Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content

What are your thoughts on the Lawrence Krauss situation?Will you create a way for listeners to nominate and vote on podcast guests?Who are the philosophers that have most inspired you?My experience in meditation seems to increase my feeling of self. Can you say something about this?How does intelligence correlate with wellbeing?How should society deal with destructive drugs like methamphetamine?What are your thoughts on Stoicism?Can you further discuss the misgivings you have regarding Jordan Peterson’s work?Why do so many smart people not accept your arguments about the illusoriness of the self and free will?If you could speak with any person from history, who would it be and why?Do you think meditation can prevent a person from having bad experiences on psychedelics?Will you invite more guests on the podcast whom you strongly disagree with?What do you think about the ethics of inherited wealth?How can we differentiate abortion from murder?

Preet Bharara is an American lawyer who served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. His office prosecuted cases involving terrorism, narcotics and arms trafficking, financial and healthcare fraud, cybercrime, public corruption, gang violence, organized crime, and civil rights violations. In 2012, Bharara was featured on TIME‘s “100 Most Influential People in the World.” On April 1, 2017, Bharara joined the NYU School of Law faculty as a Distinguished Scholar in Residence. He is Executive Vice President at Some Spider Studios where he hosts a podcast, Stay Tuned, focused on questions of justice and fairness. Twitter: @preetbharara

Sam Harris speaks with Preet Bharara about President Trump and the Russia investigation. Preet Bharara is an American lawyer who served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. His office prosecuted cases involving terrorism, narcotics and arms trafficking, financial and healthcare fraud, cybercrime, public corruption, gang violence, organized crime, and civil rights violations. In 2012, Bharara was featured on TIME‘s “100 Most Influential People in the World.” On April 1, 2017, Bharara joined the NYU School of Law faculty as a Distinguished Scholar in Residence. He is Executive Vice President at Some Spider Studios where he hosts a podcast, Stay Tuned, focused on questions of justice and fairness. Twitter: @preetbharara

Niall Ferguson is one of the world’s most renowned historians. He is the author of Paper and Iron, The House of Rothschild, The Pity of War, The Cash Nexus, Empire, Colossus, The War of the World, The Ascent of Money, High Financier, Civilization, The Great Degeneration, Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist, and The Square and the Tower. He is Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. His many awards include the Benjamin Franklin Prize for Public Service (2010), the Hayek Prize for Lifetime Achievement (2012), and the Ludwig Erhard Prize for Economic Journalism (2013). Twitter: @nfergus

Sam Harris speaks with Niall Ferguson about his new book The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook . They discuss his career as a writer, networks and hierarchies, how history gets written, the similarity between the 16th century and the 21st, the role of social media in the 2016 Presidential election, the influence of advertising on the public sphere, Trump, the Russian investigation, Islamic extremism, counterfactuals, what would have happened if Clinton had won the presidency, immigration in Europe, conspiracy theories, capitalism, globalization, communism, wealth inequality, universal basic income, Henry Kissinger, the prospect of a US war with China, cyberwar, and other topics. Niall Ferguson is one of the world’s most renowned historians. He is the author of Paper and Iron, The House of Rothschild, The Pity of War, The Cash Nexus, Empire, Colossus, The War of the World, The Ascent of Money, High Financier, Civilization, The Great Degeneration, Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist, and The Square and the Tower. He is Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. His many awards include the Benjamin Franklin Prize for Public Service (2010), the Hayek Prize for Lifetime Achievement (2012), and the Ludwig Erhard Prize for Economic Journalism (2013). Twitter: @nfergus

In his book "God is Not Great", Christopher Hitchens wrote very critically of meditation. Did you ever try to convince him that he was wrong? What is the ethical response to homeless people asking for money?What is your view of prostitution and pornography? Should they be legal?What podcasts do you personally listen to?You seem to neglect economics. Have you considered having more economists on your show?What is your process of developing your opinion on a new subject?What are your thoughts on the ethics of universal health care and a social safety net?How should we challenge our own beliefs in an ongoing way?How can the concept of “metaphorical truth” be reconciled with science?What are your thoughts on the ethics of suicide?You seem to be very good at emotional self-regulation, but is it possible to take this too far?You have said that moderate religion provides cover for religious extremism, could the same be said about your criticism of Islam, that it provides cover for bigotry against Muslims as people?How do you speak so eloquently?What is your view on living a solitary life?How would you compare the ethics of adoption versus having one’s own biological children?As a neuroscientist and father, what are your rules for your kids’ screen time?

Eliezer Yudkowsky is a decision theorist and computer scientist at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute in Berkeley, California who is known for his work in technological forecasting. His publications include the Cambridge Handbook of Artificial Intelligence chapter “The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence,” co-authored with Nick Bostrom. Yudkowsky’s writings have helped spark a number of ongoing academic and public debates about the long-term impact of AI, and he has written a number of popular introductions to topics in cognitive science and formal epistemology, such as Rationality: From AI to Zombies and “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.” His latest book is Inadequate Equilibria: Where and How Civilizations Get Stuck. Twitter: @ESYudkowsky

Eliezer Yudkowsky, a decision theorist and computer scientist at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, delves into the pressing challenges surrounding artificial intelligence. He discusses the alignment problem, emphasizing the dangers of AI pursuing arbitrary goals and the need for integrating human values. Yudkowsky explores moral navigation in AI, the unpredictability of superintelligence, and the urgent call for talent in AI alignment. Their conversation highlights the complexities of ensuring safety amid rapid AI advancements and the potential risks of unconscious AI behavior.

Sam Harris speaks with Lawrence Krauss and Matt Dillahunty about the threat of nuclear war, science and a universal conception of morality, the role of intuition in science, the primacy of consciousness, the nature of time, free will, the self, meditation, and other topics. This conversation was recorded at New York City Center on January 13, 2018.  

Sam Harris speaks with David Frum and Andrew Sullivan about the Trump presidency, hyper-partisanship, how democracies fail, immigration, the lowering life expectancy in the U.S., racism, social media, the opioid crisis, marijuana legalization, religion, what a healthy politics might look like, and other topics. David Frum is a senior editor at The Atlantic and the author of Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic, his ninth book. Frum spent most of his career in conservative media and research institutions, including the Manhattan Institute and the American Enterprise Institute. He is a past chairman of Policy Exchange, the leading center-right think tank in the United Kingdom, and a former director of the Republican Jewish Coalition. In 2001-2002, he served as a speechwriter and special assistant to President George W. Bush. Frum holds a BA and MA in history from Yale and a law degree from Harvard. Andrew Sullivan is a writer at large for New York Magazine. He holds a BA from Oxford University in Modern History and Modern Languages and a PhD in government at Harvard University. He was editor of The New Republic from 1991 – 1996, and the creator of The Daily Dish, one of the first political blogs, from 2000 – 2015. A winner of three National Magazine Awards, he was also the weekly American columnist for the Sunday Times of London from 1996 – 2014. He wrote the first cover story and first book in favor of marriage equality in 1989 and 1995, an AIDS memoir, Love Undetectable, in 1998, and The Conservative Soul in 2006.