Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/343-what-is-islamophobia Sam Harris discusses the social and political consequences of a weaponized term. A transcript of this podcast is available on Sam’s blog.

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/342-animal-minds-moral-truths Sam Harris speaks with Peter Singer about important problems in ethics. They discuss his career as a philosopher, the moral status of non-human animals, the ethics of moral hierarchies, speciesism, the scale of animal suffering, conscientious omnivores, animal experimentation, the tragic case of Sam Bankman-Fried, concerns about Effective Altruism, the problems with focusing on existential risk, the comparative nature of human suffering, the work of Derek Parfit, objective morality, and other topics. Peter Singer, dubbed “the world’s most influential living philosopher” by The New Yorker, has written, co-authored, edited, or co-edited more than 50 books in over 25 languages, including Practical Ethics, Writings on an Ethical Life, The Life You Can Save, and more. His 1975 book Animal Liberation is often credited with starting the modern animal rights movement. His TED Talk has over 2.25 million views. Singer was educated at the University of Melbourne and the University of Oxford and is currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University's Center for Human Values. When not teaching at Princeton, he lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife, Renata, with whom he enjoys hiking. He is also the author of Animal Liberation Now: The Definitive Classic Renewed (Harper; May 23, 2023) and The Buddhist and the Ethicist: Conversations on Effective Altruism, Engaged Buddhism, and How to Build a Better World (Shambhala; December 12, 2023). Website: https://petersinger.info/ Twitter: @PeterSinger Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/341-gaza-global-order Sam Harris speaks with Yuval Noah Harari about the events of October 7th and the resulting war in Gaza. They discuss the unraveling of global order, the failure of the IDF, the incompetence of the Netanyahu government, the goals of Hamas, the Saudi peace treaty, the right of Israel to exist, the status of Palestinian and Jewish refugees, victim and perpetrator narratives, compromise vs justice, the Palestinian citizens of Israel, lessons from WW2, the danger of focusing on the past, the perverse significance of the al-Aqsa Mosque, the double standards to which Israel is held, false analogies to European colonialism, the rise of antisemitism, the future of politics in Israel, America’s role in preserving global order, the war in Ukraine, and other topics. Yuval Noah Harari, PhD, is a historian, philosopher and bestselling author, who is considered one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals today. His books have sold 45 million copies in 65 languages. In 2019, Harari and his husband Itzik co-founded Sapienship, a social impact company specializing in content and production, with projects in the fields of education and entertainment. Sapienship’s main goal is to focus the public conversation on the most important global challenges facing the world today. Website: ynharari.com Twitter: @harari_yuval

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/340-the-bright-line-between-good-and-evil Sam Harris speaks about the ongoing war in Gaza, the global rise of antisemitism, and the enduring problem of jihadism. A transcript of this podcast is available on Sam’s blog.

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/339-the-infernal-logic-of-jihad Sam Harris speaks with Graeme Wood about the October 7th atrocities in Israel, the unfolding war in Gaza, and the ongoing problem of global jihadism. Graeme Wood is a national correspondent for The Atlantic. He has written for The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many other publications. He was the 2014–2015 Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and he teaches in the political science department at Yale University. He is the author of The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State. Website: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/graeme-wood/ Twitter: @gcaw

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/338-the-sin-of-moral-equivalence A transcript of this podcast is available on Sam’s blog.

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/337-the-future-of-psychedelic-medicine Sam Harris speaks with Jeannie Fontana and Robin Carhart-Harris about the TREAT Initiative in California and the growing promise of psychedelics for mental health care. Jeannie Fontana, MD, PhD, is a multifaceted leader in healthcare, specializing in Internal Medicine, Environmental Toxicology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. She initiated an ALS-focused research team at Sanford Burnham Prebys and established the Cedars-Sinai ALS Center of Excellence, driving policy change and boosting federal funding for ALS research. As a founding trustee of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), she played a pivotal role in creating the world's largest stem cell granting agency with an $8.5 billion budget. Under her influence, the agency has achieved FDA approvals, fast-track designations, and launched groundbreaking clinical trials. Additionally, CIRM catalyzed the creation of over 55,000 jobs, 50 new companies, and $10 billion in added state revenue. Now, Jeannie is poised to address California's urgent mental health crisis through her role in the TREAT California Initiative. Website: treatcalifornia.org Robin Carhart-Harris, PhD, moved to Imperial College London in 2008 after obtaining a PhD in Psychopharmacology from the University of Bristol. He has designed human brain imaging studies with LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and DMT, and several clinical trials of psilocybin therapy for severe mental illnesses, including 3 key trials in depression plus 2 further trials in anorexia and fibromyalgia syndrome. Dr Carhart-Harris founded the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London in April 2019, the first of its kind in the world. In 2020, he was named among the top 31 medical scientists by The Times newspaper. Dr Carhart-Harris became the inaugural Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco in 2021, and in the same year, was listed in TIME magazine’s ‘100 Next’ - a list of emerging leaders from around the world who are shaping the future. Website: carhartharrislab.com Twitter: @RCarhartHarris Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/336-the-roots-of-identity-politics Sam Harris speaks with Yascha Mounk about identity politics. They discuss Yascha’s concept of the “identity synthesis,” skepticism about “cancel culture,” racial segregation in schools, the ideological change on college campuses, Michel Foucault and postmodernism, the rejection of universalism, Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, the “permanence of racism,” the indoctrination of children, intersectionality, white privilege, institutional racism, equity vs equality, racial preferences during the Covid pandemic, the asymmetric advantage of authoritarianism, class and elitism, affirmative action, media coverage of crime and violence, social media and the business model of mainstream journalism, and other topics. Yascha Mounk is the author of The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time. He is also a Professor of the Practice of International Relations at Johns Hopkins University, the founder of Persuasion, and the host of The Good Fight podcast. Website: www.yaschamounk.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

