Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content

David Frum is a senior editor at The Atlantic. In 2001–02, he was a speechwriter for President George W. Bush. Twitter: @davidfrum

Any update on the project manager position?Sam addresses questions about conversation with Jordan Peterson, a clinical psychologist who was a guest on the podcast.What are your views on the so-called Muslim ban?Sam addresses questions about Milo Yiannopoulos at UC Berkeley.How do you think we can reasonably expect to break the echo chamber mentality and social media and online information? Do you think it's possible or do you expect our conversation to grow increasingly factionalized?Are you still giving $3,500 each month from the podcast to the Against Malaria Foundation as you spoke about in your podcast with Will MacAskill?One argument I've heard from someone who believes in God and an afterlife is that "energy can never be destroyed." I assume what is meant by this is that consciousness survives the body, as a soul perhaps. I think this is nonsense, but I don't really have a good enough comeback for it. What would your response be?What would you say to someone who claims that the humanities are an unnecessary waste of money because they have no immediate practical purpose and thus should not be taught at universities or given funds for research? I refer to subjects such as history, sociology, or philosophy.I'd like to hear your thoughts about the ethics of the anti-aging movement led by organizations such as the Sens Foundation, Human Longevity Inc., and so on.Have you read the criticisms on the Cogito [ergo sum]? You seem pretty obsessed with the fact that one can't argue with the existence of consciousness. Is consciousness really the best choice for an irrefutable proof?Would having a rational conversation about Islam still empower Islamists the same way the Trump-style rhetoric would?How much of morality–in your view–do we inherit from evolution?With large portions of society already arguing about what constitutes fake news, how will we handle future technology that makes these lines even more murky–for example, voice manipulating software or computer-generated facial expressions?I've heard you use the term zero-sum game when talking to guests on different subjects. Would you say that letting refugees into our country is not a zero-sum game?Are you open to doing a podcast with someone who voted for Trump?What should our policy be with respect to Muslim immigration?

Sam Harris and Joseph Goldstein discuss the practice of mindfulness, exploring topics such as negative emotions, ethics, enlightenment, and the usefulness of meditation apps.

Jordan B. Peterson is a clinical psychologist and Professor at the University of Toronto. He formerly taught at Harvard University and has published numerous articles on drug abuse, alcoholism and aggression. He is the author of Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief.

Lawrence Wright is an author, screenwriter, playwright, and a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. His works of nonfiction include In the New World, Remembering Satan, The Looming Tower, Going Clear, and Thirteen Days in September. He has also written a novel, God’s Favorite. His books have received many prizes and honors, including a Pulitzer Prize for The Looming Tower. His most recent book is The Terror Years: From al-Qaeda to the Islamic State.

Sam Harris speaks with Richard Dawkins at a live event in Los Angeles (second of two). They discuss Richard’s experience of having a stroke, the genetic future of humanity, the analogy between genes and memes, the “extended phenotype,” Islam and bigotry, the biology of race, how to find meaning without religion, and other topics.

Maajid Nawaz is a counter-extremist, author, columnist, broadcaster and Founding Chairman of Quilliam – a globally active organization focusing on matters of integration, citizenship & identity, religious freedom, immigration, extremism, and terrorism. Maajid’s work is informed by years spent in his youth as a leadership member of a global Islamist group, and his gradual transformation towards liberal democratic values. Having served four years as an Amnesty International adopted “prisoner of conscience” in Egypt, Maajid is now a leading critic of Islamism, while remaining a secular liberal Muslim. Maajid is an Honorary Associate of the UK’s National Secular Society, a weekly columnist for the Daily Beast, a monthly columnist for the liberal UK paper the ‘Jewish News’ and LBC radio’s weekend afternoon radio host. He also provides occasional columns for the London Times, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, among others. Maajid was the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate in London’s Hampstead & Kilburn for the May 2015 British General Election. A British-Pakistani born in Essex, Maajid speaks English, Arabic, and Urdu, holds a BA (Hons) from SOAS in Arabic and Law and an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics (LSE). Maajid relates his life story in his first book, Radical. He co-authored his second book, Islam and the Future of Tolerance, with Sam Harris. Twitter: @maajidnawaz

Garry Kasparov spent twenty years as the world’s number one ranked chess player. In 2005, he retired from professional chess to lead the pro-democracy opposition against Vladimir Putin, from street protests to coalition building. In 2012, he was named chairman of the Human Rights Foundation, succeeding Václav Havel. He has been a contributing editor to the Wall Street Journal since 1991, and he is a senior visiting fellow at the Oxford Martin School. His 2007 book, How Life Imitates Chess, has been published in twenty-six languages. He lives in self-imposed exile in New York with his wife Dasha and their children. His most recent book is Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped.

Sam Harris speaks with Richard Dawkins at a live event in Los Angeles (first of two). They cover religion, Jurassic Park, artificial intelligence, elitism, continuing human evolution, and other topics.

Paul Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at Yale University. His research explores how children and adults understand the physical and social world, with special focus on morality, religion, fiction, and art. He has won numerous awards for his research and teaching. He is past-president of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, and co-editor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, one of the major journals in the field. Dr. Bloom has written for scientific journals such as Nature and Science, and for popular outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic Monthly. He is the author or editor of seven books, including Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil and Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion.