In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Yuval Noah Harari about the Covid-19 pandemic and its future implications. They discuss the failures of global leadership, the widespread distrust of institutions, the benefits of nationalism and its current unraveling in the U.S., politics as a way of reconciling competing desires, the consequences of misinformation, the enduring respect for science, the future of surveillance, the changing role of religion, and other topics. Yuval Noah Har...
May 01, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Harris speaks with James Clear about habit formation. They discuss the difference between creating good habits and discontinuing bad ones, the role of the environment, the misalignment between immediate and long term outcomes, the remembering self vs the experiencing self, goals vs systems, the compounding of incremental gains, the role of attention, the four laws of behavior change, “temptation bundling,” and other topics. James Clear is an author and speaker focused on habits, ...
Apr 29, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris and Caitlin Flanagan discuss the ethics of abortion, the fact that universities with immense endowments are laying off staff during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Woody Allen autobiography, the moral hypocrisy of Hollywood, the lessons of “Tiger King,” and other topics. Caitlin Flanagan is a contributing editor for The Atlantic and a former staff writer for The New Yorker . Her writing has appeared in a number of notable publications including T...
Apr 23, 2020•2 hr 34 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris and Paul Bloom discuss the false tradeoff between the economy and public health, putting a price on human life, framing effects for moral questions, how Covid-19 may change human behavior, “turn-key totalitarianism,” the future of education, the long term psychological effects of the pandemic, the 2020 election, the prospect that Sanders supporters won’t vote for Biden, and what Sam means when he says “the self is an illusion,&rd...
Apr 16, 2020•1 hr 25 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Caitlin Flanagan. They discuss the different sorts of experiences people are having during the Covid-19 pandemic, what it has exposed about our education system, the 2020 election and the many problems with Joe Biden, why the press has been slow to cover Biden’s #MeToo allegation, the perceived double standards in the press and within feminism, and other topics. Caitlin Flanagan is a contributing editor for The Atlantic and a former st...
Apr 12, 2020•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Laurie Santos about the scientific study of happiness. They discuss people’s expectations about happiness, the experiencing self vs the remembered self, framing effects, the importance of social connections, the effect of focusing on the happiness of others, introversion and extroversion, the influence of technology on social life, our relationship to time, the connection between happiness and ethics, hedonic adaptation, the power of m...
Apr 10, 2020•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with General Stanley McChrystal and Chris Fussell about the Covid-19 pandemic. They discuss the nature of the ongoing crisis, the threat of a breakdown in social order, the problem of misinformation, the prospects of a nationwide lockdown, the trade off between personal freedom and safety, the threat of tyranny, the concerns about the global supply chain, concerns about the price of oil, safeguarding the 2020 Presidential election, and other topi...
Apr 06, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Matt Mullenweg about the evolution of distributed work. They discuss the benefits of working from home, the new norms of knowledge work, relevant tools and security concerns, the challenges for managers, the importance of written communication, the necessity of innovating in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, delivery networks as critical infrastructure, economic recovery, and other topics. Matt Mullenweg is a founding developer of WordPress...
Mar 24, 2020•2 hr 45 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks about social contagion and about the importance of understanding one’s own mind in an emergency.
Mar 20, 2020•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris and Paul Bloom speak about the psychology of adapting to the coronavirus pandemic, the disastrous analogy between coronavirus and flu, the political siloing of information, true and false concerns over “panic,” pressuring China to close down their live animal markets, the economic implications and possible silver linings of the pandemic, what our response suggests about our ability to deal with climate change, Biden vs Sanders, the ethics of...
Mar 17, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Amesh Adalja about the spreading coronavirus pandemic. They discuss the contagiousness of the virus and the severity of the resultant illness, the mortality rate and risk factors, vectors of transmission, how long coronavirus can live on surfaces, the importance of social distancing, possible anti-viral treatments, the timeline for a vaccine, the importance of pandemic preparedness, and other topics. Amesh Adalja , MD, is an infectious disea...
Mar 11, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Nicholas Christakis about the coronavirus pandemic. They discuss the likely effects on society, proactive vs reactive school closures, community transmission, false comparisons between coronavirus and flu, the imperative of social distancing, the timeline of the pandemic, Trump’s political messaging, the widespread distrust of expertise, the importance of “flattening the curve” of the epidemic, the possible failure of our h...
Mar 10, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Scott Galloway about the connection between wealth and happiness. They discuss the problem of wealth inequality, the transfer of wealth from the young to the old, class warfare in Democratic politics, deficit spending, means testing Social Security, Bloomberg’s campaign and “stop and frisk,” breaking up big tech, privacy absolutism, meditation, mortality, atheism, and other topics. Scott Galloway is a New York Times bestsel...
Mar 02, 2020•2 hr 57 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris and Paul Bloom speak about the virtues of President Trump, the campaign prospects of Bloomberg and Sanders, the asymmetrical norms of the Democratic and Republican parties, the marginal role that parents play in the development of their children, wealth inequality and the breakdown of the nuclear family, whether Paul should take LSD, the deplatforming of Peter Singer, and other topics. Paul Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology a...
Feb 28, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris and Paul Bloom speak about the epidemic of child sexual abuse, the ethics of loyalty, eugenics, existential risk, the Bloomberg and Sanders campaigns, and other topics. Paul Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at Yale University. His research explores how children and adults understand the physical and social world, with special focus on morality, religion, fiction, and art. He has won numerous awards for his research and teach...
