Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content

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-Zioni...

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, Wen...

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, Meg...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/370-gender-apartheid-and-the-future-of-iran In today’s housekeeping, Sam explains his digital business model. He and Yasmine Mohammed (co-host) then speak with Masih Alinejad about gender apartheid in Iran. They discuss the Iranian revolution, the hypocrisy of Western feminists, the morality police and the significance of...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/369-escaping-death Sam Harris speaks with Sebastian Junger about danger and death. They discuss Sebastian's career as a journalist in war zones, the connection between danger and meaning, his experience of nearly dying from a burst aneurysm in his abdomen, his lingering trauma, the concept of "awe," psychedelics, near-dea...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/368-freedom-censorship Sam Harris speaks with Greg Lukianoff about free speech and cancel culture. They discuss the origins of political correctness, free speech and its boundaries, the bedrock principle of the First Amendment, technology and the marketplace of ideas, epistemic anarchy, social media and cancellation, comp...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/367-campus-protests-antisemitism-and-western-values Sam Harris discusses the recent protests on college campuses, why focusing narrowly on the problem of "antisemitism" will be counterproductive, widespread confusion about the threat of Islamic extremism, and the necessary defense of Western values.

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/366-urban-warfare-2-0 Sam Harris speaks with John Spencer about the reality of urban warfare and Israel's conduct in the war in Gaza. They discuss the nature of the Hamas attacks on October 7th, what was most surprising about the Hamas videos, the difficulty in distinguishing Hamas from the rest of the population, combata...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/365-reality-check Sam Harris begins by remembering his friendship with Dan Dennett. He then speaks with David Wallace-Wells about the shattering of our information landscape. They discuss the false picture of reality produced during Covid, the success of the vaccines, how various countries fared during the pandemic, our p...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/364-facts-values Sam Harris revisits the central argument he made in his book, The Moral Landscape , about the reality of moral truth. He discusses the way concepts like “good” and “evil” can be thought about objectively, the primacy of our intuitions of truth and falsity, and the unity of knowledge. A transcript of this...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/363-knowledge-work Sam Harris speaks with Cal Newport about our use of information technology and the cult of productivity. They discuss the state of social media, the "academic-in-exile effect," free speech and moderation, the effect of the pandemic on knowledge work, slow productivity, the example of Jane Austen, managi...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/362-six-months-of-war Sam Harris and Josh Szeps (episode co-host) speak with Douglas Murray about the ongoing war in Gaza. They discuss public opinion about the war, the prospect of a widening conflict with Hezbollah and Iran, whether the Iron Dome was a mistake, the sentiments of Israeli Arabs, the global problem of Isla...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/361-sam-bankman-fried-effective-altruism Sam Harris speaks with William MacAskill about the implosion of FTX and the effect that it has had on the Effective Altruism movement. They discuss the logic of “earning to give,” the mind of SBF, his philanthropy, the character of the EA community, potential problems with focusing...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/360-we-really-dont-have-free-will Sam Harris speaks with Robert Sapolsky about the widespread belief in free will. They discuss the limits of intuition, the views of Dan Dennett, complexity and emergence, downward causation, abstraction, epigenetics, predictability, fatalism, Benjamin Libet, the primacy of luck, historica...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/359-getting-used-to-it Sam Harris speaks with Cass Sunstein about habituation and its consequences. They discuss habituation to positive and negative experiences, marriage, happiness, meaning, variety, doing good vs feeling good, midlife crises, kids, wealth and happiness, things vs experience, the “illusory truth effect,...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/358-the-war-in-ukraine Sam Harris speaks with Yaroslav Trofimov about the War in Ukraine. They discuss the widespread false assumptions that Russia would win a swift victory, Ukrainian attitudes toward Russia, the transformation of the Ukrainian military, Russian incompetence, Russian public opinion, the Azov Battalion an...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/357-america-world-order Sam Harris speaks with Bret Stephens about America’s place in the world. They discuss the waning Pax Americana, American isolationism, Republican fondness for Putin, Tucker Carlson, why America should support Ukraine, the significance of Alexei Navalny, what it would mean to properly hold Putin res...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/356-islam-freedom Sam Harris and Rory Stewart debate whether Islam poses a unique threat to open societies. Rory Stewart is a leading thinker on international affairs and development currently serving as Special Advisor to GiveDirectly , which delivers cash directly to the world’s poorest households. Stewart was a member...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/355-a-falling-world Sam Harris speaks with Peter Zeihan about the unraveling world order. They discuss the Bretton Woods system, America’s role in securing the global supply chain, the coming end of American security guarantees, the shrinking of the US Navy, Houthi terrorism, deterring Iran, conflict in the Middle East, t...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/354-is-moral-progress-a-fantasy Sam Harris speaks with John Gray about the possibility of moral and political progress. They discuss historical and current threats to freedom of thought, the limits of law, the spread of dangerous technology, failures of convergence on norms and values, Arthur Koestler, de-industrializatio...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/353-race-reason Sam Harris speaks with Coleman Hughes about race, racism, and social justice. They discuss the ideal of "color blindness," race and crime, Coleman's experience at TED, LatinX, the confusion of the elites, Ibram X. Kendi, affirmative action, class differences, poverty, single-parent families, the death of G...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/352-hubris-chaos Sam Harris speaks with Rory Stewart about the fraying world order. They discuss the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the problems with nation building, cultural ignorance, tolerance for corruption, our catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the role that Islam played in our failures in Afghanistan and Ira...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/351-5-myths-about-israel-and-the-war-in-gaza A transcript of this podcast is available on Sam’s blog .

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/350-sharing-reality Sam Harris speaks with Jonathan Rauch and Josh Szeps about the foundations of knowledge and the fragmentation of society. They discuss the state of the mainstream media, diversity of viewpoints, the "reality-based" community, what Covid did to our information landscape, the Overton window and the news...

Share this episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/349-generosity-cynicism-and-the-future-of-doing-good Sam Harris speaks with Chris Anderson about generosity in the age of the Internet. They talk about the new spirit of cynicism in tech and finance, the problems with DEI, the Coleman Hughes controversy at TED, the norm of color blindness, the science of generosity, the l...