Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content

Sam Harris speaks with Jack Dorsey about how he manages his dual CEO roles at Square and Twitter, the role that Twitter plays in journalism, how it’s different from other social media, what makes a conversation healthy, the logic by which Twitter suspends people, the argument for kicking Trump off the platform, Jack’s practice of meditation, and other topics. Jack Dorsey is a tech entrepreneur and...

Stephen Fry is a comedian, actor, writer, presenter, voiceover artist and activist. Some of Stephen’s most well-known acting work includes A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, Blackadder, Kingdom, QI, and V for Vendetta. He has also written and presented several documentary series, including the Emmy Award–winning Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive. Stephen has contribute...

Sam Harris speaks with Stephen Fry about comedy, atheism, political correctness, meditation, ambition, empathy, psychedelics, Christopher Hitchens, Stephen’s experience of manic depression, and much else. Stephen Fry is a comedian, actor, writer, presenter, voiceover artist and activist. Some of Stephen’s most well-known acting work includes A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, Blackadder,...

Sam Harris speaks with Douglas Rushkoff about the state of the digital economy. Douglas Rushkoff is the host of the Team Human podcast and author of  Team Human  as well as a dozen other bestselling books on media, technology, and culture. He is a research fellow of the  Institute for the Futur e , and founder of the Laboratory for Digital Humanism at CUNY/Queens, where he is a Professor of Media...

Sam Harris speaks with Renée DiResta about Russia’s “Internet Research Agency” and its efforts to amplify conspiracy thinking and partisan conflict in the United States. Renée DiResta is the Director of Research at New Knowledge and Head of Policy at the nonprofit organization Data for Democracy where she investigates the spread of malignant narratives across social networks. She regularly writes...

Sam Harris speaks with Deeyah Khan about her groundbreaking films “Jihad” and “White Right.” They discuss her history as a target of religious intolerance, her adventures with neo-Nazis and other white supremacists, the similarities between extremist groups, the dangers of political correctness, and other topics. Deeyah Khan is a two-time Emmy Award-winning and twice BAFTA-nominated documentary fi...

If you had to rewrite The Moral Landscape, would you change or expand on anything? If you designed a school for kids, what would be in the curriculum? Do you think white men really have too much power? What is your relationship to money? How important is it to your happiness? Political scientist Robert Pape claims that the root cause of suicidal terrorism is military occupation, do you contest his...

Sam Harris speaks with Derren Brown about his work as a “psychological illusionist.” They discuss the power of hypnosis, the power of expectations, the usefulness of Stoic philosophy, and other topics. Derren Brown began his UK television career in December 2000 with a series of specials called Mind Control. In the UK his name is now pretty much synonymous with the art of psychological manipulatio...

Johann Hari is the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream , which is being adapted into a feature film. He was twice named “Newspaper Journalist of the Year” by Amnesty International UK. He has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and others. His TED talk, “Everything You Think You Know About Addiction Is Wrong,” has more than 20 million views. His most recent bo...

Sam Harris speaks with Johann Hari about his books Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections . Johann Hari is the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream , which is being adapted into a feature film. He was twice named “Newspaper Journalist of the Year” by Amnesty International UK. He has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and others. His TED talk, “Everything You...

Sam Harris speaks with Rebecca Traister about her new book Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger . Rebecca Traister is writer at large for New York magazine and a contributing editor at Elle. A National Magazine Award finalist, she has written about women in politics, media, and entertainment from a feminist perspective for The New Republic and Salon and has also contributed to Th...

Matt Taibbi is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone and winner of the 2008 National Magazine Award for columns and commentary. He is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Great Derangement , Griftopia , and The Divide . He is currently working on serial book about the failings of the media, titled The Fairway: Thirty Years After Manufacturing Consent, How Mas...

