Making Sense with Sam Harris
Sam Harris
Join neuroscientist, philosopher, and five-time New York Times best-selling author Sam Harris as he explores important and controversial questions about the mind, society, current events, moral philosophy, religion, and rationality—with an overarching focus on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live.
Sam is also the creator of the Waking Up app. Combining Sam's decades of mindfulness practice, profound wisdom from varied philosophical and contemplative traditions, and a commitment to a secular, scientific worldview, Waking Up is a resource for anyone interested in living a more examined, fulfilling life—and a new operating system for the mind.
Waking Up offers free subscriptions to anyone who can't afford one, and donates a minimum of 10% of profits to the most effective charities around the world. To learn more, please go to WakingUp.com.
Sam Harris received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA.
Sam is also the creator of the Waking Up app. Combining Sam's decades of mindfulness practice, profound wisdom from varied philosophical and contemplative traditions, and a commitment to a secular, scientific worldview, Waking Up is a resource for anyone interested in living a more examined, fulfilling life—and a new operating system for the mind.
Waking Up offers free subscriptions to anyone who can't afford one, and donates a minimum of 10% of profits to the most effective charities around the world. To learn more, please go to WakingUp.com.
Sam Harris received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Nov 9, 2017 • 26min
#103 — American Fantasies
Sam Harris speaks with Kurt Andersen about the American aptitude for unfounded belief, the religious lunacy of the Puritans, populist mistrust of authority, the link between postmodernism and religious fundamentalism, the unique history of American religious entrepreneurship, the Trump phenomenon, the effect of fame on politics, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.
16 snips
Oct 30, 2017 • 56min
#102 — Is Buddhism True?
Sam Harris speaks with Robert Wright about his book Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.
Oct 17, 2017 • 33min
#101 — Defending the Republic
Sam Harris speaks with Cass Sunstein about the polarization and fragmentation of American society, "choice architecture," the importance of face-to-face interactions for problem solving, group polarization and identity politics, virtuous extremism, the wisdom of crowds, direct democracy, the limits of free speech, the process of Presidential impeachment, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.
Oct 9, 2017 • 40min
#100 — Facing the Crowd
Sam Harris speaks with Nicholas Christakis about mob behavior, moral panics, and current threats to free speech. They discuss the importance of free speech, the failure of institutions, controversial Halloween costume guidelines at Yale, and the alienation of minority students.
Oct 6, 2017 • 1h 48min
The "After On" Interview
This podcast features an interview with Sam Harris and Rob Reid where they discuss publishing, psychedelics, terrorism, meditation, free speech, and the dangers of superintelligent AI. They also touch on topics like the reach of podcasts vs books, misconceptions surrounding Islamophobia, the flaws in lie detector technology, and the spread of extreme ideas.
Sep 28, 2017 • 32min
#99 — What Happened to Liberalism?
Sam Harris speaks with Mark Lilla about the fate of political liberalism in the United States, the emergence of a new identity politics, the role of class in American society, wealth inequality, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.
Sep 21, 2017 • 30min
#98 — Into the Dark Land
Sam Harris speaks with Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies, about different facets of cancer, from diagnosis to treatment. They discuss the challenges faced by oncologists, delivering bad news, the professionalization of empathy in medicine, and understanding the experience of cancer patients and treatment decisions.
Sep 15, 2017 • 27min
#97 — The Impossible War
Filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick discuss their 10-year-long journey creating The Vietnam War documentary series. They highlight the abundance of war footage, interviews with veterans, and the documentary's relevance due to the passage of time. They also discuss the challenges of storytelling from multiple perspectives and the importance of sound design. The podcast explores the collaborative process of documentary filmmaking, the impact of music on the protest movement, and reflects on moral relativism and the ambiguity of war.
9 snips
Sep 10, 2017 • 51min
#96 — The Nature of Consciousness
Sam Harris speaks with Thomas Metzinger about the scientific and experiential understanding of consciousness. They also talk about the significance of WWII for the history of ideas, the role of intuition in science, the ethics of building conscious AI, the self as an hallucination, how we identify with our thoughts, attention as the root of the feeling of self, the place of Eastern philosophy in Western science, and the limitations of secular humanism. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.
4 snips
Sep 5, 2017 • 47min
#95 — What You Need to Know About Climate Change
Sam Harris speaks with Joseph Romm about how the climate is changing and how we know that human behavior is the primary cause. They discuss why small changes in temperature matter so much, the threats of sea-level rise and desertification, the best and worst case scenarios, the Paris Climate Agreement, the politics surrounding climate science, and many other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.
