Producing Solutions, Not Problems

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The key insight is the importance of producing solutions instead of focusing on what cannot be done. The speaker recalls a senior State Department official's admonition to stop generating problems and start providing solutions, emphasizing the need to move past the idea of what cannot be achieved and instead focus on how to achieve it. The snippet also discusses the contrasting views on nation-building projects, highlighting the examples of successful nation-building projects post-World War II but also challenging the assumption that such projects are universally feasible.

Sam Harris speaks with Rory Stewart about the fraying world order. They discuss the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the problems with nation building, cultural ignorance, tolerance for corruption, our catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the role that Islam played in our failures in Afghanistan and Iraq, conspiracy theories, the influence of social media, cults of martyrdom, the war in Ukraine, the age of populism, Trump and the future of NATO, Brexit, the current state of politics, GiveDirectly, and other topics.

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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.