Feb 20, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Fred Kaplan about the ever-present threat of nuclear war. They discuss the history of nuclear deterrence, U.S. first-strike policy, preventive war, limited nuclear war, tactical vs. strategic weapons, Trump’s beliefs about nuclear weapons, the details of command and control, and other topics. Fred Kaplan is the national-security columnist for Slate and the author of five previous books, Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War ,...
Feb 17, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris and Paul Bloom speak about “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” inequality, the relationship between wealth and happiness, the downside of fame, psychological impediments to noticing progress, and other topics. Paul Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at Yale University. His research explores how children and adults understand the physical and social world, with special focus on morality, religion, fiction, and art. He has...
Feb 07, 2020•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, Sam Harris speaks with poet David Whyte about the importance of work and relationships, the balance between training and expressing of one’s talents, the lessons of mortality, and other topics. David Whyte is a poet and the author of 11 books of poetry along with four books of prose, including Still Possible , David Whyte: Essentials and The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationships . David holds a degree in Marine Zoology, honor...
Feb 03, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, Sam Harris and Paul Bloom discuss topics in the news including the tragic death of Kobe Bryant. They also explore the paradoxes of moral responsibility. Paul Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at Yale University. His research explores how children and adults understand the physical and social world, with special focus on morality, religion, fiction, and art. He has won numerous awards for his research and teaching. He is pas...
Jan 28, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the Making Sense podcast Sam Harris speaks with Thomas Chatterton Williams about the reality and politics of race. They discuss his book Self Portrait in Black and White , race as a social and biological construct, the prospects of achieving a “post-racial” society, interracial marriage, and other topics. Thomas Chatterton Williams is the author of Losing My Cool and Self-Portrait in Black and White . He is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine and A...
Jan 23, 2020•2 hr 33 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Richard Lang about how to experience the world beyond the illusion of the self. Richard Lang is a meditation teacher and writer. He was a longtime student of Douglas Harding, the author of On Having No Head , among other books. Richard has written several books, including Seeing Who You Really Are , The Man with No Head , and Open to the Source: Selected Teachings of Douglas Harding . In 1996, Richard co-founded Shollond Trust, ...
Jan 13, 2020•2 hr 32 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Meghan Daum about her book The Problem with Everything . They discuss contemporary feminism, violence against women, campus sexual assault, moral panics, new norms of conversation, the 2020 Presidential campaign, and other topics. Meghan Daum is the author of five books, including My Misspent Youth , The Quality of Life Report , Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House , The Unspeakable , and Selfish, Shallow & Self-Ab...
Dec 29, 2019•1 hr 22 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Judson Brewer about addiction, craving, and mindfulness. They discuss the nature of reward-based learning, the role of subjective bias in addiction, the neuroscience of craving, the neural correlates of the sense of self, real-time neuroimaging, effort and effortlessness in meditation, smoking cessation through mindfulness, the difference between dopamine-driven reward and happiness, how to make meditation a habit, working with ...
Dec 17, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Hoffman is a professor of cognitive science at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of more than 90 scientific papers and his writing has appeared in Scientific American, Edge.org, The Atlantic, WIRED , and Quanta . In 2015, he gave a mind-bending TED Talk titled, “Do we see reality as it is?”
Dec 11, 2019•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the Making Sense podcast Sam and Annaka Harris speak with Donald Hoffman about his book The Case Against Reality . They discuss how evolution has failed to select for true perceptions of the world, his “interface theory” of perception, the primacy of math and logic, how space and time cannot be fundamental, the threat of epistemological skepticism, causality as a useful fiction, the hard problem of consciousness, agency, free will, panpsychism, a mathematics of con...
Dec 11, 2019•3 hr 48 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Roland Griffiths about the current state of research on psychedelics. They discuss the historical prohibition against their use; the clinical and scientific promise of psilocybin, mescaline, LSD, DMT, MDMA, and other compounds; the risks associated with these drugs; the role of “set and setting”; the differences between psychedelics and drugs of abuse; MDMA and neurotoxicity; experiences of unity, sacredness, love, a...
Dec 02, 2019•2 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Lynn Novick about her four-part documentary College Behind Bars . The film follows the progress of students in the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) as they pursue their undergraduate degrees. Sam and Lynn are joined by Jule Hall, a BPI graduate who served a 22-year sentence and is now working for the Ford Foundation. Lynn Novick is an Emmy, Peabody and Alfred I. duPont Columbia Award-winning documentary filmmaker. She has been produ...
Nov 23, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Harris speaks with Yasmine Mohammed about her book Unveiled: How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam . They discuss her family background and indoctrination into conservative Islam, the double standard that Western liberals use when thinking about women in the Muslim community, the state of feminism in general, honor violence, the validity of criticizing other cultures, and many other topics. Yasmine Mohammed is a human rights activist and writer. She advocates for the rights of women liv...
Nov 11, 2019•1 hr 21 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Richard Dawkins. They discuss the strangeness of the “gene’s-eye view” of the world, the limits of Darwinian thinking when applied to human life, the concept of the extended phenotype, ideologies as meme complexes, whether consciousness might be an epiphenomenon, psychedelics, meditation, and other topics. Richard Dawkins is an ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and writer. His latest book is Outgrowing God: A...
Nov 04, 2019•2 hr 56 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Bari Weiss about her book How to Fight anti-Semitism . They discuss the three different strands of anti-Semitism (rightwing, leftwing, and Islamic), the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, the difference between anti-Semitism and other forms of racism, “Great Replacement Theory,” the populist response to globalization, the history of anti-Semitism in the U.S., criticisms of Israel, the fate of Jews in Western Europe...
Oct 28, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