Sam Harris speaks with Matt Taibbi about the state journalism and the polarization of our politics. They discuss the controversy over Steve Bannon at the New Yorker Festival, monetizing the Trump phenomenon, the Jamal Kashoggi murder, the Kavanaugh hearing, the Rolling Stone reporting on the UVA rape case, the viability of a political center, the 2020 Presidential election, the Russia investigatio...

Sam Harris gets together with Bill Maher and Larry Charles to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their film “Religulous.” They discuss religion, politics, comedy, and other dangerous topics. Bill Maher has set the boundaries of where funny, political talk can go on American television. First on “Politically Incorrect” (Comedy Central, ABC, 1993-2002), and for the last fifteen years on HBO’s “Real T...

Sam Harris speaks with Yuval Noah Harari about his new book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century . They discuss the importance of meditation for his intellectual life, the primacy of stories, the need to revise our fundamental assumptions about human civilization, the threats to liberal democracy, a world without work, universal basic income, the virtues of nationalism, the implications of AI and autom...

Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He received his Ph. D. in social psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 and then did post-doctoral research at the University of Chicago and in Orissa, India. He taught at the University of Virginia for 16 years before moving to NYU-Stern in 2011. He was named one...

Sam Harris speaks with Jonathan Haidt about his new book The Coddling of the American Mind . They discuss the hostility to free speech that has grown more common among young adults, recent moral panics on campus, the role of intentions in ethical life, the economy of prestige in “call out” culture, how we should define bigotry, systemic racism, the paradox of progress, and other topics. Jonathan H...

Jaron Lanier is a scientist, musician, and writer best known for his work in virtual reality and his advocacy of humanism and sustainable economics in a digital context. His 1980s start-up VPL Research created the first commercial VR products and introduced avatars, multi-person virtual world experiences, and prototypes of major VR applications such as surgical simulation. His books Who Owns the F...

Sam Harris speaks with Jaron Lanier about the economics, politics, and psychology of our digital lives. They discuss the insidious idea that information should be free, what we should want from an advanced economy, the role of advertising, libertarianism in Silicon Valley, the problems with social media, and other topics. Jaron Lanier is a scientist, musician, and writer best known for his work in...

Sam Harris speaks with Martie Haselton about sex and gender, the role of hormones in human psychology, “Darwinian feminism,” the unique hormonal experience of women, transgenderism, the Google Memo, and other topics. Martie Haselton is an interdisciplinary evolutionary scientist and Professor of Psychology at UCLA. She is the author of Hormonal:  The Hidden Intelligence of Hormones – How They Driv...

Q&A with Joseph GoldsteinHow should people with a history of trauma practice meditation? How do meditation teachers recognize progress in their students? How can a person’s claims to freedom and "enlightenment" be evaluated? What are further indicators of progress on the path of meditative insight? If the goal of meditation is to transcend desire, how is that different from mere apathy and pur...

Sam Harris speaks with Coleman Hughes about race, racism, and identity politics. Coleman Hughes is an undergraduate philosophy major at Columbia University. His writing has been featured in Quillette, Heterodox Academy, and in the Columbia Daily Spectator. Twitter: @coldxman

What are your thoughts on suicide? What do you know about hypnosis? Do you see any value in being lost in thought, or is it always harmful? If you could acquire PhD-level knowledge of any subject other than neuroscience what would it be? My friend’s sister was murdered, and she claims that her faith is the only thing keeping her going. What would you say to her? Have you ever struggled with depres...

Sam Harris speaks with Ian Bremmer about the failure of globalism and the rise of populism. They discuss immigration, trade, automation, wealth inequality, Trump, identity politics and other topics. Ian Bremmer is the president and founder of Eurasia Group, the leading global political risk research and consulting firm. Eurasia Group provides analysis and expertise about how political developments...

Sam Harris speaks with Chris Voss about his experience as a hostage negotiator for the FBI. They discuss different types of hostage crises, along with many of the lessons that apply to negotiating in normal life. Chris Voss is a 24-year veteran of the FBI and one of the world’s preeminent experts on the art of negotiation. He is the founder and principal of The Black Swan Group, a consulting firm...