Twitter: @
Site: samharris.org
388 episodes
2013 to present
Average episode: 49 minutes
Open in Apple Podcasts • RSS
Categories: Interview-Style • Philosophy+/Philosophyish/Ideas/Etc.
Podcaster's summary: 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 |
| 2024-Apr-23 • 28 minutes #364 — Facts & Values Sam Harris revisits the central argument he made in his book, , 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... |
| 2024-Apr-15 • 52 minutes #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,... |
| 2024-Apr-09 • 54 minutes #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... |
| 2024-Apr-01 • 85 minutes #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... |
| 2024-Mar-27 • 39 minutes #360 — We Really Don’t 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... |
| 2024-Mar-19 • 31 minutes #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,... |
| 2024-Mar-11 • 36 minutes #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... |
| 2024-Mar-04 • 32 minutes #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... |
| 2024-Feb-28 • 29 minutes #356 — Islam & Freedom Sam Harris and Rory Stewart debate whether Islam poses a unique threat to open societies. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . Learning how to train your mind is... |
| 2024-Feb-21 • 49 minutes #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... |
| 2024-Feb-16 • 41 minutes #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... |
| 2024-Feb-11 • 56 minutes #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... |
| 2024-Feb-04 • 30 minutes #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... |
| 2024-Jan-30 • 43 minutes #351 — 5 Myths about Israel and the War in Gaza A transcript of this podcast is available on . If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2024-Jan-23 • 43 minutes #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... |
| 2024-Jan-16 • 63 minutes #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... |
| 2024-Jan-05 • 40 minutes #348 — The Politics of Antisemitism Sam Harris speaks with Rabbi David Wolpe about the global response to the atrocities of October 7th, 2023. They discuss the difference between Israeli and diaspora Jews, the history and logic of antisemitism, the role of conspiracy theories, Great... |
| 2024-Jan-02 • 9 minutes #347 — Finding Sanity in 2024 If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam created... |
| 2023-Dec-22 • 40 minutes #346 — The Best Kept Secret In History? Sam Harris speaks with Brian Muraresku about ancient mystery religions and the possible psychedelic roots of Christianity. They discuss the Mysteries of Eleusis, the “pagan continuity hypothesis,” the cult of Dionysius, the Dead Sea scrolls and... |
| 2023-Dec-18 • 124 minutes #345 — Resilience Sam Harris speaks with Amanda Knox about her experience of having been falsely convicted and imprisoned for murder in Italy. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at .... |
| 2023-Dec-12 • 59 minutes #344 — The War in Gaza Sam Harris comments on the recent testimony of university presidents before Congress, along with Elon Musk's reinstating of Alex Jones on X. He then introduces a recent episode of the Call Me Back podcast about the war in Gaza, hosted by Dan... |
| 2023-Dec-06 • 12 minutes #343 — What Is "Islamophobia"? Sam Harris discusses the social and political consequences of a weaponized term. A transcript of this podcast is available on . If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes... |
| 2023-Nov-27 • 62 minutes #342 — Animal Minds & Moral Truths Sam Harris speaks with Peter Singer about important problems in ethics. They discuss his career as a philosopher, the moral status of non-human animals, the ethics of moral hierarchies, speciesism, the scale of animal suffering, conscientious... |
| 2023-Nov-16 • 55 minutes #341 — Gaza & Global Order Sam Harris speaks with Yuval Noah Harari about the events of October 7th and the resulting war in Gaza. They discuss the unraveling of global order, the failure of the IDF, the incompetence of the Netanyahu government, the goals of Hamas, the Saudi... |
| 2023-Nov-07 • 59 minutes #340 — The Bright Line Between Good and Evil Sam Harris speaks about the ongoing war in Gaza, the global rise of antisemitism, and the enduring problem of jihadism. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2023-Nov-03 • 51 minutes #339 — The Infernal Logic of Jihad Sam Harris speaks with Graeme Wood about the October 7th atrocities in Israel, the unfolding war in Gaza, and the ongoing problem of global jihadism. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all... |
| 2023-Oct-12 • 14 minutes #338 — The Sin of Moral Equivalence If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2023-Oct-04 • 102 minutes #337 — The Future of Psychedelic Medicine Sam Harris speaks with Jeannie Fontana and Robin Carhart-Harris about the in California and the growing promise of psychedelics for mental health care. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all... |
| 2023-Sep-27 • 62 minutes #336 — The Roots of Identity Politics Sam Harris speaks with Yascha Mounk about identity politics. They discuss Yascha’s concept of the “identity synthesis,” skepticism about “cancel culture,” racial segregation in schools, the ideological change on college campuses, Michel... |
| 2023-Sep-22 • 71 minutes #335 — A Postmortem on My Response to Covid If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2023-Sep-18 • 50 minutes #334 — The Low-Trust Society Sam Harris speaks with David Brooks about the state of American democracy and the liberal world order. They discuss the weakness of moral individualism, the loss of social trust, the dangers of identity politics, what happened to the Republican Party,... |
| 2023-Sep-05 • 68 minutes #333 — Sanity Check on Climate Change Sam Harris speaks with Chris Field about climate change and its consequences. They discuss skepticism about climate change, the accuracy of climate models, the magnitude of temperature increases, how global temperatures are measured, the historical... |
| 2023-Aug-28 • 55 minutes #332 — Can We Contain Artificial Intelligence? Sam Harris speaks with Mustafa Suleyman about his new book, “.” They discuss the progress in artificial intelligence made at his company DeepMind, the acquisition of DeepMind by Google, Atari DQN, AlphaGo, AlphaZero, AlphaFold, the invention of... |
| 2023-Aug-20 • 9 minutes #331 — A Golden Age for Assholes If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2023-Aug-16 • 96 minutes #330 — The Doomsday Machine Sam Harris speaks with Carl Robichaud about the ongoing threat of nuclear war. They discuss the film "Oppenheimer," the ethics of dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the false lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the history and future of... |
| 2023-Aug-12 • 61 minutes #329 — What Happened to the Republican Party? Sam Harris speaks with Bret Stephens about the current state of the Republican Party. They discuss the strange change in Republican attitudes toward Putin, the character of Tucker Carlson, the war in Ukraine, the failures of elites and experts, the... |
| 2023-Aug-02 • 63 minutes #328 — Health & Longevity Sam Harris speaks with Peter Attia about his book, “.” They discuss "healthspan," centenarians, diet and nutrition, sugar, macronutrients, alcohol, fasting and time-restricted eating, exercise, Zone 2 training, heart disease, blood pressure,... |
| 2023-Jul-21 • 50 minutes #327 — Transformative Experiences Sam Harris speaks with L.A. Paul about the nature of transformative experiences. They discuss how certain experiences change the self, the nature of regret, changing belief systems, conspiracy thinking, empathy, doing good in the world, our... |
| 2023-Jul-06 • 49 minutes #326 — AI & Information Integrity Sam Harris speaks with Nina Schick about generative AI and information integrity. They discuss the challenges of regulating AI, authentication vs detection, fake video, hyper-personalization of information, the promise of generative design,... |
| 2023-Jul-03 • 27 minutes #325 — A Few Thoughts About RFK Jr. Sam Harris discusses Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s recent appearances on other podcasts. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . Learning how to train your mind is the... |
| 2023-Jun-28 • 54 minutes #324 — Debating the Future of AI Sam Harris speaks with Marc Andreessen about the future of artificial intelligence (AI). They discuss the primary importance of intelligence, possible good outcomes for AI, the problem of alienation, the significance of evolution, the Alignment... |
| 2023-Jun-22 • 46 minutes #323 — Science & Survival Sam Harris speaks with Martin Rees about the importance of science and scientific institutions. They discuss the provisionality of science, the paradox of authority, genius, civilizational risks, pandemic preparedness, artificial intelligence, nuclear... |
| 2023-Jun-18 • 40 minutes Making Sense of Meditation | Episode 10 of The Essential Sam Harris In this episode, we traverse a decade of Sam’s conversations on the topic of meditation. We start with the very first recorded episode from the archives: a conversation with Sam’s meditation teacher and friend, Joseph Goldstein. Goldstein... |
| 2023-Jun-13 • 54 minutes #322 — Predicting Reality Sam Harris speaks with Andy Clark about the predictive brain, embodied cognition, and the extended mind. They discuss the structure of perception, novelty, precision, pain, psychedelics, emotion, ways to hack our predictions, hypnosis, meditation,... |
| 2023-Jun-05 • 52 minutes #321 — Reckoning with Parfit Sam Harris speaks with David Edmonds about the life and philosophy of Derek Parfit. They discuss Parfit’s work on identity, time bias, the “non-identity problem,” population ethics and “the Repugnant Conclusion,” the ethical importance of... |
| 2023-May-26 • 41 minutes Making Sense of Death | Episode 9 of The Essential Sam Harris In this episode, we explore Sam’s conversations about the phenomenon of death. We begin with an introduction from Sam as he urges us to use our awareness of death to become more present in our day-to-day lives. We then hear a conversation between... |
| 2023-May-22 • 51 minutes #320 — Constructing Self and World Sam Harris speaks with Shamil Chandaria about how the brain constructs a vision of the self and the world. They discuss the brain from first principles; Bayesian inference; hierarchical predictive processing; the construction of vision; psychedelics... |
| 2023-May-15 • 37 minutes #319 — The Digital Multiverse Sam Harris speaks with David Auerbach about the problematic structure of online networks. They discuss the tradeoffs between liberty and cooperation, the impossibility of fighting misinformation, bottom-up vs top-down influences, recent developments... |
| 2023-May-05 • 45 minutes Making Sense of Social Media and the Information Landscape | Episode 8 of The Essential Sam Harris In this episode, we examine a series of Sam’s conversations centered around social media’s impact on the information landscape. We begin with Sam’s second conversation with Tristan Harris, which was conducted shortly after the release of... |
| 2023-May-01 • 54 minutes #318 — Physics & Philosophy Sam Harris speaks with Tim Maudlin about the foundations of physics and metaphysics. They talk about the nature of scientific reductionism, emergence, functionalism, the nature of time, presentism vs eternalism, causation, the nature of possibility,... |
| 2023-Apr-20 • 68 minutes #317 — What Do We Know About Our Minds? Sam Harris speaks with Paul Bloom about the state of psychological science. They discuss fiction as a window onto the mind, recent developments in AI, the tension between misinformation and free speech, bullshitting vs lying, truth vs belonging,... |
| 2023-Apr-14 • 55 minutes #316 — Self-Defense: Reality and Fantasy Sam Harris speaks with Matt Thornton about his new book, “.” They discuss his background in martial arts, the reasons to train in combat sports, the UFC and the evolution of mixed martial arts, the fundamental principles of effective martial arts,... |
| 2023-Apr-12 • 50 minutes Making Sense of Existential Threat and Nuclear War | Episode 7 of The Essential Sam Harris In this episode, we examine the topic of existential threat, focusing in particular on the subject of nuclear war. Sam opens the discussion by emphasizing the gravity of our ability to destroy life as we know it at any moment, and how shocking it is... |
| 2023-Apr-07 • 60 minutes #315 — The Great Derangement Sam Harris speaks with Tim Urban about his new book, “.” They discuss Tim’s unusual career, the finitude of life, existential risk, exponential technological change, political tribalism, the corruption of the media, how one thinks vs what one... |
| 2023-Mar-31 • 54 minutes #314 — The Cancellation of J.K. Rowling Sam Harris speaks with Megan Phelps-Roper about the new podcast series she hosts and produced, “.” The series is also produced by Andy Mills and Matt Boll for . If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to... |
| 2023-Mar-25 • 35 minutes #313 — Apocalypse Sam Harris speaks with Bart D. Ehrman about the prophecies contained in the book of Revelation. They discuss his latest book, "Armageddon," and widespread Christian beliefs about the coming end of the world. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your... |
| 2023-Mar-15 • 63 minutes Making Sense of Belief and Unbelief | Episode 6 of The Essential Sam Harris In this episode, we examine a series of Sam’s conversations centered around religion, atheism, and the power of belief. First, we hear the stories of three guests who have fled their respective oppressive religious organizations. We begin with... |
| 2023-Mar-07 • 87 minutes #312 — The Trouble with AI Sam Harris speaks with Stuart Russell and Gary Marcus about recent developments in artificial intelligence and the long-term risks of producing artificial general intelligence (AGI). They discuss the limitations of Deep Learning, the surprising power... |
| 2023-Feb-20 • 58 minutes #311 — Did SARS-CoV-2 Escape from a Lab? Sam Harris speaks with Matt Ridley and Alina Chan about the origins of the COVID pandemic. They discuss the evidence of a lab leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, media and academic censorship of this topic, the history of collaboration between... |
| 2023-Feb-14 • 44 minutes Making Sense of Free Will | Episode 5 of The Essential Sam Harris In this episode, we examine the timeless question of “free will”: what constitutes it, what is meant by it, what ought to be meant by it, and, of course, whether we have it at all. We start with the neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky who begins to... |
| 2023-Feb-01 • 69 minutes #310 — Social Media & Public Trust Sam Harris speaks with Bari Weiss, Michael Shellenberger, and Renee DiResta about the release of “the Twitter files” and the loss of trust in the institutions of media and government. They discuss Bari and Michael’s experience of participating... |
| 2023-Jan-26 • 36 minutes Making Sense of Encounters With Violence | Episode 4 of The Essential Sam Harris This episode centers around the specter of violence and surfaces some of Sam’s most controversial positions and difficult conversations. We begin with author and former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss, who delivers some potentially life-saving... |
| 2023-Jan-20 • 45 minutes #309 — Vulnerability, Politics, and Moral Worth Sam Harris speaks with Martha C. Nussbaum about her philosophical work. They discuss the relevance of philosophy to personal and political problems, the influence of religion, the problem of dogmatism, the importance of Greek and Roman philosophy for... |
| 2023-Jan-11 • 34 minutes #308 — The Long Game Sam Harris speaks with Robert Waldinger about the Harvard Study of Adult Development. They discuss the limitations of relying on self-report to assess a person’s well-being; Daniel Kahneman’s remembering and experiencing selves; why it can be hard... |
| 2023-Jan-05 • 45 minutes Making Sense of Foundations of Morality | Episode 3 of The Essential Sam Harris In this episode, we try to trace morality to its elusive foundations. Throughout the compilation we take a look at Sam’s “Moral Landscape” and his effort to defend an objective path towards moral evaluation. We begin with the moral philosopher... |
| 2022-Dec-30 • 28 minutes #307 — Twitter, Elon, & Free Speech Sam Harris discusses Elon Musk's behavior on Twitter and the illusion of "free-speech absolutism." If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . Learning how to train your... |
| 2022-Dec-15 • 35 minutes Making Sense of Consciousness | Episode 2 of The Essential Sam Harris Filmmaker Jay Shapiro has produced a new series of audio documentaries, exploring the major topics that Sam has focused on over the course of his career. Each episode weaves together original analysis, critical perspective, and novel thought... |
| 2022-Dec-13 • 105 minutes #306 — Psychedelics & Mortality Sam Harris speaks with Roland Griffiths about psychedelics and mortality. They discuss the current state of psychedelic research, the timeline for FDA approvals, the risks to mental health posed by psychedelics in vulnerable populations, the use of... |
| 2022-Dec-08 • 67 minutes #305 — Moral Knowledge Sam Harris speaks with Erik Hoel about the nature of moral truth. They discuss the connection between consequentialism and Effective Altruism, the problems with implementing academic moral philosophy, bad arguments against consequentialism, the... |
| 2022-Nov-28 • 70 minutes #304 — Why I Left Twitter Sam Harris explains why he deleted his Twitter account. He then speaks with Cal Newport about the fragmentation of modern life. They discuss the history of computer science, how information technology has changed our lives, the effects of social... |
| 2022-Nov-22 • 68 minutes Making Sense of Artificial Intelligence | Episode 1 of The Essential Sam Harris Filmmaker Jay Shapiro has produced a new series of audio documentaries, exploring the major topics that Sam has focused on over the course of his career. Each episode weaves together original analysis, critical perspective, and novel thought... |
| 2022-Nov-15 • 21 minutes #303 — The Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried Sam Harris discusses the recent Sam Bankman-Fried fiasco, the collapse of FTX, and the future of Effective Altruism. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . ... |
| 2022-Nov-11 • 50 minutes #302 — Science & Civilization Sam Harris speaks with Neil deGrasse Tyson about his new book, . They discuss what makes science a unique human endeavor, the tension between respecting scientific consensus and overturning it, confusion about paradigm shifts and scientific... |
| 2022-Oct-25 • 61 minutes #301 — The Politics of Unreality: Ukraine and Nuclear Risk Sam Harris speaks with Timothy Snyder about the ongoing war in Ukraine. They discuss the effect of Russian propaganda, Putin’s motives, whether the US and NATO bear some responsibility for the war, widespread calls for de-escalation, nuclear... |
| 2022-Oct-12 • 188 minutes #300 — A Tale of Cancellation Sam Harris speaks with Meg Smaker about the controversy around her documentary, "The Unredacted (Jihad Rehab)." They discuss her background as a firefighter; the effect that 9/11 had on the firefighting community; her subsequent adventures in... |
| 2022-Oct-03 • 40 minutes #299 — Steps in the Right Direction Sam Harris speaks with Russ Roberts about decision-making and the nature of moral progress. They discuss the shortcomings of economics as a science, the power of books, the difference between "wild" and "tame" problems, Darwin’s embarrassing... |
| 2022-Sep-29 • 81 minutes #298 — Leaving the Faith (Rebroadcast) Sam Harris speaks with Yasmine Mohammed about her book . 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... |
| 2022-Sep-23 • 65 minutes #297 — Preparing for the End Sam Harris speaks with BJ Miller and Shoshana Berger about preparing for death. They discuss the difference between palliative care and hospice, the tension between getting the most out of life and not clinging to experience, planning for death while... |
| 2022-Sep-13 • 43 minutes #296 — Repairing Our Country Sam Harris speaks with Jonah Goldberg about the state of American politics and civil society. They discuss the hyperpartisanship of the Left and Right, what Trump has done to the Republican party, the breakdown of trust in institutions, the “new... |
| 2022-Sep-09 • 44 minutes #295 — Philosophy and the Good Life Sam Harris speaks to Kieran Setiya about the relevance of philosophy to living a good life. They discuss the existence of objective moral truths, being happy vs living well, our response to grief, the difference between "telic" and "atelic"... |
| 2022-Aug-31 • 40 minutes #294 — Status Games Sam Harris speaks with Will Storr about the role that status plays in human life and culture. They talk about the taboo around caring about status, egalitarianism, the perpetual insecurity of status, how we play multiple status games simultaneously,... |
| 2022-Aug-25 • 44 minutes #293 — What I Really Think About Trump and Media Bias Sam Harris responds to a controversy over a recent podcast appearance. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2022-Aug-14 • 120 minutes #292 — How Much Does the Future Matter? A Conversation with William MacAskill |
| 2022-Jul-28 • 64 minutes #291 — Where is Happiness? Sam Harris speaks with Arthur C. Brooks about what it takes to build a good life. They discuss the power of social comparison, the intelligence taboo, political dignity and ethical hierarchy, the Dalai Lama, the nature of love, fluid and crystallized... |
| 2022-Jul-21 • 48 minutes #290 — What Went Wrong? A Conversation with Marc Andreessen |
| 2022-Jul-18 • 39 minutes #289 — Time Management for Mortals A Conversation with Oliver Burkeman |
| 2022-Jul-14 • 54 minutes #288 — The End of Global Order A Conversation with Peter Zeihan and Ian Bremmer |
| 2022-Jul-05 • 50 minutes #287 — Why Wealth Matters A Conversation with Morgan Housel |
| 2022-Jun-28 • 42 minutes #286 — The Paradox of Psychedelics Sam Harris shares an audio essay exploring how psychedelics are, for many, the only way to glimpse "the vast firmament beyond the prison walls” of the “conceptual mind”—and often serve as the gateway to meditation. He also discusses how the... |
| 2022-Jun-24 • 47 minutes #285 — American Division A Conversation with David French |
| 2022-Jun-07 • 40 minutes #284 — The Funny Business A Conversation with Judd Apatow |
| 2022-May-30 • 95 minutes #283 — Gun Violence in America A Conversation with Graeme Wood |
| 2022-May-23 • 54 minutes #282 — Do You Really Have a Self? A Conversation with Jay Garfield |
| 2022-May-02 • 72 minutes #281 — Western Culture and Its Discontents A Conversation with Douglas Murray |
| 2022-Apr-22 • 38 minutes #280 — The Future of Artificial Intelligence A Conversation with Eric Schmidt |
| 2022-Apr-18 • 35 minutes #279 — The Rules of the Stage A Conversation with Ricky Gervais |
| 2022-Apr-13 • 38 minutes #278 — The Man Who Will Be King A Conversation with Graeme Wood |
| 2022-Apr-03 • 38 minutes #277 — How Does the War in Ukraine End? A Conversation with Ian Bremmer |
| 2022-Mar-22 • 36 minutes #276 — Defending the Global Order A Conversation with Yuval Noah Harari |
| 2022-Mar-10 • 37 minutes #275 — The Russian War in Ukraine A Conversation with Garry Kasparov |
| 2022-Mar-02 • 49 minutes Absolutely Mental Season 3 Sam Harris and Ricky Gervais |
| 2022-Feb-28 • 118 minutes Special Episode: Recipes for Future Plagues A Conversation with Rob Reid and Kevin Esvelt |
| 2022-Feb-11 • 140 minutes #274 — The Future of American Democracy A Conversation with Anne Applebaum, David Frum, Barton Gellman, and George Packer |
| 2022-Feb-07 • 20 minutes #273 — Joe Rogan and the Ethics of Apology Sam responds to the controversy over his friend Joe Rogan's use of the N-word and his subsequent public apology. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at... |
| 2022-Jan-31 • 29 minutes Vaccine Mandates, transgender athletes, billionaires… (AMA #19) Questions: What is your position on vaccine mandates, school closures, etc.? Do you think painful memories remain painful because there is something left unresolved? How can you forgive a consequential lie? Can you clarify your plans to support... |
| 2022-Jan-11 • 47 minutes #272 — On Disappointing My Audience Sam discusses some of the topics he has and hasn't covered, to the disappointment of many Making Sense listeners. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at... |
| 2021-Dec-24 • 76 minutes #271 — Earning to Give A Conversation with Sam Bankman-Fried |
| 2021-Dec-14 • 171 minutes #270 — What Have We Learned from the Pandemic? A Conversation with Nicholas Christakis |
| 2021-Dec-03 • 40 minutes #269 — Deep Time A Conversation with Oliver Burkeman |
| 2021-Nov-24 • 36 minutes #268 — The Limits of Self-Knowledge A Conversation with Stephen Fleming |
| 2021-Nov-10 • 50 minutes #267 — The Kingdom of Sleep A Conversation with Matthew Walker |
| 2021-Nov-02 • 47 minutes #266 — The Limits of Pleasure A Conversation with Paul Bloom |
| 2021-Oct-27 • 35 minutes #265 — The Religion of Anti-Racism A Conversation with John McWhorter |
| 2021-Oct-21 • 48 minutes #264 — Consciousness and Self (Rebroadcast) A Conversation with Anil Seth |
| 2021-Oct-18 • 18 minutes #263 — The Paradox of Death Sam Harris reflects on the subjective continuity of consciousness, the nature of identity, and the possibility that death isn’t the end of experience. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all... |
| 2021-Oct-05 • 33 minutes #262 — The Future of American Democracy A Conversation with Andrew Yang |
| 2021-Sep-30 • 40 minutes #261 — Belief & Identity A Conversation with Jonas Kaplan |
| 2021-Sep-24 • 17 minutes Absolutely Mental Season Two Sam shares a clip from the second season of Absolutely Mental, his audio series with Ricky Gervais. All 10 episodes have been released today (Friday September 24th, 2021) and are available for purchase at . If the Making Sense podcast logo in your... |
| 2021-Sep-20 • 28 minutes Ask Me Anything #18 Questions answered: Why won’t you discuss COVID vaccines and Ivermectin with Bret Weinstein on the podcast? What do you think about the recent prosecution of a 100-year-old Nazi in Germany? How can we understand voluntary behavior without free will?... |
| 2021-Sep-09 • 16 minutes #260 — The Second Plane Reflections on the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 |
| 2021-Sep-01 • 73 minutes #259 — The Reckoning to Come A Conversation with Balaji Srinivasan |
| 2021-Aug-23 • 47 minutes #258 — The Fall of Afghanistan A Conversation with Peter Bergen |
| 2021-Aug-13 • 61 minutes #257 — The State of the World A Conversation with Dambisa Moyo |
| 2021-Aug-08 • 24 minutes Ask Me Anything #17 In this episode of the podcast, Sam takes your questions. He begins by addressing the blowback that followed his previous podcast on “vaccine hesitancy” with Eric Topol. And then he answers the following questions: How can I inoculate my biracial... |
| 2021-Jul-23 • 87 minutes #256 — A Contagion of Bad Ideas A Conversation with Eric Topol |
| 2021-Jul-09 • 58 minutes #255 — The Future of Intelligence A Conversation with Jeff Hawkins |
| 2021-Jun-25 • 49 minutes #254 — The Mating Strategies of Earthlings A Conversation with David Buss |
| 2021-Jun-17 • 45 minutes #253 — Corporate Courage A Conversation with Jason Fried |
| 2021-Jun-10 • 52 minutes #252 — Are We Alone in the Universe? A Conversation with Neil deGrasse Tyson |
| 2021-May-26 • 39 minutes #251 — Corporate Cowardice A Conversation with Antonio García-Martínez |
| 2021-May-21 • 45 minutes #250 — Broken Conversations A Conversation with Jesse Singal |
| 2021-May-14 • 33 minutes #249 — Distance & Arrival A Conversation with David Whyte |
| 2021-Apr-30 • 39 minutes #248 — Order & Freedom A Conversation with Michele Gelfand |
| 2021-Apr-24 • 221 minutes Special Episode: Engineering the Apocalypse By Rob Reid and Sam Harris |
| 2021-Apr-22 • 68 minutes #247 — Constructing Minds A Conversation with Lisa Feldman Barrett |
| 2021-Apr-16 • 102 minutes #246 — Police Training & Police Misconduct A Conversation with Rener Gracie |
| 2021-Apr-12 • 43 minutes #245 — Can We Talk About Scary Ideas? A Conversation with Peter Singer, Francesca Minerva, and Jeff McMahan |
| 2021-Apr-06 • 73 minutes #244 — Food, Climate, and Pandemic Risk A Conversation with Bruce Friedrich and Liz Specht |
| 2021-Mar-28 • 10 minutes #243 — A Few Points of Confusion 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. |
| 2021-Mar-23 • 64 minutes #242 — Psychedelics and the Self A Conversation with James Fadiman |
| 2021-Mar-12 • 44 minutes #241 — Final Thoughts on Free Will Sam Harris presents his full argument on the illusoriness of free will—and explores its ethical and psychological implications. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at... |
| 2021-Mar-07 • 44 minutes #240 — The Boundaries of Self A Conversation with David Whyte |
| 2021-Feb-24 • 22 minutes #239 — Yet Another Call from Ricky Gervais Ricky Gervais calls Sam to ask if AI will replace comedians. They also discuss the implications of not having free will and if a chimp has ever asked, "what does it all mean?" They agree that bears are dangerous. If the Making Sense podcast logo in... |
| 2021-Feb-23 • 59 minutes #238 — How to Build a Universe A Conversation with Frank Wilczek |
| 2021-Feb-16 • 42 minutes #237 — Another Call from Ricky Gervais Ricky Gervais calls to discuss Sam's monster joke from their last conversation and then other things happen... If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at... |
| 2021-Feb-11 • 48 minutes #236 — Rebooting New York City A Conversation with Andrew Yang |
| 2021-Feb-10 • 29 minutes #235 — A Call from Ricky Gervais Ricky Gervais calls Sam to ask why we dream? They discuss why puns are terrible and breakdown some of the mechanics of comedy. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at... |
| 2021-Feb-05 • 55 minutes #234 — The Divided Mind A Conversation with Iain McGilchrist |
| 2021-Feb-02 • 51 minutes #233 — The Groves of Misinformation A Conversation with Zeynep Tufekci |
| 2021-Jan-27 • 42 minutes #232 — Inequality and Revolution A Conversation with Jack Goldstone |
| 2021-Jan-17 • 74 minutes #231 — Crossing the Abyss A Conversation with Stanley McChrystal and Chris Fussell |
| 2021-Jan-11 • 41 minutes #230 — An Insurrection of Lies Sam Harris discusses two dangerous misconceptions about the siege of the Capitol. 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. |
| 2021-Jan-06 • 30 minutes #229 — A Few Thoughts for a New Year Sam Harris analyzes a few disturbing trends and shares his hopes for 2021. 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. |