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https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/334-the-low-trust-society Sam Harris speaks with David Brooks about the state of American democracy and the liberal world order. They discuss the weakness of moral individualism, the loss of social trust, the dangers of identity politics, what happened to the Republican Party, the hatred of elites, the 2024 Presidential Election, the Trump indictments, the war in Ukraine, moral force, the roots of liberalism, the various flavors of Trump support, the Biden presidency, Hunter Biden’s laptop scandal, Biden’s prospects in 2024, Nikki Haley, economic inequality, the problems with meritocracy, the state of media and social media, the lure of conspiracy thinking, the politics of recognition, our handling of the Covid pandemic, our difficulties acknowledging uncertainty, our withdrawal from Afghanistan, the limits of American power, and other topics. David Brooks is a columnist for The New York Times and a contributor to The Atlantic. He is a commentator on “The PBS Newshour." His forthcoming book How To Know A Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen will be published in October. His previous three books were The Second Mountain, The Road to Character, and The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement, all #1 New York Times bestsellers. Mr. Brooks has taught at Yale and Duke and now teaches at the University of Chicago. He has received over 30 honorary degrees from American universities and is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Twitter: @nytdavidbrooks Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/333-sanity-check-on-climate-change Sam Harris speaks with Chris Field about climate change and its consequences. They discuss skepticism about climate change, the accuracy of climate models, the magnitude of temperature increases, how global temperatures are measured, the historical record of climate variation, the range of possibilities in the coming decades, feedback mechanisms, wildfires, water vapor, air pollution, solar geo-engineering, the biggest challenge to taking action on climate change, the costs of transitioning to a carbon-neutral economy, renewable sources of energy, nuclear power, carbon capture, hydrogen, the developing world, China and India, carbon taxes and other incentives, and other topics. Chris Field is the Perry L. McCarty Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies. His research focuses on climate change, especially solutions that improve lives now, decrease the amount of future warming, and support vibrant economies. Recent projects emphasize decreasing risks from coastal flooding and wildfires. Field was co-chair of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change from 2008-2015. His widely cited work has earned many recognitions, including election to the US National Academy of Sciences, the Roger Revelle Medal, and the Japan Prize. Website: https://fieldlab.stanford.edu/ Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/332-can-we-contain-artificial-intelligence Sam Harris speaks with Mustafa Suleyman about his new book, “The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the 21st Century’s Greatest Dilemma.” They discuss the progress in artificial intelligence made at his company DeepMind, the acquisition of DeepMind by Google, Atari DQN, AlphaGo, AlphaZero, AlphaFold, the invention of new knowledge, the risks of our making progress in AI, “superintelligence” as a distraction from more pressing problems, the inevitable spread of general-purpose technology, the nature of intelligence, productivity growth and labor disruptions, “the containment problem,” the importance of scale, Moore’s law, Inflection AI, open-source LLMs, changing the norms of work and leisure, the redistribution of value, introducing friction into the deployment of AI, regulatory capture, a misinformation apocalypse, digital watermarks, asymmetric threats, conflict and cooperation with China, supply-chain monopolies, and other topics. Mustafa Suleyman is the co-founder and CEO of Inflection AI. Previously he co-founded DeepMind, one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence companies. After a decade at DeepMind, Suleyman became vice president of AI product management and AI policy at Google. When he was an undergraduate at Oxford, Suleyman dropped out to help start a non-profit telephone counseling service. He lives in Palo Alto, California. Website: https://www.the-coming-wave.com/ Twitter: @mustafasuleyman Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

