Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content

Sam Harris speaks with Haviv Rettig Gur about Israel and her enemies. They discuss Israel’s war with Iran and America’s role in the conflict, Israel’s military capabilities, Iran’s nuclear program, what a ground invasion of Iran could look like, how Iranians view the regime, antisemitism, the history of Zionism, Islam and jihadism, extremism on the Israeli far right, religious fanaticism, Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Ehud Olmert, the hostages in Gaza, and other topics. Haviv Rettig Gur is a veteran Israeli journalist who serves as the senior analyst at The Times of Israel. He has covered Israel's politics, foreign policy, and relationship with the U.S. and Jewish diaspora since 2005, reporting from over 20 countries. Since October 7, he has been touring the English-speaking world — the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the U.K. — to discuss the war in Gaza, resilience, and antisemitism. X: @havivrettiggur Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/422-zionism-jihadism

In this latest episode of the “More From Sam” series, Sam hopped back on with his manager and business partner, Jaron Lowenstein, to talk about current events and answer some of the questions you all submitted on Substack. They discuss the assassination of Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman and the recent uptick in political violence, Elon’s comments about Trump’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, Iran, deportations, the LA protests, Sam’s recent appearance on Jordan Peterson’s podcast, and rapid fire questions. Produced by Griffin Katz Share this episode: hhttps://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/421-more-from-sam-political-violence-iran-deportations-protests-rapid-fire-questions

Sam Harris speaks with Daniel Kokotaljo about the potential impacts of superintelligent AI over the next decade. They discuss Daniel’s predictions in his essay “AI 2027,” the alignment problem, what an intelligence explosion might look like, the capacity of LLMs to intentionally deceive, the economic implications of recent advances in AI, AI safety testing, the potential for governments to regulate AI development, AI coding capabilities, how we’ll recognize the arrival of superintelligent AI, and other topics. Daniel Kokotajlo is the Executive Director at the AI Futures Project, where he oversees its research and policy recommendations. He previously worked as a governance researcher at OpenAI on scenario planning. In 2021, he predicted the rise of chatbots, chain-of-thought, inference scaling, sweeping AI chip export controls, and $100 million training runs—all more than a year before the launch of ChatGPT. He was profiled in The New York Times and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in AI. Website: https://ai-2027.com/ X: @DKokotajlo Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/420-countdown-to-superintelligence   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 hopped back on with his manager and business partner, Jaron Lowenstein, to talk about current events and answer some of the questions you all submitted on Substack. This episode was originally recorded on June 4th, but in light of today's events, Sam and Jaron recorded an additional segment (on June 5) about the latest news on Trump and Musk's fallout, which is included at the end of this episode. They also discuss the real results of DOGE, the Big Beautiful Bill, Jordan Peterson, the role of religion in modern society, and other topics. Produced by Griffin Katz Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/419-more-from-sam-elon-vs-trump-religion-jordan-peterson-rapid-fire-questions

Sam Harris speaks with Congressman Ritchie Torres about the future of American politics. They discuss how growing up in public housing inspired Ritchie to pursue a career in politics, how the Biden administration became ideologically captured by the far-Left, how Democratic politicians are resisting Trump, why the Democrats should focus on governance rather than messaging, the war in Gaza, antisemitism on the Right and the Left, free speech on college campuses, Gen Z and hatred for America, social media, the importance of patriotism, the affordability crisis, AI and the future of work, potential Democratic candidates for the 2028 presidential election, and other topics. Congressman Ritchie Torres is a fighter from the Bronx who has spent his entire life working for the community he calls home. Like many in the Bronx, poverty and struggle have never been abstractions to him. At 25, Ritchie became NYC’s youngest elected official and the first openly LBGTQ person elected in the Bronx. He is a member of the Committee on Financial Services and the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/418-a-future-for-democrats Website: https://ritchietorres.house.gov/ X: @RitchieTorres, @RepRitchie

Sam Harris speaks with Donald Robertson about Stoicism and the good life. They discuss the relationship between wisdom and virtue, ancient versions of psychotherapy, parallels between Stoicism and Buddhism, practical vs. analytical styles of philosophy, CBT’s origins in Stoicism, the difficulty of self-criticism, techniques for reframing upsetting experiences, the lives of Marcus Aurelius and Socrates, the psychological pitfalls of using social media, and other topics. Donald Robertson is a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist and author of eight books on philosophy and psychotherapy, including the bestselling How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, and his latest, How to Think Like Socrates, both from St. Martin's Press. He is one of the founders of the Modern Stoicism nonprofit and the founder and president of the Plato's Academy Centre, based in Athens. He was born in Scotland but now lives in Canada and Greece. Website: https://donaldrobertson.substack.com/ X: @DonJRobertson Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/417-philosophy-for-life    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 hopped back on with his manager and business partner, Jaron Lowenstein, to talk about current events and answer some of the questions you all submitted on Substack. They discuss the Biden cover-up and how it compares to Trump’s transgressions, Sam’s latest episode with Jake Tapper, whether Tapper had a journalistic responsibility to share what he knew about the cover-up sooner, and criticism from the audience about Sam’s views on Israel’s actions in Gaza. Produced by Griffin Katz Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/416-more-from-sam-bidens-big-lie-review-of-tapper-interview-trump-a-case-against-israels-actions-in-gaza