| 2020-Dec-14 • 135 minutes #228 — Doing Good A Conversation with William MacAskill |
| 2020-Dec-07 • 47 minutes #227 — Knowing the Mind A Conversation with Steven Laureys |
| 2020-Dec-07 • 2 minutes Making Sense with Sam Harris Join Sam Harris as he explores some of the most important questions about the human mind, society, and current events. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at... |
| 2020-Nov-27 • 44 minutes #226 — The Price of Distraction A Conversation with Adam Gazzaley |
| 2020-Nov-18 • 32 minutes #225 — Republic of Lies Sam Harris discusses President Trump's failure to concede the 2020 presidential election. 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. |
| 2020-Nov-03 • 8 minutes #224 — The Key to Trump's Appeal Sam Harris describes his new understanding of why people support President Trump. 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. |
| 2020-Oct-30 • 96 minutes #223 — A Conversation with Andrew Sullivan Sam Harris and Andrew Sullivan sing the praises of President Trump. 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. |
| 2020-Oct-28 • 65 minutes #222 — A Pandemic of Incompetence A Conversation with Nicholas Christakis |
| 2020-Oct-22 • 47 minutes #221 — Success, Failure, & the Common Good A Conversation with Michael Sandel |
| 2020-Oct-17 • 48 minutes #220 - The Information Apocalypse A Conversation with Nina Schick |
| 2020-Oct-08 • 48 minutes #219 — The Power of Compassion A Conversation with James R. Doty |
| 2020-Sep-24 • 47 minutes #218 — Welcome to the Cult Factory A Conversation with Tristan Harris |
| 2020-Sep-17 • 72 minutes #217 — The New Religion of Anti-Racism A Conversation with John McWhorter |
| 2020-Sep-03 • 51 minutes #216 — A Conversation with Graeme Wood Sam Harris speaks with Graeme Wood about the breakdown of social order in the U.S. They discuss the recent eruptions of violence, the loss of trust in the media, the cases of Jacob Blake and Kyle Rittenhouse, how to understand police videos, the risks... |
| 2020-Aug-21 • 49 minutes #215 — A Conversation with David Miliband Sam Harris speaks with David Miliband about his work with the International Rescue Committee. They discuss the crisis of internally displaced peoples and refugees, the problem with open borders, the vetting of refugees, the limits of nation-building... |
| 2020-Aug-13 • 46 minutes #214 — A Conversation with Siddhartha Mukherjee Sam Harris speaks with Siddhartha Mukherjee about our ongoing failure to adequately respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. They discuss the significance of asymptomatic spread, the lack of Chinese cooperation, the failures of testing, travel restrictions,... |
| 2020-Aug-04 • 134 minutes #213 — The Worst Epidemic A Conversation with Gabriel J.X. Dance |
| 2020-Jul-29 • 49 minutes #212 — A Conversation with Kathryn Paige Harden Sam Harris speaks with Kathryn Paige Harden about public controversy over group differences in traits like intelligence and ongoing research in behavioral genetics. They discuss Harden’s criticism of the Making Sense episode featuring Charles... |
| 2020-Jul-17 • 72 minutes #211 — The Nature of Human Nature A Conversation with Robert Plomin |
| 2020-Jul-09 • 106 minutes #210 — The Logic of Doomsday A Conversation with William J. Perry |
| 2020-Jul-03 • 58 minutes #209 — A Good Life A Conversation with Scott Barry Kaufman |
| 2020-Jun-23 • 65 minutes #208 — Existential Risk A Conversation with Toby Ord |
| 2020-Jun-13 • 113 minutes #207 — Can We Pull Back From The Brink? Sam discusses the recent social protests and civil unrest, in light of what we know about racism and police violence in America. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at... |
| 2020-May-26 • 45 minutes #206 — A Conversation with David Frum Sam Harris speaks with David Frum about the shifting political landscape. They discuss the secularization of politics, distrust of the media and other institutions, voter suppression, the 2020 elections, what happens if Trump gets a second term, the... |
| 2020-May-22 • 59 minutes #205 — The Failure of Meritocracy A Conversation with Daniel Markovits |
| 2020-May-18 • 66 minutes #204 — A Conversation with Jonathan Haidt Sam Harris speaks with Jonathan Haidt about the maintenance of a healthy society. They discuss the problem of orthodoxy, the history of political polarization in the US, the breakdown of public conversation, remaining uncertainty about Covid-19,... |
| 2020-May-13 • 68 minutes #203 — A Conversation with Caitlin Flanagan Sam Harris speaks with Caitlin Flanagan about her cancer recurrence and the response to her recent article in The Atlantic discussing it. They discuss the dynamics of apologies and forgiveness, the #MeToo movement and the allegations against... |
| 2020-May-11 • 38 minutes #202 — A Conversation with Andrew Yang Sam Harris speaks with Andrew Yang about the Covid-19 pandemic. They discuss the future of the middle class, Andrew’s experience campaigning for President, the need to build new digital infrastructure, universal basic income (UBI), concerns about... |
| 2020-May-01 • 69 minutes #201 — A Conversation with Yuval Noah Harari 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... |
| 2020-Apr-29 • 33 minutes #200 — Creatures of Habit A Conversation with James Clear |
| 2020-Apr-24 • 38 minutes #199 — A Conversation with Caitlin Flanagan 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... |
| 2020-Apr-16 • 59 minutes #198 — A Conversation with Paul Bloom 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... |
| 2020-Apr-12 • 31 minutes #197 — A Conversation with Caitlin Flanagan 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... |
| 2020-Apr-10 • 60 minutes #196 — The Science of Happiness A Conversation with Laurie Santos |
| 2020-Apr-06 • 68 minutes #195 — Social Cohesion is Everything A Conversation with Stanley McChrystal and Chris Fussell |
| 2020-Mar-25 • 105 minutes #194 — The New Future of Work A Conversation with Matt Mullenweg |
| 2020-Mar-20 • 22 minutes #193 — Meditation in an Emergency Sam Harris speaks about social contagion and about the importance of understanding one's own mind in an emergency. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at... |
| 2020-Mar-17 • 38 minutes #192 — A Conversation with Paul Bloom 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... |
| 2020-Mar-11 • 66 minutes #191 — Early Thoughts on a Pandemic A Conversation with Amesh Adalja |
| 2020-Mar-10 • 79 minutes #190 — How Should We Respond to Coronavirus? A Conversation with Nicholas Christakis |
| 2020-Mar-02 • 71 minutes #189 — Wealth & Happiness A Conversation with Scott Galloway |
| 2020-Feb-28 • 32 minutes #188 — A Conversation with Paul Bloom 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... |
| 2020-Feb-21 • 28 minutes #187 — A Conversation with Paul Bloom 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. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can... |
| 2020-Feb-18 • 80 minutes #186 — The Bomb A Conversation with Fred Kaplan |
| 2020-Feb-07 • 30 minutes #185 — A Conversation with Paul Bloom 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. If the Making Sense podcast logo in... |
| 2020-Feb-03 • 29 minutes #184 — The Conversational Nature of Reality A Conversation with David Whyte |
| 2020-Jan-28 • 28 minutes #183 — A Conversation with Paul Bloom 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. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all... |
| 2020-Jan-23 • 40 minutes #182 — Unlearning Race A Conversation with Thomas Chatterton Williams |
| 2020-Jan-13 • 92 minutes #181 — The Illusory Self A Conversation with Richard Lang |
| 2019-Dec-30 • 48 minutes #180 — Sex & Power A Conversation with Meghan Daum |
| 2019-Dec-17 • 34 minutes #179 — The Unquiet Mind A Conversation with Judson Brewer |
| 2019-Dec-11 • 67 minutes #178 — The Reality Illusion A Conversation with Donald Hoffman and Annaka Harris |
| 2019-Dec-02 • 87 minutes #177 — Psychedelic Science A Conversation with Roland Griffiths |
| 2019-Nov-23 • 64 minutes #176 — Knowledge & Redemption A Conversation with Lynn Novick and Jule Hall |
| 2019-Nov-11 • 37 minutes #175 — Leaving the Faith A Conversation with Yasmine Mohammed |
| 2019-Nov-04 • 49 minutes #174 — Life & Mind A Conversation with Richard Dawkins |
| 2019-Oct-28 • 28 minutes #173 — Anti-Semitism and Its Discontents A Conversation with Bari Weiss |
| 2019-Oct-21 • 52 minutes #172 — Among the Deplorables A Conversation with Andrew Marantz |
| 2019-Oct-08 • 42 minutes #171 — Escaping a Christian Cult A Conversation with Megan Phelps-Roper |
| 2019-Oct-02 • 48 minutes #170 — The Great Uncoupling Sam Harris speaks with Andrew McAfee about the history of human progress and the modern uncoupling of our prosperity from resource consumption. They discuss the pitfalls and hidden virtues of capitalism, technological progress, environmental policy,... |
| 2019-Sep-20 • 44 minutes #169 — Omens of a Race War Sam Harris speaks with Kathleen Belew about the white power movement in the United States. They discuss white supremacy, white nationalism, white separatism, the militia movement, “The Turner Diaries,” the connection between the white power... |
| 2019-Sep-11 • 37 minutes #168 — Mind, Space, & Motion Sam Harris speaks with Barbara Tversky about how our senses of space and motion underlie our capacity for thought. They discuss the evolution of mind prior to language, the importance of imitation and gesture, the sensory and motor homunculi, the... |
| 2019-Aug-26 • 16 minutes #167 — A Few Thoughts on White Supremacy Sam Harris addresses listener concerns that he uses a "double standard" to evaluate the relative threats of white supremacy and jihadism. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length... |
| 2019-Aug-21 • 26 minutes #166 — The Plague Years Sam Harris speaks with Matt McCarthy about his book "Superbugs: The Race to Stop an Epidemic." They discuss the problem of drug resistant bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses, and the failure of the pharmaceutical industry to keep pace with... |
| 2019-Aug-14 • 62 minutes #165 — Journey into Wokeness Sam Harris speaks with Caitlin Flanagan about her work as a writer. They discuss controversies on social media, the contradictions within feminism, media bias, #MeToo, the new norms of sexuality, the wokeness of academia, affirmative action, college... |
