetic.