Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content

Sam Harris speaks with Michael Pollan about his new book How to Change Your Mind. They cover the resurgence of interest in psychedelics in clinical practice and end-of-life care, the “betterment of well people,” the relationship between thinking and mental suffering, the differences between psychedelics and meditation, the non-duality of consciousness, the brain’s “default mode network,” their experiences with various psychedelics, and other topics. Michael Pollan is the author of seven previous books, including Cooked, Food Rules, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and The Botany of Desire, all of which were New York Times bestsellers. A longtime contributor to the New York Times Magazine, he also teaches writing at Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley. In 2010, TIME magazine named him one of the one hundred most influential people in the world. His most recent book is How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. Twitter: @michaelpollan   Episodes that have been re-released as part of the Best of Making Sense series may have been edited for relevance since their original airing.

What have been intellectually honest and fair criticisms of your views?What is the most consequential false belief you've ever held, and how did you shake it?What is the distinction between merely consuming the ideas of others and thinking things through on one’s own?I’m concerned that I’m only hearing half the argument with respect to the views of “social justice warriors.” Will you bring someone on the podcast who can defend this position?You once wrote a fascinating article titled “Adventures in the Land of Illness.” Do you still think that complaining about one’s physical suffering is a bad habit?What problems do you see with capitalism?What are your views on psychoanalysis?What do you think about the claim that “everyone engages in tribalism”?I’m a heart surgeon and an atheist. My patients often ask me to pray with them. How should I respond?What are your opinions of Alan Watts?Will you publish the audio from your upcoming events with Jordan Peterson?Will you get someone from the Southern Poverty Law Center on the podcast to talk about why they’ve taken a position against you, Maajid Nawaz, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali?What is the most low-brow thing you do on a regular basis?Jordan Peterson has claimed that the New Atheists haven’t grappled with Jung, Dostoyevsky, and Nietzsche. How do you respond?What is your view of the “Intellectual Dark Web,” and are you happy to be a part of it?When will your meditation app be released?What social justice activism do you support?Will you invite someone on the podcast who can speak about “universal basic income”?Do you believe that you are overly sensitive to criticism?If free will can be an illusion, why can’t consciousness be one as well?What do you think about the (eastern) concept of enlightenment?How do you negotiate between the urge to know—to think about things continuously—and the urge to just be?How do you meditate with tinnitus?What are your thoughts on Terrence McKenna’s “stoned ape theory” regarding the origins of human language?

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 collective punishment, retributive vs restorative justice, the ethics of forgiveness and redemption, #metoo, and other topics. Tamler Sommers is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Houston. He is the host of the podcast “Very Bad Wizards” and holds a PhD in philosophy from Duke University. He is the author of Why Honor Matters. Twitter: @tamler   Episodes that have been re-released as part of the Best of Making Sense series may have been edited for relevance since their original airing.

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 composition of the New Testament, the resurrection of Jesus, the nature of heaven and hell, the book of Revelation, the End Times, self-contradictions in the Bible, the concept of a messiah, whether Jesus actually existed, Christianity as a cult of human sacrifice, the conversion of Constantine, and other topics. Bart D. Ehrman is the author or editor of more than thirty books, including the New York Times bestsellers Misquoting Jesus and How Jesus Became God. Ehrman is a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a leading authority on the New Testament and the history of early Christianity. He has been featured in Time, The New Yorker, and The Washington Post, and has appeared on NBC, CNN, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The History Channel, National Geographic, BBC, major NPR shows, and other top print and broadcast media outlets. His most recent book is The Triumph of Christianity. Twitter: @BartEhrman Episodes that have been re-released as part of the Best of Making Sense series may have been edited for relevance since their original airing.

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. Sean Carroll is a theoretical physicist at CalTech. He received his PhD from Harvard University. He has worked on the foundations of quantum mechanics, the arrow of time, and the emergence of complexity. Carroll has been awarded prizes and fellowships by the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the American Physical Society, the American Institute of Physics, and the Royal Society of London. He frequently serves as a science consultant for film and television. He is the author of The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself. Twitter: @seanmcarroll   Episodes that have been re-released as part of the Best of Making Sense series may have been edited for relevance since their original airing.

Sam Harris and guest Ezra Klein discuss racism, identity politics, intellectual honesty, and controversies, including the aftermath of a podcast with Charles Murray. They delve into IQ, race, societal biases, ethical dilemmas, and the importance of listening to varying viewpoints with intellectual scrupulousness.

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.

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 for white supremacy in the US, “fake news”, the significance of Charlottesville, the SPLC, and many other topics. Christian Picciolini became a white supremacist at the age of fourteen and went on to become the leader in the notorious Hammerskin Nation, one of the most violent hate groups in the world. After leaving the white power movement at twenty-two, he co-founded Life After Hate, a non-profit organization run by former extremists who are now dedicated to countering racism. He is a TEDx speaker and won an Emmy in 2016 for his role as director and executive producer of an anti-hate video campaign. He’s the author of White American Youth: My Descent in America’s Most Violent Hate Movement—And How I Got Out. Twitter: @cpicciolini

Sam Harris speaks with Rebecca Goldstein and Max Tegmark about the foundations of human knowledge and morality. Rebecca Goldstein is a MacArthur Fellow, a professor of philosophy, and the author of five novels and a collection of short stories. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Her latest book is Plato at The Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away. Twitter: @platobooktour Max Tegmark is a professor of physics at MIT and the co-founder of the Future of Life Institute. Tegmark has been featured in dozens of science documentaries. He is the author of Our Mathematical Universe and Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Twitter: @Tegmark

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, signaling and counter-signaling, common knowledge, AI, and many other topics. Robin Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University and a research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. He has a Phd in social science from Cal Tech, master’s degrees in physics and philosophy, and nine years of experience as a research programmer in artificial intelligence and Bayesian statistics. He’s recognized not only for his contributions to economics (pioneering the theory and use of prediction markets) but also in a wide range of other fields. He is the author (along with Kevin Simler) of The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life. Twitter: @robinhanson