| 2019-Aug-05 • 50 minutes #164 — Cause & Effect Sam Harris speaks with Judea Pearl about his work on the mathematics of causality and artificial intelligence. They discuss how science has generally failed to understand causation, different levels of causal inference, counterfactuals, the... |
| 2019-Jul-12 • 56 minutes #163 — Ricky Gervais Sam Harris speaks with Ricky Gervais. They discuss fame, the effect of social media, the changing state of comedy, offensive jokes, Louis CK, political hypocrisy, Brexit and Trump, the state of journalism, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast... |
| 2019-Jul-03 • 36 minutes #162 — Medical Intelligence Sam Harris speaks with Eric Topol about the way artificial intelligence can improve medicine. They talk about soaring medical costs and declining health outcomes in the U.S., the problems of too little and too much medicine, the culture of medicine,... |
| 2019-Jun-24 • 43 minutes #161 — Rise & Fall Sam Harris speaks with Jared Diamond about the rise and fall of civilizations. They discuss political polarization, disparities in civilizational progress, the prospect that there may be biological differences between populations, the precariousness... |
| 2019-Jun-17 • 58 minutes #160 — The Revenge of History Sam Harris speaks with Michael Weiss and Yascha Mounk about the state of global politics. They discuss the rise of right-wing populism in Europe, the prospect that democracy could fail in the US, Trump’s political instincts, the political liability... |
| 2019-Jun-06 • 31 minutes #159 — Conscious Sam Harris speaks with his wife, Annaka Harris, about her new book, "Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind." If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length... |
| 2019-May-30 • 59 minutes #158 — Understanding Humans in the Wild Sam Harris speaks with Adam Grant about the social science of the workplace. They discuss how teams work effectively, the nature of power, personality types and fundamental styles of interaction, the critical skill of saying “no,” creativity,... |
| 2019-May-20 • 35 minutes #157 — What Does the Mueller Report Really Say? Sam Harris speaks with Benjamin Wittes about both volumes of the Mueller Report. 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. |
| 2019-May-13 • 41 minutes #156 — The Evolution of Culture Sam Harris speaks with Nicholas Christakis about his new book, "Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society." If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at... |
| 2019-Apr-29 • 49 minutes #155 — Mental Models Sam Harris speaks with Shane Parrish about some of the mental models that should guide our thinking and behavior. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at... |
| 2019-Apr-25 • 54 minutes #154 — What Do Jihadists Really Want? (2019) Sam Harris reads from an issue of Dabiq, the magazine of ISIS, and discusses the beliefs and goals of jihadists worldwide. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at... |
| 2019-Apr-15 • 99 minutes #153 — Possible Minds Sam Harris introduces John Brockman's new anthology, "," in conversation with three of its authors: George Dyson, Alison Gopnik, and Stuart Russell. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all... |
| 2019-Mar-27 • 50 minutes #152 — The Trouble with Facebook Sam Harris speaks with Roger McNamee about his book Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe. 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. |
| 2019-Mar-18 • 33 minutes #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,... |
| 2019-Mar-12 • 50 minutes #150 — The Map of Misunderstanding Sam Harris speaks with Daniel Kahneman at the Beacon Theatre in NYC. They discuss the replication crisis in science, System 1 and System 2, where intuitions reliably fail, expert intuitions, the power of framing, moral illusions, anticipated regret,... |
| 2019-Mar-04 • 41 minutes #149 — The Problem of Addiction Sam Harris speaks with Sally Satel about addiction. They discuss whether addiction should be considered a disease, the opiate epidemic in the U.S., the unique danger of fentanyl, the politicization of medicine, PTSD, and other topics. If the Making... |
| 2019-Feb-05 • 34 minutes #148 — Jack Dorsey Sam Harris speaks with Jack Dorsey about how he manages his dual CEO roles at Square and Twitter, the role that Twitter plays in journalism, how it’s different from other social media, what makes a conversation healthy, the logic by which Twitter... |
| 2019-Jan-28 • 46 minutes #147 — Stephen Fry 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. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your... |
| 2019-Jan-16 • 45 minutes #146 — Digital Capitalism Sam Harris speaks with Douglas Rushkoff about the state of the digital economy. 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. |
| 2019-Jan-02 • 32 minutes #145 — The Information War Sam Harris speaks with Renee Diresta about Russia's "Internet Research Agency" and its efforts to amplify conspiracy thinking and partisan conflict in the United States. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to... |
| 2018-Dec-20 • 174 minutes The Drive Interview with Peter Attia Sam Harris speaks with Peter Attia about meditation and the nature of mind. They discuss types of meditation, the difference between pain and suffering, the difference between joy and wellbeing, the half-life of negative emotions, thinking and... |
| 2018-Dec-07 • 69 minutes #144 — Conquering Hate 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... |
| 2018-Nov-21 • 42 minutes #143 — The Keys to the Mind 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. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player... |
| 2018-Nov-13 • 48 minutes #142 — Addiction, Depression, and a Meaningful Life Sam Harris speaks with Johann Hari about his books "Chasing the Scream" and "Lost Connections." If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2018-Nov-05 • 40 minutes #141— Is #MeToo Going Too Far? Sam Harris speaks with Rebecca Traister about her new book "Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger." If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2018-Oct-30 • 67 minutes The TED Interview Sam talks to the head of TED, Chris Anderson, about using reason to build our morality. Sam makes the case that reason can indeed answer moral questions, and then explores the many controversies that emerge from that claim. Moral superiority? Cultural... |
| 2018-Oct-17 • 46 minutes #140 — Burning Down the Fourth Estate 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... |
| 2018-Oct-03 • 43 minutes #139 — Sacred & Profane 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. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you... |
| 2018-Sep-25 • 10 minutes Introducing Waking Up In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris introduces Waking Up. More information can be found at . You can support the Making Sense podcast and receive subscriber-only content at samharris.org/subscribe. |
| 2018-Sep-20 • 50 minutes #138 — The Edge of Humanity 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... |
| 2018-Sep-10 • 40 minutes #137 — Safe Space 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... |
| 2018-Aug-30 • 28 minutes #136 — Digital Humanism 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,... |
| 2018-Aug-20 • 37 minutes #135 — Navigating Sex and Gender 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. If the Making Sense podcast... |
| 2018-Jul-29 • 51 minutes #134 — Beyond the Politics of Race Sam Harris speaks with Coleman Hughes about race, racism, and identity politics. 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. |
| 2018-Jul-18 • 24 minutes #133 — Globalism on the Brink Sam Harris speaks with Ian Bremmer about the failure of globalism and rise of populism. They discuss immigration, trade, automation, wealth inequality, Trump, identity politics and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is... |
| 2018-Jul-09 • 27 minutes #132 — Freeing the Hostages 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. SUBSCRIBE to listen to the rest of... |
| 2018-Jul-03 • 37 minutes #131 — Dictators, Immigration, #MeToo, and Other Imponderables 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... |
| 2018-Jun-19 • 25 minutes #130 — Universal Basic Income 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. If the Making Sense podcast logo... |
| 2018-Jun-12 • 29 minutes #129 — An Insider’s View of Medicine 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... |
| 2018-Jun-04 • 69 minutes #128 — Transformations of Mind 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... |
| 2018-May-28 • 39 minutes #127 — Freedom from the Known Sam Harris speaks with Michael Pollan about his new book “How to Change Your Mind.” They cover the the resurgence of interest in psychedelics in clinical practice and end-of-life care, the “betterment of well people,” the relationship between... |
| 2018-May-08 • 50 minutes #126 — In Defense of Honor Sam Harris speaks with Tamler Sommers about cultures of honor. They discuss the difference between honor and dignity, “justice porn,” honor killings, honor and interpersonal violence, prison and gang culture, collective responsibility and... |
| 2018-May-01 • 50 minutes #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... |
| 2018-Apr-21 • 47 minutes #124 — In Search of Reality Sam Harris speaks with Sean Carroll about our understanding of reality. They discuss consciousness, the many worlds view of quantum mechanics, the arrow of time, free will, facts and values, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your... |
| 2018-Apr-09 • 53 minutes #123 — Identity & Honesty Sam Harris speaks with Ezra Klein, Editor-at-Large for Vox Media, about racism, identity politics, intellectual honesty, and the controversy over his podcast with Charles Murray (Making Sense #73). If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player... |
| 2018-Apr-03 • 18 minutes #122 — Extreme Housekeeping Edition Sam Harris responds to the ongoing controversy over his interview with Charles Murray and discusses his upcoming conversation with Ezra Klein. He also announces a change he will be making to the format of the podcast. If the Making Sense podcast logo... |
