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 contributed columns and articles for newspapers and magazines and written four novels and three v...
Jan 29, 2019•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 , Kingdom , QI , and V for Vendett...
Jan 28, 2019•2 hr 56 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Theory and Digital Economics. He made the PBS Frontline documen...
Jan 16, 2019•2 hr 39 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 and speaks about the role that tech platforms and cur...
Jan 02, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 film director. She is the founder of Fuuse , a media and arts company that put...
Dec 07, 2018•2 hr 29 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 theory? What did you think of the debate between David Frum and Steve Bannon on populism? Which new...
Nov 30, 2018•2 hr 45 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 manipulation. Amongst a varied and notorious TV career, Derren has played Russian Roulette live, co...
Nov 21, 2018•2 hr 42 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 book is Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – an...
Nov 13, 2018•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Think You Know About Addiction Is Wrong,” has more than 20 million views....
Nov 12, 2018•2 hr 46 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 The Nation , The New York Observer , ...
Nov 05, 2018•2 hr 40 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Mass Media Still Keeps Thought Inbounds . Twitter: @mtaibbi Website: https://taibbi.substack.com...
Oct 18, 2018•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 investigation, our vanishing attention span, and other topics. Matt Taibbi is a contributing editor for Rolling ...
Oct 17, 2018•2 hr 46 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Time,” Maher’s combination of unflinching honesty and...
Oct 03, 2018•2 hr 43 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 automation, and other topics. Yuval Noah Harari has a PhD in History from the University of Oxford and le...
Sep 19, 2018•2 hr 56 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 of the “top global thinkers” by Foreign Policy magazine, and one of the “top ...
Sep 10, 2018•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s...
Sep 09, 2018•1 hr 27 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Future? and You Are Not a Gadget were international bestsellers, and Dawn of the New Everything was n...
Aug 31, 2018•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 virtual reality and his advocacy of humanism and sustainable economics in a digital context. His 19...
Aug 30, 2018•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Drive Desire, Shape Relationships, Influence Our Choices, and Make Us Wiser . Twi...
Aug 20, 2018•1 hr 29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Q&A with Joseph Goldstein How 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 purposelessness? How should we view the unethical behavior of certain (supposedly great) meditation ma...
Aug 13, 2018•2 hr 41 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jul 29, 2018•2 hr 47 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 depression? Is there anyone you find intellectually intimidating? If so, why? You often speak of a failure...
Jul 25, 2018•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 and national security dynamics move markets and shape investment environments across the globe. Bre...
Jul 18, 2018•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 that provides training and advises Fortune 500 companies through complex negotiations. Voss ha...
Jul 09, 2018•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Harris speaks with Masha Gessen about Vladimir Putin, the problem of gauging public opinion in Russia, Trump’s fondness for dictators, the challenges of immigration, comparisons between Christian and Muslim intolerance, “fake news” and the health of journalism, the #MeToo movement, and other topics. Masha Gessen began contributing to The New Yorker in 2014, and became a staff writer in 2017. Gessen is the author of nine books, including The Future Is History: Ho...
Jul 02, 2018•1 hr 23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Harris speaks with presidential candidate Andrew Yang about “universal basic income” (UBI). They discuss the state of the economy, the rise of automation and AI, the arguments for and against UBI, and other topics. Andrew Yang is the founder of Venture for America, a major non-profit that places top college graduates in start-ups for two years in emerging U.S. cities to generate job growth and train the next generation of entrepreneurs. Yang has been the CEO, co-founder or execut...
Jun 18, 2018•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Harris speaks with Dr. Nina Shapiro about the practice of medicine. They discuss the unique resiliency of children, the importance of second opinions, bad doctors, how medical training has changed in recent years, medical uncertainty, risk perception, vaccine safety, and other topics. Dr. Nina Shapiro is the award-winning Director of Pediatric Otolaryngology and a Professor of Head and Neck Surgery at UCLA. She is featured in The New York Times , Time , The Wall Street Journal , NPR, and CNN...
Jun 12, 2018•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Geoffrey Miller is an evolutionary psychologist best known for his books The Mating Mind (2001), Mating Intelligence (2008), Spent (2009), and Mate (2015). He has a B.A. in Biology and Psychology from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Stanford University, and is a tenured associate professor at University of New Mexico. He has over 110 academic publications addressing sexual selection, mate choice, signaling theory, fitness indicators, consumer behavior, marketing, int...
Jun 05, 2018•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Harris speaks with Geoffrey Miller about evolutionary psychology. They discuss sexual selection, virtue signaling, social media, public shaming, monogamy and polyamory, taboo topics in science, genetic engineering, gender differences and the “Google memo,” moral psychology, existential risk, AI, and other topics. Geoffrey Miller is an evolutionary psychologist best known for his books The Mating Mind (2001), Mating Intelligence (2008), Spent (2009), and Mate (2015). He has a B.A....
Jun 04, 2018•3 hr 37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Harris speaks with Michael Pollan about his new book How to Change Your Mind . They cover the resurgence of interest in psychedelics in clinical practice and end-of-life care, the “betterment of well people,” the relationship between thinking and mental suffering, the differences between psychedelics and meditation, the non-duality of consciousness, the brain’s “default mode network,” their experiences with various psychedelics, and other topics. Michael Pollan ...
May 28, 2018•1 hr 20 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