Sam Harris speaks with Jake Tapper about Jake’s new book (with Alex Thompson), Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. They discuss how the mainstream media failed to cover the issue of Biden’s health, how Biden shielded himself from criticism, the false notion that Biden was simply a bad speaker, the audio released from Biden’s 2023 interview with special counsel Robert Hur, Jake’s experience moderating Biden’s disastrous debate against Trump, Jill and Hunter Biden’s influence on former President Biden’s decision to run again, the Hunter Biden laptop story, anti-democratic processes in the Democratic Party, and other topics. Jake Tapper is a CNN anchor and the network's chief Washington correspondent. He currently anchors an award-winning two-hour weekday program, The Lead with Jake Tapper, which debuted in March 2013. He has hosted CNN’s Sunday morning show, State of the Union, since June 2015. In April 2021, he became the lead anchor for CNN for Washington, D.C. events. Tapper is also the author of several New York Times bestselling books, including Race Against Terror: Chasing an Al Qaeda Killer at the Dawn of the Forever War and The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor, as well as the novels The Hellfire Club, The Devil May Dance, and All the Demons Are Here. Website: simonandschuster.com/p/jake-tapper-books X: @jaketapper Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/415-the-cover-up   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 David Deutsch about quantum physics and current events. They discuss the “many-worlds” interpretation of QM, Schrödinger’s cat, constructor theory,  quantum computing and whether it will ever be practically possible, recent developments in AI, the prospects of artificial super-intelligence, the alignment problem, antisemitism and the historical persecution of Jews, misconceptions about Israel, the future of the Jews in Israel and the West, and other topics. David Deutsch is a visiting professor of physics at the Centre for Quantum Computation at Oxford University, and an honorary fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. He works on fundamental issues in physics, particularly the quantum theory of computation and information, and constructor theory. He has written two books, The Fabric of Reality and The Beginning of Infinity, aimed at the general reader. Website: daviddeutsch.org.uk X: @DavidDeutschOxf Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/strange-truths   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 hopped back on with his manager and business partner, Jaron Lowenstein, to talk about current events and answer some of the questions you all submitted on Substack. They discuss whether Jews in the U.S. are safer under Trump, due process rights and free speech, what Trump is doing to universities, the Trump family’s latest corruption scandals, Sam’s updated views on Bill Maher’s dinner at the White House, what Sam got wrong about wokeness and the 2024 election, Pete Buttigieg’s appearance on Andrew Schulz’s podcast, Gavin Newsom, and Ezra Klein. Produced by Griffin Katz Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/413-more-from-sam-trump-israel-corruption-free-speech-violations-the-democrats-ezra-klein   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 Rutger Bregman about Rutger’s new book, Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference. They discuss why it seems like we are at the hinge of human history, wealth inequality, how altruism should be rewarded, how we should think about philanthropic billionaires, effective altruism, why empathy is overrated, moral entrepreneurship, universal basic income, work and meaning, existential risk, and other topics. Rutger Bregman is a Dutch historian and author. His books Utopia for Realists (2017) and Humankind (2020) have sold over 2 million copies and have been translated into 46 languages. In 2024, he co-founded The School for Moral Ambition, a non-profit inspired by his book Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference (Dutch edition 2024), which helps ambitious people tackle the world’s most pressing problems. The English edition of Moral Ambition will be released on May 6, 2025. Website: rutgerbregman.com X: @rcbregman Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/412-better-things-better-people   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 Scott Barry Kaufman about Scott’s new book, Rise Above: Overcome a Victim Mindset, Empower Yourself, and Realize Your Full Potential. They discuss victimhood culture, narcissism and psychopathy, the personality traits of successful individuals, the dark triad of personality traits, how victimhood culture presents on the Left vs. the Right, free speech, self-esteem and meaning in the age of AI, the replication crisis, the personality traits of MAGA conservatives, IQ, psychedelics, and other topics. Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D., is among the top 1 percent of the most cited scientists in the world for his groundbreaking research on intelligence, creativity, and human potential. He is a professor at Columbia University and the director of the Center for Human Potential. He has authored eleven books, including Rise Above, Choose Growth, Transcend, Wired to Create, and Ungifted. Dr. Kaufman hosts The Psychology Podcast, which is widely considered one of the top psychology podcasts in the world. Dr. Kaufman received his Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Yale University. In 2015, he was named one of “50 groundbreaking scientists who are changing the way we see the world” by Business Insider. Website: scottbarrykaufman.com X: @sbkaufman Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/411-the-victimhood-pandemic   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 Douglas Murray about Douglas’s new book, On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization. They discuss Douglas’s recent experience on Joe Rogan’s podcast, the need for experts, conspiracy theories, the origins and aims of Hamas, the moral asymmetries between Israel and Hamas, what makes jihadism a uniquely dangerous ideology, Hamas’s attack on the Nova music festival, Douglas’s associations with Trump and Trumpism, Elon Musk and X, antisemitism on the Right, and other topics. Douglas Murray is a journalist and bestselling author of 8 books, including On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization (2025), The War on the West (2022), The Madness of Crowds (2019), and The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam (2017). He has been a contributor to Spectator since 2000 and an associate editor since 2012. He is a columnist at the New York Post and regularly writes for The Telegraph and The Sun. He is also a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.  Website: douglasmurray.net X: @DouglasKMurray Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/410-the-whole-catastrophe   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 hopped back on with his manager and business partner, Jaron Lowenstein, to discuss current events and answer some of the questions you all submitted on Substack. By far the most common feedback we hear from you guys is the following: “We want more from Sam.” So that's what we're trying to bring you with this new series, “More From Sam.” Sam and Jaron discuss community in the absence of religion, whether you should lie to your children about the existence of Santa Claus, Bill Ackman's response to Trump's tariff reversal, Douglas Murray's appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast, the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Bill Maher's visit to the White House, and other topics. Produced by Griffin Katz Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/409-more-from-sam-religion-deportations-douglas-murray-vs-rogan-bill-mahers-dinner-with-trump   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.