| 2018-Mar-25 • 61 minutes #121 — White Power Sam Harris speaks with Christian Picciolini about his experience as a neo-Nazi skinhead. They discuss how Christian got out of the movement, the limits of shame and forgiveness, the cult-like dynamics of white supremacy, the alt-Right, Russian support... |
| 2018-Mar-19 • 51 minutes #120 — What Is and What Matters Sam Harris speaks with Rebecca Goldstein and Max Tegmark about the foundations of human knowledge and morality. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at... |
| 2018-Mar-12 • 59 minutes #119 — Hidden Motives Sam Harris speaks with Robin Hanson about our hidden motives in everyday life. They discuss selfishness, hypocrisy, norms and meta-norms, cheating, deception, self-deception, education, the evolutionary logic of conversation, social status,... |
| 2018-Feb-27 • 28 minutes # 118 — The View from Trumpistan Sam Harris speaks with Preet Bharara about President Trump and the Russia investigation. 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. |
| 2018-Feb-19 • 41 minutes #117 — Networks, Power, and Chaos Sam Harris speaks with Niall Ferguson about his new book "The Square and the Tower." They discuss his career as a writer, networks and hierarchies, how history gets written, the similarity between the 16th century and the 21st, the role of social... |
| 2018-Feb-09 • 121 minutes The Russell Brand Interview This episode of the Making Sense podcast features an interview that Sam did with Russell Brand on the Under the Skin podcast. They speak about religion, terrorism, politics, meditation, psychedelics, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo... |
| 2018-Feb-06 • 55 minutes #116 — AI: Racing Toward the Brink Sam Harris speaks with Eliezer Yudkowsky about the nature of intelligence, different types of AI, the "alignment problem," IS vs OUGHT, the possibility that future AI might deceive us, the AI arms race, conscious AI, coordination problems, and other... |
| 2018-Jan-29 • 39 minutes #115 — Sam Harris, Lawrence Krauss, and Matt Dillahunty (1) Sam Harris speaks with Lawrence Krauss and Matt Dillahunty about the threat of nuclear war, Christian support for Trump, science and a universal conception of morality, the role of intuition in science, the primacy of consciousness, the nature of... |
| 2018-Jan-22 • 50 minutes #114 — Politics and Sanity Sam Harris speaks with David Frum and Andrew Sullivan about the Trump presidency, hyper-partisanship, how democracies fail, immigration, the lowering life expectancy in the U.S., racism, social media, the opioid crisis, marijuana legalization,... |
| 2018-Jan-09 • 103 minutes #113 — Consciousness and the Self Sam Harris speaks with Anil Seth about the scientific study of consciousness, where consciousness emerges in nature, levels of consciousness, perception as a “controlled hallucination,” emotion, the experience of “pure consciousness,”... |
| 2018-Jan-02 • 55 minutes #112 — The Intellectual Dark Web Sam Harris speaks with Eric Weinstein and Ben Shapiro about the breakdown of shared values, the problem with identity politics, religion, free will, the primacy of reason, and many other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is... |
| 2017-Dec-28 • 41 minutes #111 — The Science of Meditation Sam Harris speaks with Daniel Goleman and Richard J. Davidson about the current scientific understanding of meditation practice. They speak about the original stigma associated with meditation, the history of introspection in eastern and western... |
| 2017-Dec-23 • 46 minutes #110 — The Change Artist Sam Harris speaks with AJ Jacobs about religion, gossip, polyamory, health advice, our past and future selves, “radical honesty,” human genealogy, tribalism, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can... |
| 2017-Dec-19 • 56 minutes #109— Biology and Culture Sam Harris speaks with Bret Weinstein about the moral panic at Evergreen State College, the concept of race, genetic differences between human populations, intersectionality, sex and gender, “metaphorical truth,” religion and “group... |
| 2017-Dec-14 • 43 minutes #108 — Defending the Experts Sam Harris speaks with Tom Nichols about his book The Death of Expertise. They discuss the “Dunning-Kruger Effect,” the growth of knowledge and reliance on authority, when experts fail, the repudiation of expertise in politics, conspiracy... |
| 2017-Dec-06 • 49 minutes #107 — Is Life Actually Worth Living? Sam Harris speaks with David Benatar about his philosophy of “anti-natalism." They discuss the asymmetry between the good and bad things in life, the ethics of existential risk, the moral landscape, the limits and paradoxes of introspection, the... |
| 2017-Nov-29 • 19 minutes #106 — Humanity 2.0 Sam Harris speaks with Jennifer Doudna about the gene-editing technology CRISPR/cas9. They talk about the biology of gene editing, how specific tissues in the body can be targeted, the ethical implications of changing the human genome, the importance... |
| 2017-Nov-20 • 38 minutes #105 — Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Matt Dillahunty The following conversation between Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Matt Dillahunty was recorded at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver on November 2, 2017. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all... |
| 2017-Nov-15 • 28 minutes #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. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length... |
| 2017-Nov-09 • 26 minutes #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... |
| 2017-Oct-30 • 56 minutes #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... |
| 2017-Oct-17 • 33 minutes #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... |
| 2017-Oct-09 • 40 minutes #100 — Facing the Crowd Sam Harris speaks with Nicholas Christakis about mob behavior, moral panics, and current threats to free speech. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at... |
| 2017-Oct-06 • 108 minutes The "After On" Interview A Conversation with Rob Reid |
| 2017-Sep-28 • 32 minutes #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... |
| 2017-Sep-21 • 30 minutes #98 — Into the Dark Land Sam Harris speaks with Siddhartha Mukherjee about his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length... |
| 2017-Sep-15 • 27 minutes #97 — The Impossible War Sam Harris speaks with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick about their latest film, The Vietnam War. 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. |
| 2017-Sep-10 • 51 minutes #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... |
| 2017-Sep-05 • 47 minutes #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... |
| 2017-Aug-29 • 37 minutes #94 — Frontiers of Intelligence Sam Harris speaks with Max Tegmark about his new book Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. They talk about the nature of intelligence, the risks of superhuman AI, a nonbiological definition of life, the substrate independence... |
| 2017-Aug-21 • 40 minutes #93 — Identity & Terror Sam Harris speaks with Douglas Murray about identity politics, the rise of white nationalism, the events in Charlottesville, guilt by association, the sources of western values, the problem of finding meaning in a secular world, and other topics. If... |
| 2017-Aug-16 • 60 minutes #92 — The Limits of Persuasion Sam Harris speaks with David Pizarro and Tamler Sommers about free speech on campus, the Scott Adams podcast, the failings of the mainstream media, moral persuasion, moral certainty, the ethics of abortion, Buddhism, the illusion of the self, and... |
| 2017-Aug-09 • 43 minutes #91 — The Biology of Good and Evil Sam Harris speaks with Robert Sapolsky about his work with baboons, the opposition between reason and emotion, doubt, the evolution of the brain, the civilizing role of the frontal cortex, the illusion of free will, justice and vengeance,... |
| 2017-Aug-06 • 61 minutes #90 — Living With Violence Sam Harris speaks with Gavin de Becker about the primacy of human intuition in the prediction and prevention of violence. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at... |
| 2017-Jul-25 • 22 minutes #89 — On Becoming a Better Person Sam Harris speaks with David Brooks about his book The Road to Character, the importance of words like “sin” and "virtue," self-esteem vs. self-overcoming, the significance of keeping promises, honesty, President Trump, and other topics. If the... |
| 2017-Jul-21 • 27 minutes #88 — Must We Accept a Nuclear North Korea? Sam Harris speaks with Mark Bowden about the problem of a nuclear-armed North Korea. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2017-Jul-19 • 53 minutes #87 — Triggered Sam Harris and Scott Adams debate the character and competence of President Trump. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2017-Jul-14 • 50 minutes #86 — From Cells to Cities Sam Harris speaks with Geoffrey West about how biological and social systems scale, the significance of fractals, the prospects of radically extending human life, the concept of “emergence” in complex systems, the importance of cities, the... |
| 2017-Jul-07 • 40 minutes #85 — Is this the End of Europe? Sam Harris speaks with Douglas Murray about his book The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2017-Jul-01 • 46 minutes #84 — Landscapes of Mind Sam Harris speaks with Kevin Kelly about why it’s so hard to predict future technology, the nature of intelligence, the “singularity,” artificial consciousness, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can... |
| 2017-Jun-23 • 39 minutes #83 — The Politics of Emergency Sam Harris speaks with Fareed Zakaria about his career as a journalist, Samuel Huntington's "clash of civilizations," political partisanship, Trump, the health of the news media, the connection between Islam and intolerance, and other topics. If the... |
| 2017-Jun-15 • 43 minutes #82 — The End of the World According to ISIS Sam Harris speaks with Graeme Wood about his experience reporting on ISIS, the myth of online recruitment, the theology of ISIS, the quality of their propaganda, the most important American recruit to the organization, the roles of Jesus and the... |
