Ask Me Anything #4

Anxiety is a monster that is crippling and paralyzed and keeps you in a loop of debilitating negative emotions even when one desperately wants out. What are the causes? What can one do to help themselves? What steps big or small do you suggest?

What are your thoughts on immortality or at least living a very very long time as pursued by researchers like Aubrey de Grey? Do you think it's possible? Do you think it's desirable?

I remember you mentioning getting flack from Maajid about not liking hip hop. I'm curious. What sort of music do you listen to? Stravinsky, Radiohead, Enya?

Why aren't your books translated into Arabic?

Can you please do a podcast with Richard Lang, disciple and close friend of the late Douglas Harding about The Headless Way, the westernized version of dzogchen?

What are your preferred news sources?

I heard you say once before that the left has one advantage over the right in that it has a self correcting mechanism. Well, now that the left seems to be going off the deep end, we need those mechanisms.

Did you find that the initial onset of your fame altered your sense of self/ego at all even temporarily? If so, how? Do you credit your background in meditation for helping you keep level headed?

On stoicism, you said you were disappointed in how you handled some recent battles. What are your strategies moving forward to evolve and prepare when you suit up for the next one?

Sam addresses requests for his views on abortion.

We're always hearing about how Iran was a relatively more liberal nation before the Islamic regimes took over. We hear about how the problem of radical Islam is relatively new in the world and that historically Islam was not as violent. If we grant that this is true, does this make religion more or less scary considering that apparently these violent interpretations can arise suddenly and possibly without historical context?

Can you tell us anything about your upcoming book on artificial intelligence?

What are your thoughts on the transgender debate?

What is your position on male circumcision?

What would you be working on if 9/11 hadn't happened and you hadn't written The End of Faith? How would your work be different?