Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content

In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, 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,” consciousness as “integrated information,” measures of “brain complexity,” psychedelics, different aspects of the “self,” conscious AI, and many other topics. Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and Founding Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. In his work, he seeks to understand the biological basis of consciousness by bringing together research across neuroscience, mathematics, artificial intelligence, computer science, psychology, philosophy, and psychiatry. In addition to delivering new insights into the nature of consciousness, his research has helped shape novel approaches to psychiatric disorders, as well as driving innovative methods in machine learning and in brain-inspired technologies.  His recent book—Being You: A New Science of Consciousness—explores what it means to “be you”—that is, to have a specific, conscious experience of the world around you and yourself within it. Website: www.anilseth.com Twitter: @anilkseth  Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris reflects on the subjective continuity of consciousness, the nature of identity, and the possibility that death isn’t the end of experience. Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Andrew Yang about the state of American democracy. They discuss Andrew’s run for the Presidency, the humiliations of campaigning, the manipulation of politics by the media, Andrew’s run for the mayor’s office in NYC, the power of bad incentives, open primaries, rank-choice voting, the Forward Party, the weakness of a two-party system, inequality, the child tax credit, enhanced unemployment, UBI, worries about inflation, and other topics. Andrew Yang was a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and a 2021 candidate for mayor of New York City. Named by President Obama as a Presidential Ambassador of Global Entrepreneurship, he is the founder of Humanity Forward and Venture for America. Yang’s New York Times bestselling book The War on Normal People helped introduce the idea of universal basic income into the political mainstream. Yang is a graduate of Brown University, where he graduated with degrees in economics and political science, and Columbia Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review. Andrew’s newest book, Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy, outlines the problems in our broken system and a way forward to prevent the decline of American Democracy. Website: movehumanityforward.com Twitter: @AndrewYang Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Cognitive neuroscientist Jonas Kaplan joins Sam Harris in discussing belief change. They explore topics such as the illusory truth effect, failures of replication, the connection between reason and emotion, conspiracy theories, and the power of incentives. They also touch on religion, mindfulness, and cognitive flexibility.

In this episode, 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 AbsolutelyMental.com.  

In this Ask Me Anything session, Sam answers the following questions: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?Does aid to the developing world do more harm than good?Have your views about the risk of artificial general intelligence changed in recent years?What did you think of Simon Biles’s decision to drop out of the Olympics?How should Facebook and other social media platforms deal with the tradeoff between misinformation and censorship?Why are people so resistant to changing their beliefs?

In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris recalls his experience of September 11th, 2001, and considers the future of American foreign policy.

Sam Harris speaks with Balaji Srinivasan about American decline, rise of India and China, politics, technology, failures of regulatory agencies, significance of Bitcoin and blockchain, Chinese government attack on Bitcoin, threat of US regulation of cryptocurrency, blockchain scalability, creator coins, life in Singapore, future of decentralized journalism, wealth inequality, ubiquitous investing, non-zero-sum capitalism, and 'start-up countries'.

In this Ask Me Anything session, Sam begins by addressing the blowback that followed a recent podcast episode on “vaccine hesitancy” with Eric Topol and then answers the following questions:How can I inoculate my biracial children against identity politics?In what way is journalism broken, and how can we fix it?Have you read the research suggesting that the effects of microdosing psychedelics are indistinguishable from taking placebos?Can you comment on the degree to which Leftist political ideas have captured the Buddhist community?What should Democrats do to prevent a resurgence of Trumpism?What are the ingredients for a good life?Is it ever ethical for governments to lie to their citizens?If the present moment is all that matters, how can we plan for the future?

In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Peter Bergen about the US exit from Afghanistan, the resurgence of the Taliban, and his new book, “The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden.” They discuss the Neo-isolationist consensus on the Right and Left, the legitimacy of our initial involvement in Afghanistan, our ethical obligations to our Afghan allies, Biden’s disastrous messaging, the weakness of the Afghan army, the advantages of the Taliban, the implications for global jihadism, the relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaeda, how Osama bin Laden came to lead al-Qaeda, bin Laden’s sincere religious convictions, our failure to capture bin Laden at Tora Bora, the distraction of the war in Iraq, the myth that the CIA funded al-Qaeda, bin Laden’s wives, his years of hiding in Pakistan, his death at the hands of US Special Forces, and other topics. Peter Bergen is the author or editor of nine books, including three New York Times bestsellers and four Washington Post best nonfiction books of the year. His most recent book is The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden. Bergen is a Vice President at New America, a professor at Arizona State University, and a national security analyst for CNN. He has testified before congressional committees eighteen times about national security issues and has held teaching positions at Harvard and Johns Hopkins University. Website: peterbergen.com Twitter: @peterbergencnn Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.