| 2017-Jun-09 • 50 minutes #81 — Leaving Islam Sam Harris speaks with Sarah Haider about her organization Ex-Muslims of North America, how the political Left is confused about Islam, "rape culture" under Islam, honesty without bigotry, stealth theocracy, immigration, the prospects of reforming... |
| 2017-Jun-04 • 25 minutes #80 — The Unraveling Sam Harris speaks with David Frum about political partisanship, recent security leaks, Trump's foreign policy, the Russia investigation, Kathy Griffin's joke, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can... |
| 2017-May-29 • 31 minutes #79 — The Road to Tyranny Sam Harris speaks with Timothy Snyder about his book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2017-May-26 • 41 minutes #78 — Persuasion and Control Sam Harris speaks with Zeynep Tufekci about "surveillance capitalism," the Trump campaign's use of Facebook, AI-enabled marketing, the health of the press, Wikileaks, ransomware attacks, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your... |
| 2017-May-22 • 44 minutes #77 — The Moral Complexity of Genetics Sam Harris speaks with Siddhartha Mukherjee about the human desire to understand and manipulate heredity, the genius of Gregor Mendel, the ethics of altering our genes, the future of genetic medicine, patent issues in genetic research, controversies... |
| 2017-May-18 • 40 minutes #76 — The Path to Impeachment Sam Harris speaks with Anne Applebaum and Juliette Kayyem about the unfolding Russia scandal in the White House. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2017-May-12 • 29 minutes #75 — Ask Me Anything 7 Sam Harris answers questions from listeners about the illusion of the self, his podcast with Charles Murray, the future of brain-machine interfaces, his BJJ practice, reasoning with the extreme Left, mindfulness and parenting, his experience of going... |
| 2017-May-06 • 47 minutes #74 — What Should We Eat? Sam Harris speaks with Gary Taubes about his career as a science journalist, the difficulty of studying nutrition and public health scientifically, the growing epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the role of hormones in weight gain, the controversies... |
| 2017-Apr-23 • 51 minutes #73 — Forbidden Knowledge Sam Harris speaks with Charles Murray about the controversy over his book "The Bell Curve," the validity and significance of IQ as a measure of intelligence, the problem of social stratification, the rise of Trump, universal basic income, and other... |
| 2017-Apr-17 • 14 minutes #72 — Privacy and Security Sam Harris speaks with General Michael V. Hayden about the reality of spying, the difference between the NSA and the CIA, the ethics of secrecy, Edward Snowden, the Russian Hacking of the 2016 US Presidential election, and other topics. If the... |
| 2017-Apr-14 • 46 minutes #71 — What Is Technology Doing to Us? Sam Harris speaks with Tristan Harris about the arms race for human attention, the ethics of persuasion, the consequences of having an ad-based economy, the dynamics of regret, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is... |
| 2017-Apr-10 • 50 minutes #70 — Beauty and Terror Sam Harris speaks with physicist Lawrence Krauss about the utility of public debates, the progress of science, confusion about the role of consciousness in quantum mechanics, the present danger of nuclear war, the Trump administration, the relative... |
| 2017-Mar-24 • 37 minutes #69 — The Russia Connection Sam Harris speaks with Anne Applebaum about Russia's meddling in the U.S. Presidential election and Trump's troubling affinity for Vladimir Putin. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all... |
| 2017-Mar-19 • 39 minutes #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... |
| 2017-Mar-13 • 45 minutes #67 — Meaning and Chaos Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson discuss science, religion, archetypes, mythology, and the perennial problem of finding meaning in life. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length... |
| 2017-Mar-01 • 25 minutes #66 — Living with Robots Sam Harris speaks with Kate Darling about the ethical concerns surrounding our increasing use of robots and other autonomous systems. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length... |
| 2017-Feb-20 • 26 minutes #65 — We're All Cucks Now Sam Harris speaks with David Frum about the presidency of Donald Trump. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2017-Feb-16 • 43 minutes #64 — Ask Me Anything 6 Sam Harris answers questions from listeners about his conversation with Jordan Peterson, the reaction to Milo Yiannopoulos at U.C. Berkeley, the “Muslim ban,” the echo chamber of social media, Trump’s lies, the value of the humanities, the... |
| 2017-Jan-31 • 48 minutes #63 — Why Meditate? Sam Harris and Joseph Goldstein answer questions about the practice of mindfulness. They discuss the nature negative emotions, the importance of ethics, the concept of enlightenment, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is... |
| 2017-Jan-21 • 55 minutes #62 — What is True? Sam Harris speaks with psychologist Jordan B. Peterson about freedom of speech and the nature of truth. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2017-Jan-15 • 49 minutes #61 — The Power of Belief Sam Harris speaks with author Lawrence Wright about al-Qaeda & ISIS, Arab culture, 9/11 conspiracy theories, the migrant crisis in Europe, Scientology, parallels between L. Ron Hubbard and Donald Trump, the Satanic cult panic, and other topics. If... |
| 2017-Jan-10 • 37 minutes #60 — An Evening with Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris (2) Sam Harris speaks with Richard Dawkins at a live event in Los Angeles (second of two). They discuss Richard’s experience of having a stroke, the genetic future of humanity, the analogy between genes and memes, the “extended phenotype,” Islam and... |
| 2017-Jan-05 • 49 minutes #59 — Friend & Foe Sam Harris speaks with Maajid Nawaz about the Southern Poverty Law Center, Robert Spencer, Keith Ellison, moderate Muslims, Shadi Hamid’s notion of “Islamic exceptionalism," the migrant crisis in Europe, foreign interventions, Trump, Putin,... |
| 2016-Dec-27 • 42 minutes #58 — The Putin Question Sam Harris speaks with Garry Kasparov about the problem of waning American power, the rise of Putin, the coming presidency of Donald Trump, computer chess, the future of artificial intelligence, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in... |
| 2016-Dec-19 • 43 minutes #57 — An Evening with Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris (1) Sam Harris speaks with Richard Dawkins at a live event in Los Angeles (first of two). They cover religion, Jurassic Park, artificial intelligence, elitism, continuing human evolution, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player... |
| 2016-Dec-12 • 69 minutes #56 — Abusing Dolores Sam Harris speaks with Paul Bloom about empathy, meditation studies, morality, AI, Westworld, Donald Trump, free will, rationality, conspiracy thinking, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to... |
| 2016-Dec-06 • 75 minutes #55 — Islamism vs Secularism Sam Harris speaks with Shadi Hamid about the power of religious belief, the failure of the Left, Islamist democracy, free speech, profiling, white nationalism, Obama’s foreign policy and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player... |
| 2016-Dec-01 • 36 minutes #54 — Trumping The World Sam Harris speaks with journalist James Kirchick about the coming Trump presidency, liberalism vs illiberalism, fake news, Russia, Syria, Iran, and the future of American power. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can... |
| 2016-Nov-24 • 37 minutes #53 — The Dawn of Artificial Intelligence Sam Harris speaks with computer scientist Stuart Russell about the challenge of building artificial intelligence that is compatible with human well-being. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to... |
| 2016-Nov-16 • 45 minutes #52 — Finding Our Way in the Cosmos Sam Harris speaks with physicist David Deutsch about the foundations of knowledge, the moral landscape, possible futures for conscious beings, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access... |
| 2016-Nov-10 • 12 minutes #51 — The Most Powerful Clown Sam Harris talks about the results of the 2016 presidential election and the prospects of a President Trump. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2016-Nov-02 • 25 minutes #50 — The Borders of Tolerance Sam Harris speaks with Ayaan Hirsi Ali about Islamism, the migrant crisis in Europe, 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 . |
| 2016-Oct-26 • 65 minutes #49 — The Lesser Evil Sam Harris speaks with Andrew Sullivan about the 2016 presidential election. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2016-Oct-21 • 48 minutes #48 — What Is Moral Progress? Sam Harris speaks with philosopher Peter Singer about the foundations of morality, expanding the circle of our moral concern, politics, free speech, conspiracy thinking, Edward Snowden, the importance of intentions, WWII, euthanasia, eating “happy... |
| 2016-Oct-06 • 49 minutes #47 — The Frontiers of Political Correctness Sam Harris speaks with Gad Saad about political correctness, academic taboos, Islam, immigration, Donald Trump, 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... |
| 2016-Sep-28 • 27 minutes #46 — The End of Faith Sessions 3 Sam Harris reads and discusses the third chapter of "The End of Faith." Topics covered: Christianity, Judaism, the Inquisition, witchcraft, anti-Semitism, and the Holocaust. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE... |
| 2016-Sep-13 • 47 minutes #45 — Ask Me Anything 5 Sam Harris answers questions from listeners about how 9/11 changed his life, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, free will, why he podcasts, Milo and the alt-Right, identity politics, Clinton vs. Trump, vegetarianism, and the Hannibal Buress episode. If the Making... |
| 2016-Aug-29 • 56 minutes #44 — Being Good and Doing Good Sam Harris speaks with Oxford philosopher William MacAskill about effective altruism, moral illusions, existential risk, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length... |
| 2016-Aug-17 • 48 minutes #43 — What Do Jihadists Really Want? Sam Harris reads from the latest issue of "Dabiq," the magazine of ISIS, and discusses the beliefs and goals of jihadists worldwide. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes... |
