Lex Fridman Podcast #185 – Sam Harris: Consciousness, Free Will, Psychedelics, AI, UFOs, and Meaning
266 snips
May 20, 2021 
Sam Harris, a renowned author and philosopher, delves into profound topics like consciousness and free will. He explores where thoughts originate and how psychedelics can alter perception and consciousness. Harris questions the existence of objective reality while discussing the ethics surrounding artificial intelligence. He emphasizes the complex interplay between free will, empathy, and human experience, suggesting that understanding our lack of agency might enhance compassion. They also tackle existential threats humanity faces and the need for innovative responses.
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Thought Origins
- Thoughts seem to emerge from nowhere, a mystery we experience subjectively.
- Meditation helps unravel this identification with the stream of thought.
Exploring Consciousness
- We can explore subtle contents of consciousness, but the idea of a deeper, truer self is ultimately false.
- There's no center to consciousness; there is just consciousness and its contents.
Consciousness and Physics
- Consciousness might be fundamental to matter, not just a product of information processing.
- We struggle to differentiate memory failure from interrupted consciousness, unlike with speech.