Dan Harris interviews Sam Harris for Dan’s podcast, 10% Happier. They discuss how meditation helped Sam after evacuating his home during the LA fires, why Sam owns a gun, the ethics of violence, how to feel compassion for your political opponents, why it doesn’t make sense to “hate” anyone, free will and determinism, psychedelics, the importance of training your mind, and other topics. Dan Harris is the author of the #1 New York Times best-selling memoir, 10% Happier, about a fidgety, skeptical news anchor who finds meditation. He’s also the host of the 10% Happier podcast, where he interviews celebrities, entrepreneurs, authors, scientists, and meditation teachers about how to do life better. For 21 years, he worked at ABC News, where he anchored such shows as Nightline and the weekend editions of Good Morning America. Go to wakingup.com/tenpercent for a 30-day free trial of the Waking Up app. Website: www.danharris.com/ X: @danbharris Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/408-finding-equanimity-in-chaos   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 Jon Favreau about the state of American politics. They discuss the Trump administration’s wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, tariffs, why Trump’s supporters don’t care about his corruption, the next steps for Democrats, the energy behind AOC and Bernie Sanders, why Biden failed on the border, Biden’s legacy, potential 2028 Democratic candidates, Elon Musk and DOGE, whether we can ever return to “normal” politics, and other topics. Jon Favreau is the host of Pod Save America and co-founder of Crooked Media. He served as President Barack Obama’s head speechwriter from 2005 to 2013. He is also the host of Offline with Jon Favreau and The Wilderness. His first book, Democracy or Else, which he co-authored alongside his Crooked Media co-founders, is now a New York Times best-seller. Jon lives in Los Angeles with his wife Emily, their sons, Charlie and Teddy, and their dog, Leo. Website: https://crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-america/ X: @jonfavs Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/407-can-we-ever-return-to-normal-politics   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 Tom Holland about his book, Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. They discuss the enduring influence of Christianity on the modern world, historical interpretations of crucifixion, the moral systems of ancient societies, Paul's letters, the impact of the parable of the Good Samaritan, Islam and how it relates to Christian notions of morality, secular sources of morality, the collision between Western norms and traditional Islam, how Western societies take their values for granted, the relevance of the Roman Republic and the French Revolution, and other topics. Tom Holland is an award-winning historian, translator, and broadcaster. His most recent book, Pax, covers the heyday of the Roman Empire. He has translated Herodotus and Suetonius for Penguin Classics. He is a co-presenter of the world’s most popular history podcast, The Rest Is History. He has written and presented several TV documentaries on subjects ranging from the Islamic State to dinosaurs. He is a trustee of the British Library, an honorary fellow of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and has been described in The Times as “a leading English cricketer.” He caught his first salmon last October. X: @holland_tom Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/406-the-legacy-of-christianity   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.  

By far the most common feedback we hear from you guys is the following: “We want more from Sam.” More of his thoughts on current events, more frequently. So that’s what we’re trying here, with this new exploratory series we've creatively titled “More From Sam.” Sam jumped on with his manager and business partner, Jaron Lowenstein, to run through some of the topics you all suggested. They discuss tariffs, SignalGate, Trump, Elon, Joe Rogan, Lex Fridman, The All-In podcast, Sam’s upcoming podcast with Douglas Murray, and more. Subscribers can watch the full video on Substack here. Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/405-more-from-sam-tariffs-signal-gate-trump-elon-douglas-murray-joe-rogan   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 his wife, Annaka Harris, about LIGHTS ON, her ten-part audio documentary exploring the perplexities of consciousness and the cosmos. They discuss the hard problem of consciousness, whether consciousness is fundamental, what split-brain patients can teach us about consciousness, what consciousness being fundamental could mean for the world of physics, and other topics. After Annaka’s conversation with Sam, we present an excerpt from LIGHTS ON. Chapter 8: Space and Time features author and science writer George Musser, as well as physicists Lee Smolin and Carlo Rovelli. Annaka draws on their noted expertise to explore some of the most mystifying conclusions in quantum theory, how they may validate certain meditative insights, and the ways in which they challenge our basic understanding of reality. Everyday experience tells us that space fills the universe; that causes have effects across time; that the future exists only as potential; that consciousness is confined to intelligent creatures, rather than fundamental to the very structure of being. These bedrock assumptions, when examined through both modern physics and contemplative practices, prove surprisingly fragile—and the fabric of existence profoundly counterintuitive. Annaka Harris is the New York Times bestselling author of CONSCIOUS: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind and writer and producer of the audio documentary series, LIGHTS ON. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Nautilus Magazine, the Journal of Consciousness Studies, and IAI Magazine. She is also an editor and consultant for science writers, specializing in neuroscience and physics. Annaka is the author of the children’s book I Wonder, coauthor of the Mindful Games Activity Cards, and a volunteer mindfulness teacher for the organization Inner Kids. Website: https://annakaharris.com/ X: @annakaharris Episode References: A Solution to the Combination Problem and the Future of Panpsychism by Annaka HarrisConsciousness Isn’t Self-Centered by Annaka Harris   Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/404-what-if-consciousness-is-fundamental   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 Jonah Goldberg about the damage Trump is doing domestically and abroad. They discuss Trump’s tariffs, Curtis Yarvin and the Tech Right, threats against Republicans who criticize Trump, why the arguments Republicans are using to defend Trump’s position on Ukraine are flawed, America’s deteriorating moral standing on the global stage, the recklessness of DOGE, why so many CEOs bent the knee to Trump, antisemitism on the Right, Trump’s plan for Gaza, worst case scenarios for Trump 2.0, and other topics. Jonah Goldberg is the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Dispatch. A Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Goldberg is also an LA Times columnist, CNN contributor, and three-time bestselling author.  Website: TheDispatch.com X: @JonahDispatch Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/403-sanity-check-on-trump-2-0   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/402-the-geopolitics-of-trump-2-0 Sam Harris speaks with Niall Ferguson about the current geopolitical situation. They discuss how Trump is handling the war in Ukraine, Europe’s changing relationship to the U.S., security concerns around Trump’s appointees, the economic impacts of Trump’s policies, how China views political turmoil in the U.S., whether democracy can withstand Trump 2.0, Elon Musk and X, free speech in the United Kingdom, Trump’s plan for Gaza, and other topics. Sir Niall Ferguson, MA, DPhil, FRSE, is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and a senior faculty fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. He is the author of 16 books, including The Pity of War, The House of Rothschild, and Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist, which won the Council on Foreign Relations’ Arthur Ross Prize. He is a columnist with The Free Press and The Times. He is also the founder and managing director of Greenmantle, a New York-based advisory firm, a co-founder of the Latin American fintech company Ualá, and a co-founding trustee of the new University of Austin. Website: niallferguson.com Twitter: @nfergus   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/401-christian-nationalism-and-the-new-right Sam Harris speaks with Katherine Stewart about her new book, Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy. They discuss Project 2025, Christian nationalism, white supremacy, whether the backlash against wokeness has been overblown, the asymmetric standards between right-wing and left-wing media, Trump’s appeal to evangelicals, wealth inequality, political ideology in public schools, and other topics. Katherine Stewart is the award-winning author of Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy (Bloomsbury, 2025). Her previous book, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, formed the basis of the documentary feature God & Country, produced by Rob Reiner. Stewart's work appears in The New York Times opinion section, The New Republic, Religion News Service, and others.  Website: katherinestewart.me Twitter: @kathsstewart Bluesky: @katherinestewart.bsky.social   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/400-the-politics-of-information Sam Harris speaks with Helen Lewis about the culture wars. They discuss the role of journalists, DEI, political polarization, feminism, transgender activism, gender roles, the Rotherham scandal, Islam and jihadism, Elon Musk and X, the future of the Democratic Party, and other topics. Helen Lewis is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she writes about politics and culture. Last year, she traveled to Austin to explore what Joe Rogan has done to the city, profiled the controversial American literacy guru Lucy Calkins, and spent the election campaign season in Pennsylvania. Helen is also the host of the BBC's Strong Message Here and Helen Lewis Has Left The Chat. Her first book, Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights, was a Sunday Times bestseller. Her second book, The Genius Myth, explores how the modern idea of genius―a class of special people―is distorting our view of the world. It will be published in the summer by Jonathan Cape (UK) and Thesis (US). She writes a weekly Substack, The Bluestocking. Website: helenlewis.substack.com Twitter: @helenlewis   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/399-the-politics-of-catastrophe Sam Harris speaks with Rick Caruso about the Los Angeles fires. They discuss how mismanagement may have contributed to the severity of the fires, who’s to blame, the practice of private firefighting, rebuilding and the future of L.A., how DEI fueled public cynicism toward government, the ethics of having immense wealth, philanthropy, and other topics. Rick Caruso is a philanthropist and the founder and executive chairman of Caruso, one of the largest privately held real estate companies in the U.S. Early in his career, he served as Commissioner for the L.A. Department of Water and Power, before being selected to be President of the L.A. Police Commission. He also served as the chair of the board of trustees at the University of Southern California, and is on the boards of St. John’s Hospital and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation. Website: https://caruso.com/about/rick-caruso/ Twitter: @RickCarusoLA  

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/398-thoughts-without-a-thinker Sam provides an update about his experience of the LA fires and shares a few selections from the Waking Up app.   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/397-a-new-years-message-from-sam   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/396-the-way-forward Sam Harris speaks with Matthew Yglesias about the future of Democratic politics. They discuss where the Democrats went wrong, the failure of identity politics, the Left’s reaction to the Daniel Penny case, what a second Trump term might look like, immigration and the border, gender and racial disparities in crime, wealth inequality, Matthew’s “nine principles for a common sense Democrat comeback,” and other topics. Matthew Yglesias is a columnist for Bloomberg and author of the newsletter Slow Boring. He has also written for The American Prospect, The Atlantic, and Slate. He co-founded Vox in 2014. Website: www.slowboring.com Twitter: @mattyglesias   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/395-intellectual-authority-and-its-discontents Sam Harris discusses the breakdown of trust in institutions, the nature of intellectual authority, the danger of bad incentives, the epidemic of conspiracy thinking and misinformation, Trump and Elon, and other topics.   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/394-bringing-back-the-mammoth Sam Harris speaks with Ben Lamm about his work at Colossal Biosciences. They discuss his efforts to de-extinct the woolly mammoth, the Tasmanian tiger, and the dodo; the difference between Colossal’s approach and Jurassic Park; the details of resurrecting the mammoth; the relevance of this work to human health; the role of artificial intelligence; reintroducing mammoths, Tasmanian tigers, and dodos back into the wild; the environmental and business case for de-extinction; and other topics. Ben Lamm is a technology and software entrepreneur. He is the CEO of Colossal Biosciences, which he co-founded alongside biologist George Church with the goal of resurrecting extinct species. Ben is also a fellow of The Explorer’s Club, and he serves on the scientific advisory board of The Planetary Society. Website: https://colossal.com/ Twitter: @BenLamm   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/393-is-history-repeating-itself Sam Harris speaks with Simon Sebag Montefiore about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the history of the Jews, and the rise of global antisemitism. Simon Sebag Montefiore is an internationally bestselling author and historian. His books include Catherine the Great and Potemkin, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, Young Stalin, Jerusalem: The Biography - A History of the Middle East, The Romanovs: 1613–1918, The World: A Family History of Humanity, and The Moscow Trilogy of novels: Sashenka, Red Sky at Noon and One Night in Winter. They have been published in forty-eight languages and have won many prizes, such as the Samuel Johnson Prize, the British Book Awards History Book of the Year Prize, the LA Times Book Prize for Biography (USA), and the Costa Biography Award (UK). He is the presenter of five history series for the BBC, and many of his books are being developed for movies or drama series. He studied history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University where he received his Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD). Website: simonsebagmontefiore.com Twitter: @simonmontefiore   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/392-technology-culture Sam Harris speaks with Christine Rosen about how technology is changing our culture. They discuss the courage of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, lost practices like handwriting, tradeoffs in our use of technology, social media, conspiracy thinking, X as a platform for breaking news, the future of journalism, the importance of local news, the asymmetry right and left politically, the strange case of Tucker Carlson, the antisemitic hallucinations of Dan Bilzerian, expectations for a second Trump presidency, antisemitism in America, and other topics. Christine Rosen is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a columnist for Commentary magazine, and a fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. She is the author of several books, and her writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the New York Post, Politico, The Washington Post, National Review, and MIT Technology Review, among other outlets. Rosen has a PhD in history from Emory University and a BA in history from the University of South Florida. She also teaches martial arts and holds a third-degree black belt in aikido. Her most recent book is The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. Website: https://www.aei.org/profile/christine-rosen/   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/391-the-reckoning Sam Harris discusses the result of the 2024 presidential election, the lessons that the Democratic Party should draw from it, and the implications of a second Trump term.

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/390-final-thoughts-on-the-2024-presidential-election Sam Harris speaks with Mark Cuban about the 2024 presidential election. They discuss Trump’s ethics, his apparent political indestructibility, election denialism, the influence of Elon Musk, the strengths and weaknesses of the Harris campaign, the mystery of the southern border, Trump’s immigration and deportation policies, Elon’s trafficking in the “great replacement theory,” Trump’s economic policy, Harris’s tax and healthcare proposals, the effect of tariffs, the US supply chain, the problem of wealth inequality, a proposed tax on unrealized capital gains, support for Israel, a return to normal politics, and other topics. Mark Cuban is an entrepreneur and investor. He is also known for his role in the television series Shark Tank and his ownership of the Dallas Mavericks. He has been an outspoken supporter of the Harris campaign. Twitter: @mcuban   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/388-what-is-life Sam Harris speaks with Sara Imari Walker about a scientific understanding of life. They discuss the contributions of physics to this topic, Erwin Schrödinger, the inadequacy of standard definitions of life, the prospect of "artificial" life, the role of information, constructor theory, assembly theory, the space of all possible structures, a "block universe," the existence of abstract objects like numbers, the Fermi paradox, the likelihood of life elsewhere in the universe, experiments that decide how likely life is to emerge, the possibility of a Great Filter, the number of Earth-like worlds, and other topics. Sara Imari Walker is an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist. She is deputy director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science and a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. She is also a fellow of the Berggruen Institute and a member of the external faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. She is a recipient of the Stanley L. Miller Early-Career Award for her research on the origin of life, and her research team at ASU is internationally regarded as being among the leading labs aiming to build a fundamental theory for understanding what life is. Her research has been featured in Scientific American, Quanta Magazine, and a variety of other international outlets. Her book, Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life's Emergence, is available now. Website: https://search.asu.edu/profile/1731899 Twitter: @Sara_Imari   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/387-politics-power Sam Harris speaks with Ambassador Rahm Emanuel about the state of world order and American politics. They discuss the mystery of Japan’s economic health, U.S. competition with China, possible conflict over Taiwan and the Philippines, the significance of the South China Sea, the history of the Japan-U.S. friendship, how the Democratic Party lost its way, immigration, whether Vice President Harris needs a “Sister Souljah moment,” whether she should explain her changes of position better than she has, the standing of Israel in the eyes of the world, antisemitism, the Abraham Accords, Hamas, the West Bank, the influence of the religious right in Israel, a possible war with Iran, Netanyahu and Israeli security, a two-state solution, whether a Harris administration would reliably support Israel, and other topics. Rahm Emanuel is currently the U.S. ambassador to Japan. He was a senior advisor to President Bill Clinton before being elected to represent Illinois in the House of Representatives in 2003. He was also President Barack Obama’s chief of staff from 2009 to 2010. In 2011, he was elected mayor of Chicago, where he served until 2019. Twitter: @RahmEmanuel    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/385-ai-utopia Sam Harris speaks with Nick Bostrom about ongoing progress in artificial intelligence. They discuss the twin concerns about the failure of alignment and the failure to make progress, why smart people don’t perceive the risk of superintelligent AI, the governance risk, path dependence and "knotty problems," the idea of a solved world, Keynes’s predictions about human productivity, the uncanny valley of utopia, the replacement of human labor and other activities, meaning and purpose, digital isolation and plugging into something like the Matrix, pure hedonism, the asymmetry between pleasure and pain, increasingly subtle distinctions in experience, artificial purpose, altering human values at the level of the brain, ethical changes in the absence of extreme suffering, our cosmic endowment, longtermism, problems with consequentialism, the ethical conundrum of dealing with small probabilities of large outcomes, and other topics. Nick Bostrom is a professor at Oxford University, where he is the founding director of the Future of Humanity Institute. He is the author of more than 200 publications, including Anthropic Bias (2002), Global Catastrophic Risks (2008), Human Enhancement (2009), and Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (2014), a New York Times bestseller which sparked the global conversation about the future of AI. His work has framed much of the current thinking around humanity’s future (such as the concept of existential risk, the simulation argument, the vulnerable world hypothesis, astronomical waste, and the unilateralist’s curse). He has been on Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers list twice, and was the youngest person to rank among the top 15 in Prospect’s World Thinkers list. He has an academic background in theoretical physics, AI, computational neuroscience, and philosophy. His most recent book is Deep Utopia: Life and Meaning in a Solved World. Website: https://nickbostrom.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.  