| 2016-Aug-09 • 56 minutes #42 — Racism and Violence in America Sam Harris talks to economist Glenn C. Loury about racism, police violence, the Black Lives Matter movement, and related topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes... |
| 2016-Aug-01 • 64 minutes #41 — Faith in Reason Sam Harris speaks with Eric Weinstein about the relationship between faith and reason and about some of the factors that make conversations on important topics so difficult. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE... |
| 2016-Jul-12 • 47 minutes #40 — Complexity & Stupidity Sam Harris talks to biologist David Krakauer about information, complex systems, and the future of humanity. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2016-Jul-04 • 45 minutes #39 — Free Will Revisited Sam Harris speaks with philosopher Daniel Dennett about free will. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2016-Jun-15 • 40 minutes #38 — The End of Faith Sessions 2 Sam Harris reads and discusses the second chapter of "The End of Faith." However, the first hour of this podcast focuses on Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and the political implications of the recent terrorist attack in Orlando. Discussion of The End... |
| 2016-May-31 • 47 minutes #37 — Thinking in Public Sam Harris speaks with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson about the public understanding of science, his career as an educator, political atheism, racism, artificial intelligence, alien life, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your... |
| 2016-May-02 • 38 minutes #36 — What Makes Us Safer? Sam Harris speaks with Juliette Kayyem, a leading expert on homeland security, about the war on terror, profiling, Islamism, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all... |
| 2016-Apr-25 • 51 minutes #35 — The End Of Faith Sessions 1 Sam Harris reads and discusses the first chapter of "The End of Faith." If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2016-Apr-18 • 48 minutes #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. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player... |
| 2016-Mar-26 • 29 minutes #33 — Ask Me Anything 4 Sam Harris answers questions from listeners about the recent attacks in Brussels, dealing with anxiety, the science of immortality, fame, liberalism, the Golden Age of Islam, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK,... |
| 2016-Mar-12 • 97 minutes #32 — The Best Podcast Ever Sam Harris talks to Omer Aziz about Islam, Islamism, free speech, and related topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2016-Mar-09 • 42 minutes #31 — Evolving Minds Sam Harris responds to Omer Aziz and Salon magazine, and then speaks with Jonathan Haidt about the scientific study of morality, the problem of political correctness, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can... |
| 2016-Mar-06 • 42 minutes #30 — Inside the Crucible Sam Harris briefly revisits the Apple-FBI controversy and then speaks with Michael Weiss about ISIS and the ongoing civil war in Syria. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length... |
| 2016-Feb-24 • 51 minutes #29 — Throw Open the Gates Sam Harris responds to criticism of his views on the Apple-FBI controversy and then speaks with Maryam Namazie about friendly fire among secularists, profiling, the immigration crisis in Europe, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in... |
| 2016-Feb-20 • 21 minutes #28 — Meat Without Misery Sam Harris offers a few more thoughts on Clinton vs Sanders, as well as on the ethics of strong encryption. He then speaks with Uma Valeti, cardiologist and CEO of Memphis Meats, about the future of food production. If the Making Sense podcast... |
| 2016-Feb-13 • 30 minutes #27 — Ask Me Anything 3 Sam Harris answers questions from listeners about free will, meditation, Noam Chomsky, the illusion of the self, Clinton vs. Sanders, the de-platforming of Richard Dawkins, wealth inequality, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your... |
| 2016-Jan-19 • 42 minutes #26 — The Logic of Violence Sam Harris speaks with retired Navy SEAL and author, Jocko Willink. They discuss U.S. foreign policy, war, human evil, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length... |
| 2016-Jan-14 • 45 minutes #25 — Behind the Gun Sam Harris speaks with former SWAT operator and lead weapons and tactics instructor for the LAPD Metro Division, Scott Reitz. They discuss guns, gun control, police violence, and related topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is... |
| 2016-Jan-04 • 46 minutes #24 — Ask Me Anything 2 Sam Harris answers questions from listeners about Islamism, free will, honesty, vegetarianism, why he doesn’t publish more in academic journals, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain... |
| 2015-Dec-21 • 38 minutes #23 — Islam and the Future of Tolerance (Audiobook Excerpts) Sam Harris introduces the audio edition of his book with Maajid Nawaz, "Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue." If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2015-Dec-16 • 49 minutes #22 — Surviving the Cosmos Sam Harris talks to physicist David Deutsch about the reach and power of human knowledge, the future of artificial intelligence, and the survival of civilization. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain... |
| 2015-Nov-22 • 58 minutes #21 — On the Maintenance of Civilization Sam Harris speaks with author Douglas Murray about Islamism, liberalism, civil society, and the migrant crisis in Europe. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2015-Nov-15 • 10 minutes #20 — Still Sleepwalking Toward Armageddon Sam Harris reflects on the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2015-Oct-08 • 39 minutes #19 — The Riddle Of The Gun (Revisited) Sam Harris discusses his views about guns and gun control in light of a recent mass shooting. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2015-Sep-23 • 44 minutes #18 — The Multiverse & You (& You & You & You...) Sam Harris speaks with MIT cosmologist Max Tegmark about the foundations of science, our current understanding of the universe, and the risks of future breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK,... |
| 2015-Sep-16 • 12 minutes #17 — What I Really Think About Profiling Sam Harris responds to misrepresentations of his views (again). If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2015-Aug-26 • 42 minutes #16 — The Dark Side Sam Harris and Paul Bloom talk about Donald Trump, torture, trophy hunting, and other terrors. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2015-Aug-11 • 46 minutes #15 — Questions Along the Path Sam Harris and Joseph Goldstein discuss the practice of meditation and answer questions that came from listeners in response to their first conversation, "The Path and the Goal." If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can... |
| 2015-Jul-29 • 42 minutes #14 — The Virtues of Cold Blood Sam Harris speaks with psychologist Paul Bloom about the limitations of empathy as a guide to moral reasoning. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2015-Jul-21 • 33 minutes #13 — The Moral Gaze Sam Harris speaks with the filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer about his remarkable documentaries, "The Act of Killing" and "The Look of Silence." If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length... |
| 2015-Jul-03 • 31 minutes #12 — Leaving the Church Sam Harris speaks with Megan Phelps-Roper, granddaughter of Fred Phelps of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2015-Jun-27 • 58 minutes #11 — Shouldering the Burden of History Sam Harris and Dan Carlin (host of the Hardcore History and Common Sense podcasts) discuss American interventionism, the war on terror, and related topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to... |
| 2015-May-19 • 25 minutes #10 — Faith vs. Fact Sam Harris interviews biologist Jerry Coyne about his new book, "Faith vs. Fact: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible." If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2015-May-15 • 11 minutes #9 — Final Thoughts On Chomsky Sam Harris reflects on his failure to have a productive conversation with Noam Chomsky. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2015-Apr-24 • 38 minutes #8 — Ask Me Anything 1 Sam Harris talks about atheism, artificial intelligence, rape, public speaking, meditation, consciousness, free will, intellectual honesty, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to... |
| 2015-Mar-25 • 12 minutes #7 — Through the Eyes of a Cult Sam Harris discusses the Heaven's Gate suicide cult and argues that we all have something important to learn from them about the power of belief. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all... |
| 2015-Feb-18 • 12 minutes #6 — The Chapel Hill Murders and 'Militant' Atheism Sam Harris responds to the charge that "militant" atheism is responsible for the murder of three Muslim students in North Carolina. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes... |
| 2015-Jan-22 • 16 minutes #5 — After Charlie Hebdo and Other Thoughts Sam Harris answers reader questions in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2014-Oct-28 • 51 minutes #4 — The Path and the Goal Sam Harris speaks with Joseph Goldstein about the practice of meditation. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2014-Aug-21 • 41 minutes #3 — WAKING UP — Chapter One This is the complete first chapter of Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris. To purchase the audiobook: To purchase the print edition: If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain... |
| 2014-Jul-27 • 16 minutes #2 — Why Don't I Criticize Israel? In the wake of the recent war in Gaza, many readers have asked "Why don't you criticize Israel?" Here is my response. You can read an annotated transcript of this podcast at: If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE... |
| 2014-Jun-05 • 21 minutes #1 — Drugs And The Meaning Of Life The full text of this essay can be read here: If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at . |
| 2013-Nov-12 • 8 minutes How to talk to a Christian This is an edited excerpt from remarks that Sam H… |