The Best of Making Sense with Sam Harris

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Episodes

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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.

Episodes

#175 — Leaving the Faith

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 27, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Transcript available on Metacast

#151 — Will We Destroy the Future?

Sam Harris speaks with Nick Bostrom about the problem of existential risk. They discuss public goods, moral illusions, the asymmetry between happiness and suffering, utilitarianism, “the vulnerable world hypothesis,” the history of nuclear deterrence, the possible need for “turnkey totalitarianism,” whether we’re living in a computer simulation, the Doomsday Argument, the implications of extraterrestrial life, and other topics. Nick Bostrom is a Swedish-born philosopher with a background in theo...

Nov 20, 2023•2 hr 33 min•Transcript available on Metacast

#207 — Can We Pull Back From The Brink?

Sam discusses the 2020 social protests and civil unrest, in light of what we know about racism and police violence in America. Episodes that have been re-released as part of the Best of Making Sense series may have been edited for relevance since their original airing.

Nov 13, 2023•2 hr 53 min•Transcript available on Metacast

#104 — The Lessons of Death

Sam Harris speaks with Frank Ostaseski about death and dying—and about how the awareness of death can improve our lives in each moment. Frank Ostaseski is a Buddhist teacher, international lecturer, and a leading voice in end-of-life care. In 1987, he co-founded the Zen Hospice Project, the first Buddhist hospice in America. In 2004, he created the Metta Institute to provide innovative educational programs and professional trainings that foster compassionate, mindfulness-based care. Mr. Ostasesk...

Nov 06, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast

#91 — The Biology of Good and Evil

Sam Harris speaks with Robert Sapolsky about the brain and human behavior. They discuss the relationship between reason and emotion, the role of the frontal cortex, the illusion of free will, punishment and retributive justice, neurological disorders and abnormal behavior, the relationship between science and religion, and other topics. Robert Sapolsky is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation genius grant. He is the author of A Pr...

Oct 30, 2023•2 hr 38 min•Transcript available on Metacast

#125 — What is Christianity?

Sam Harris speaks to Bart Ehrman about his experience of being a born-again Christian, his academic training in New Testament scholarship, his loss of faith, the most convincing argument in defense of Christianity, the status of miracles, the composition of the New Testament, the resurrection of Jesus, the nature of heaven and hell, the book of Revelation, the End Times, self-contradictions in the Bible, the concept of a messiah, whether Jesus actually existed, Christianity as a cult of human sa...

Oct 23, 2023•2 hr 50 min•Transcript available on Metacast

#22 — Surviving the Cosmos

Sam Harris speaks with David Deutsch about his book, The Beginning of Infinity . They discuss the boundary between science and philosophy, the nature of scientific authority, the utility of knowledge, artificial intelligence, moral relativism, the Fermi problem, and other topics. David Deutsch is best known as the founding father of the quantum theory of computation, and for his work on Everettian (multiverse) quantum theory. He is a Visiting Professor of Physics at Oxford University, where he w...

Oct 16, 2023•2 hr 53 min•Transcript available on Metacast

#68 — Reality and the Imagination

Sam Harris speaks with Yuval Noah Harari about meditation, the need for stories, the power of technology to erase the boundary between fact and fiction, wealth inequality, the problem of finding meaning in a world without work, religion as a virtual reality game, the difference between pain and suffering, and other topics. Yuval Noah Harari has a PhD in history from Oxford University and is a professor in the Department of History at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He specialized in World Histor...

Oct 09, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast

#14 — The Virtues of Cold Blood

Sam Harris speaks with psychologist Paul Bloom about the limitations of empathy as a guide to moral reasoning, why empathy is a bad metric for measuring one’s character, cognitive biases, and other topics. Paul Bloom is Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, and Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Yale University. Paul Bloom studies how children and adults make sense of the world, with a special focus on pleasure, morality, religion, fiction, and art. He h...

Oct 02, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Transcript available on Metacast

#34 — The Light of the Mind

Sam Harris speaks with philosopher David Chalmers about the nature of consciousness, the challenges of understanding it scientifically, and the prospect that we will one day build it into our machines. David Chalmers is Professor of Philosophy and co-director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness at New York University, and also holds a part-time position at the Australian National University. He is well-known for his work in the philosophy of mind, especially for his formulation of t...

Sep 25, 2023•2 hr 44 min•Transcript available on Metacast