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/384-stress-testing-our-democracy Sam Harris speaks with Barton Gellman about election integrity and the safeguarding of American democracy. They discuss the war games he's run to test our response to an authoritarian president, using federal troops against American citizens, the difference between laws and norms, state powers to resist the federal government, voter identification and election integrity, political control over election certifications, the Bush-Gore election, the Electoral Count Reform Act, the prospect of public unrest after the November election, January 6th, George Soros, the "good people on both sides" calumny against Trump, what happens to Trump and Trumpism if Harris wins in November, the presidential debate with Harris, the authoritarian potential of a second Trump term, Project 2025, and other topics. Barton Gellman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author. He currently serves as Senior Advisor at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. Previously, he was a staff writer at The Atlantic and The Washington Post. He is the author of Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State and Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency, for which he won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.  Website: bartongellman.com Twitter: @bartongellman   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/383-where-are-the-grown-ups Sam Harris talks about the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the cesspool of X, Tucker Carlson’s conversation with Darryl Cooper, freedom of speech, and other topics.   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/381-delusions-right-and-left Sam Harris speaks with “Destiny” (Steven Bonnell) about politics and public debate. They discuss how he approaches debate, “Trump derangement syndrome,” January 6th, why Trump’s norm violations don’t matter to many people, misadventures on the information landscape, social media and the problem of being too online, Islam and conflict in the Middle East, the difference between the far left and the far right, the lack of sane conservative policies to counterbalance the left, whether the pendulum is swinging back on the left, the ethics and politics of apology, private friendships and public disagreements, and other topics. Steven Bonnell, otherwise known as Destiny, is a YouTuber and political streamer. His commentary on politics and culture has made him almost ubiquitous online, where he stirs up controversy on both the right and the left. He grew up in a conservative Catholic household, and now spends much of his time arguing against American conservatism. He’s debated many controversial figures, such as Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes. Website: www.destiny.gg Twitter: @TheOmniLiberal   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/380-the-roots-of-attention Sam Harris speaks with Amishi Jha about attention and the brain. They discuss how attention is studied, the failure of brain-training games, the relationship between attention and awareness, mindfulness as an intrinsic mental capacity, the neurological implications of different types of meditation, the neural correlates of attention and distraction, the prospects of self-transcendence, the link between thought and emotion, the difference between dualistic and nondualistic mindfulness, studying nondual awareness in the lab, the influence of smartphones, the value of mind wandering, and other topics. Dr. Amishi Jha, PhD, is a professor of psychology at the University of Miami. She serves as the Director of Contemplative Neuroscience for the Mindfulness Research and Practice Initiative, which she cofounded in 2010. She received her PhD from the University of California, Davis, and did postdoctoral training at the Brain Imaging and Analysis Center at Duke University. Her work has been featured at NATO, the World Economic Forum, and the Pentagon, and she’s been covered in The New York Times, NPR, Time magazine, and Forbes. With grants from the Department of Defense and several private foundations, she leads research on the neural bases of attention and the effects of mindfulness-based training programs on cognition, emotion, resilience, and performance. Dr. Jha’s national bestseller, Peak Mind, describes her work with a variety of high-demand groups, from special forces, elite athletes, and first responders, to teachers, business and medical professionals, and students. Her forthcoming app, Pushups for the Mind, will be available to U.S. military service members in the fall of 2024, and for public release in early 2025. Website: https://amishi.com/ Twitter: @amishijha   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/379-regulating-artificial-intelligence Sam Harris speaks with Yoshua Bengio and Scott Wiener about AI risk and the new bill introduced in California intended to mitigate it. They discuss the controversy over regulating AI and the assumptions that lead people to discount the danger of an AI arms race. Yoshua Bengio is full professor at Université de Montréal and the Founder and Scientific Director of Mila - Quebec AI Institute. Considered one of the world’s leaders in artificial intelligence and deep learning, he is the recipient of the 2018 A.M. Turing Award with Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun, known as the Nobel prize of computing. He is a Canada CIFAR AI Chair, a member of the UN’s Scientific Advisory Board for Independent Advice on Breakthroughs in Science and Technology, and Chair of the International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI. Website: https://yoshuabengio.org/   Scott Wiener has represented San Francisco in the California Senate since 2016. He recently introduced SB 1047, a bill aiming to reduce the risks of frontier models of AI. He has also authored landmark laws to, among other things, streamline the permitting of new homes, require insurance plans to cover mental healthcare, guarantee net neutrality, eliminate mandatory minimums in sentencing, require billion-dollar corporations to disclose their climate emissions, and declare California a sanctuary state for LGBTQ youth. He has lived in San Francisco's historically LGBTQ Castro neighborhood since 1997. Twitter: @Scott_Wiener   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/377-the-future-of-psychedelic-medicine Sam Harris speaks with Dr. Jennifer Mitchell and Dr. Sarah Abedi about recent developments in research on psychedelics. They discuss the history of this research and the war on drugs, recent setbacks in the FDA approval process, MDMA as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the challenges of conducting this research, allegations of therapist misconduct, new therapeutic models for mental health treatment, psychoneuroimmunology, "non-psychedelic" psychedelics, good and bad trips, the FDA's coming decision on MDMA-assisted therapy, "right-to-try" policies for pharmaceuticals, the role of psychedelic therapists, the problem of having all this therapeutic work being done underground, and other topics. Petition to approve MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD: https://www.approvemdmatherapy.com/ Dr. Jennifer Mitchell is a professor in the UCSF Department of Neurology and Associate Chief of Staff for Research and Development at the San Francisco VA. Her research is focused on identifying and developing novel therapeutics for drug and alcohol abuse, PTSD, stress, anxiety, and depression and on understanding the neural mechanisms responsible for these disorders. Dr. Mitchell has extensive and diverse experience with human and animal pharmacology, hypothesis-driven neuroscience, human proof-of-concept studies, and clinical trials. For the past few years, her work has centered around the development of psychedelic medicines for a broad range of mental health conditions, including PTSD. Website: https://profiles.ucsf.edu/jennifer.mitchell   Dr. Sarah Abedi is a board-certified emergency medicine physician and psychedelic facilitator for clinical trials. She has worked as a psychedelic facilitator at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute and is set to join the psilocybin and mindfulness study at the USC Center for Mindfulness Science. She works on policy change to expand funding for mental health research. She served as Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Campaign Manager for TREAT California, a citizen-driven ballot initiative aimed at establishing a $5 billion funding agency to explore novel therapeutics, including psychedelics. Currently, Dr. Abedi is the Chief Medical Officer of TREAT Humanity, an organization dedicated to advancing the research of mental health therapeutics, including psychedelics, through enhanced funding mechanisms. Website: www.sarahabedimd.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.  

