Making Sense with Sam Harris cover image

Making Sense with Sam Harris

#354 — Is Moral Progress a Fantasy?

Feb 16, 2024
40:30
Snipd AI
Sam Harris and John Gray discuss threats to freedom of thought, limitations of freedom of speech, the paradox of progress, dangers of technological advancements, and the disconnect between scientific progress and ethical-political regression.
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Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

  • The podcast highlights the threats to freedom of thought and expression from within civil society itself, with institutions imposing codes of censorship and enforcing them through cancellation and deplatforming.
  • John Gray argues that progress in ethics and politics is not cumulative, but instead, gains achieved can be eroded over time, as new technologies and knowledge are used to serve barbarous goals and values rather than rationality.

Deep dives

Threats to Freedom of Thought and Expression

The podcast episode discusses the historical and current threats to freedom of thought and expression. It highlights how in the past, autocratic states were the principal enemies of these freedoms, but now the threats come from within civil society itself. Universities, philanthropic organizations, professional associations, and artistic institutions are increasingly imposing codes of censorship and enforcing them through cancellation and deplatforming. This has led to a fundamental change in the liberal civilization, where norms of free speech and free thought are no longer taken for granted.

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