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Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/330-the-doomsday-machine Sam Harris speaks with Carl Robichaud about the ongoing threat of nuclear war. They discuss the film "Oppenheimer," the ethics of dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the false lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the history and future of nuclear proliferation, the logic of deterrence, cyber vulnerabilities, the history of de-escalation, the war in Ukraine, war games, the nuclear taboo, growing tensions between the U.S. and China, artificial intelligence, getting to nuclear zero, the role for private citizens in mitigating nuclear risk, the Longview Nuclear Risk Policy Fund (https://www.longview.org/fund/nuclear-weapons-policy-fund/), and other topics. Carl Robichaud co-leads Longview’s program on nuclear weapons policy. For more than a decade, Carl led grantmaking in nuclear security at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a philanthropic fund which grants over $30 million annually to strengthen international peace and security. Previously, Carl worked with The Century Foundation and the Global Security Institute, where his research spanned arms control, international security policy, and nonproliferation. Robichaud holds an MPA in public policy and international affairs from Princeton University and a BA from Wesleyan University. He is a 1999 Thomas J. Watson fellow and a 2003 Harold W. Rosenthal fellow for international affairs and security at the Stimson Center and the Council on Foreign Relations. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Elsie Kagan, a painter. Website: https://www.longview.org/fund/nuclear-weapons-policy-fund/ Twitter: @carlrobichaud Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/329-what-happened-to-the-republican-party Sam Harris speaks with Bret Stephens about the current state of the Republican Party. They discuss the strange change in Republican attitudes toward Putin, the character of Tucker Carlson, the war in Ukraine, the failures of elites and experts, the tension between concerns about misinformation and free speech, the Hunter Biden laptop, the 2024 Presidential election, how Trump captured the Republican Party, the criminal charges against Trump, the future of conservatism, and other topics. Bret Stephens is an opinion columnist with The New York Times and editor-in-chief of Sapir, a new Jewish quarterly. He has previously served as editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post and as foreign-affairs columnist for The Wall Street Journal, for which he won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. He was raised in Mexico City, educated at the University of Chicago, and was a NeverTrumper from Day One. In 2022 he was banned for life by the government of Russia from ever visiting that country. Website: https://www.nytimes.com/column/bret-stephens Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/328-health-longevity Sam Harris speaks with Peter Attia about his book, “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity.” They discuss "healthspan," centenarians, diet and nutrition, sugar, macronutrients, alcohol, fasting and time-restricted eating, exercise, Zone 2 training, heart disease, blood pressure, cholesterol, cancer, brain health, metabolic disorders, proactive medical testing, medication side effects, Rapamycin, emotional health, and other topics. Peter Attia, MD, is the founder of Early Medical, a medical practice that applies the principles of Medicine 3.0 to patients with the goal of lengthening their lifespan and simultaneously improving their healthspan. He is the host of The Drive, one of the most popular podcasts covering the topics of health and medicine. Website: https://peterattiamd.com/ Twitter: @peterattiamd Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Sam Harris speaks with L.A. Paul about the nature of transformative experiences. They discuss how certain experiences change the self, the nature of regret, changing belief systems, conspiracy thinking, empathy, doing good in the world, our relationship to our future selves, changing our values, the nature of possibility, the ethics of punishment, moral luck, the moral landscape, consequentialism, and other topics. L.A. Paul is the Millstone Family Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Cognitive Science at Yale University and leads the Self and Society Initiative for Yale’s Wu Tsai Institute. Her research explores questions about the nature of the self and decision-making, and the metaphysics and cognitive science of time, cause, and experience. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Humanities Center, and the Australian National University. She is also the author of three books, including Transformative Experience, and Causation: A User’s Guide, which was awarded the American Philosophical Association Sanders Book Prize. Website: www.lapaul.org Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Sam Harris speaks with Nina Schick about generative AI and information integrity. They discuss the challenges of regulating AI, authentication vs detection, fake video, hyper-personalization of information, the promise of generative design, productivity gains, disruptions in the labor market, OpenAI, and other topics. Nina Schick is a globally recognized author, entrepreneur, and advisor specializing in Generative AI. She has made it her mission to democratize AI and make it accessible to everyone, authoring the first book on AI-generated content in 2020. As one of the earliest GenAI experts, Nina analyzes how this nascent field of artificial intelligence will change humanity. Nina is the founder of Tamang Ventures, an advisory firm focused on Generative AI, and the creator of The Era of Generative AI, a 100K+ strong GenAI community featuring the weekly EGAI newsletter, exclusive content, and interviews with the pioneers of this space. Website: ninaschick.org Twitter: @NinaDSchick Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Sam Harris discusses Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s recent appearances on other podcasts. Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Sam Harris speaks with Marc Andreessen about the future of artificial intelligence (AI). They discuss the primary importance of intelligence, possible good outcomes for AI, the problem of alienation, the significance of evolution, the Alignment Problem, the current state of LLMs, AI and war, dangerous information, regulating AI, economic inequality, and other topics. Marc Andreessen is a cofounder and general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He is an innovator and creator, one of the few to pioneer a software category used by more than a billion people and one of the few to establish multiple billion-dollar companies. Marc co-created the highly influential Mosaic internet browser and co-founded Netscape, which later sold to AOL for $4.2 billion. He also co-founded Loudcloud, which as Opsware, sold to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion. He later served on the board of Hewlett-Packard from 2008 to 2018. Marc holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Marc serves on the board of the following Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies: Applied Intuition, Carta, Coinbase, Dialpad, Flow, Golden, Honor, OpenGov, and Samsara. He is also on the board of Meta. Twitter: @pmarca Website: https://a16z.com Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.