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/376-how-democracies-fail Sam Harris and Anne Applebaum discuss the nature of modern autocracies and how democracies fail. They discuss the power of ideas, why autocracies seek to undermine democracies, cooperation among dictators, how Western financial experts and investors have enabled autocracies, how Putin came to power, the failure of engagement and investment to create political change, what’s at stake in the war in Ukraine, Trump’s charisma, the current symptoms of American democratic decline, the ideologues around Trump, the hollowing out of institutions, how things might unravel in America, anti-liberal tendencies in American politics, the role of social media, the different pathologies on the Left and Right, analogies to Vichy France, the weakness of the Democrats, the political effects of the assassination attempt on former President Trump, and other topics. Anne Applebaum is a historian, journalist, and staff writer at The Atlantic. She was a columnist for The Washington Post for 17 years. She is the author of five critically acclaimed books: Twilight of Democracy, Red Famine, Iron Curtain, Between East and West, and Gulag, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize. She divides her time between Poland, where her husband is foreign minister, and Washington D.C. Her newest book is Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World.  Website: anneapplebaum.com Twitter: @anneapplebaum

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/375-on-the-attempted-assassination-of-president-trump

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/374-consciousness-and-the-physical-world Sam Harris speaks with Christof Koch about the nature of consciousness. They discuss Christof’s development as a neuroscientist, his collaboration with Francis Crick, change blindness and binocular rivalry, sleep and anesthesia, the limits of physicalism, non-locality, brains as classical systems, conscious AI, idealism and panpsychism, Integrated Information Theory (IIT), what it means to say something “exists,” the illusion of the self, brain bridging, Christof’s experience with psychedelics, and other topics. Christof Koch is a neuroscientist at the Allen Institute and the Chief Scientist of the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation. He is the former president of the Allen Institute for Brain Science and a former professor at the California Institute of Technology. He writes regularly for Scientific American and is the author of five books, most recently Then I Am Myself the World: What Consciousness Is and How to Expand It. Website: https://christofkoch.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.  

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/373-anti-zionism-is-antisemitism Sam Harris speaks with Michal Cotler-Wunsh about the global rise of antisemitism. They discuss the bias against Israel at the United Nations, the nature of double standards, the precedent set by Israel in its conduct in the war in Gaza, the shapeshifting quality of antisemitism, anti-Zionism as the newest strain of Jew hatred, the “Zionism is racism” resolution at the U.N., the lie that Israel is an apartheid state, the notion that Israel is perpetrating a “genocide” against the Palestinians, the Marxist oppressed-oppressor narrative, the false moral equivalence between the atrocities committed by Hamas and the deaths of noncombatants in Gaza, the failure of the social justice movement to respond appropriately to events in Israel, what universities should have done after October 7th, reclaiming the meanings of words, extremism vs civilization, and other topics. Michal Cotler-Wunsh is Israel’s Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism. She is a prominent public speaker, author, researcher, and independent policy and strategy advisor on intersecting issues of antisemitism, law, human rights, and Zionism. Michal was a member of Israel’s 23rd Knesset, where she chaired the Addictions Committee & Subcommittee for Israel-Diaspora Relations, was a member of the Foreign Affairs & Security, Constitution, and Law & Justice committees, and co-founded the Interparliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism. Michal is a Trustee in the Rabbi Sacks Legacy. Twitter: @cotlerwunsh

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/372-life-work Sam Harris speaks with George Saunders about his creative process. They discuss George’s involvement with Buddhism, the importance of kindness, psychedelics, writing as a practice, the work of Raymond Carver, the problem of social media, our current political moment, the role of fame in American culture, Wendell Berry, fiction as way of exploring good and evil, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, missed opportunities in ordinary life, what it means to be a more loving person, his article “The Incredible Buddha Boy,” the prison of reputation, Tolstoy, and other topics. George Saunders was born in Amarillo, Texas, and raised in Chicago. He is the author of twelve books, including Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the 2017 Booker Prize for the best work of fiction in English, and Tenth of December, a finalist for the National Book Award. He is also the author of A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, a book about the Russian short story. In 2013, he was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. He has taught in the Creative Writing Program at Syracuse University since 1997. Website: https://georgesaundersbooks.com/about-george-saunders   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/371-what-the-hell-is-happening Sam Harris speaks to Bill Maher about the state of the world. They discuss the aftermath of October 7th, the cowardice and confusion of many celebrities, gender apartheid, the failures of the Biden campaign, Bill’s relationship to his audience, the differences between the left and right, Megyn Kelly, loss of confidence in the media, expectations for the 2024 election, the security concerns of old-school Republicans, the prospect of a second Trump term, totalitarian regimes, functioning under medical uncertainty, Bill’s plan to stop doing stand-up (maybe), looking back on his career, his experience of fame, Jerry Seinfeld, and other topics. Bill Maher has been on TV for 30 years. His new book What This Comedian Said Will Shock You reached number one on the NYT bestseller list. Watch his podcast Club Random on Youtube or listen everywhere. Website: billmaher.com Twitter: @billmaher   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.