Making Sense with Sam Harris
Sam Harris
Join neuroscientist, philosopher, and five-time New York Times best-selling author Sam Harris as he explores important and controversial questions about the mind, society, current events, moral philosophy, religion, and rationality—with an overarching focus on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live. Sam is also the creator of the Waking Up app. Combining Sam’s decades of mindfulness practice, profound wisdom from varied philosophical and contemplative traditions, and a commitment to a secular, scientific worldview, Waking Up is a resource for anyone interested in living a more examined, fulfilling life—and a new operating system for the mind. Waking Up offers free subscriptions to anyone who can’t afford one, and donates a minimum of 10% of profits to the most effective charities around the world. To learn more, please go to WakingUp.com. Sam Harris received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA.
Categories: Science & Medicine
Listen to the last episode:
Sam Harris speaks with Robert Sapolsky about the widespread belief in free will. They discuss the limits of intuition, the views of Dan Dennett, complexity and emergence, downward causation, abstraction, epigenetics, predictability, fatalism, Benjamin Libet, the primacy of luck, historical change in attitudes about free will, implications for ethics and criminal justice, the psychological satisfaction of punishing bad people, understanding evil, punishment and reward as tools, meritocracy, the consequences of physical beauty, the logic of reasoning, and other topics.
If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.
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.
Previous episodes
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386 - #360 — We Really Don’t Have Free Will? Wed, 27 Mar 2024 - 0h
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385 - #359 — Getting Used to It Tue, 19 Mar 2024 - 0h
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384 - #358 — The War in Ukraine Mon, 11 Mar 2024 - 0h
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383 - #357 — America & World Order Mon, 04 Mar 2024 - 0h
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382 - #356 — Islam & Freedom Wed, 28 Feb 2024 - 0h
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381 - #355 — A Falling World Wed, 21 Feb 2024 - 0h
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380 - #354 — Is Moral Progress a Fantasy? Fri, 16 Feb 2024 - 0h
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379 - #353 — Race & Reason Sun, 11 Feb 2024 - 0h
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378 - #352 — Hubris & Chaos Sun, 04 Feb 2024 - 0h
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377 - #351 — 5 Myths about Israel and the War in Gaza Tue, 30 Jan 2024 - 0h
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376 - #350 — Sharing Reality Tue, 23 Jan 2024 - 0h
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375 - #349 — Generosity, Cynicism, and the Future of Doing Good Tue, 16 Jan 2024
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374 - #348 — The Politics of Antisemitism Fri, 05 Jan 2024 - 0h
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373 - #347 — Finding Sanity in 2024 Tue, 02 Jan 2024 - 0h
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372 - #346 — The Best Kept Secret In History? Fri, 22 Dec 2023 - 0h
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371 - #345 — Resilience Mon, 18 Dec 2023
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370 - #344 — The War in Gaza Tue, 12 Dec 2023 - 0h
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369 - #343 — What Is "Islamophobia"? Wed, 06 Dec 2023 - 0h
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368 - #342 — Animal Minds & Moral Truths Mon, 27 Nov 2023
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367 - #341 — Gaza & Global Order Thu, 16 Nov 2023 - 0h
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366 - #340 — The Bright Line Between Good and Evil Tue, 07 Nov 2023 - 0h
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365 - #339 — The Infernal Logic of Jihad Fri, 03 Nov 2023 - 0h
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364 - #338 — The Sin of Moral Equivalence Thu, 12 Oct 2023 - 0h
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363 - #337 — The Future of Psychedelic Medicine Wed, 04 Oct 2023
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362 - #336 — The Roots of Identity Politics Wed, 27 Sep 2023
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361 - #335 — A Postmortem on My Response to Covid Fri, 22 Sep 2023
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360 - #334 — The Low-Trust Society Mon, 18 Sep 2023 - 0h
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359 - #333 — Sanity Check on Climate Change Tue, 05 Sep 2023
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358 - #332 — Can We Contain Artificial Intelligence? Mon, 28 Aug 2023 - 0h
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357 - #331 — A Golden Age for Assholes Sun, 20 Aug 2023 - 0h
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356 - #330 — The Doomsday Machine Wed, 16 Aug 2023
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355 - #329 — What Happened to the Republican Party? Sat, 12 Aug 2023
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354 - #328 — Health & Longevity Wed, 02 Aug 2023
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353 - #327 — Transformative Experiences Fri, 21 Jul 2023 - 0h
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352 - #326 — AI & Information Integrity Thu, 06 Jul 2023 - 0h
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351 - #325 — A Few Thoughts About RFK Jr. Mon, 03 Jul 2023 - 0h
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350 - #324 — Debating the Future of AI Wed, 28 Jun 2023 - 0h
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349 - #323 — Science & Survival Thu, 22 Jun 2023 - 0h
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348 - Making Sense of Meditation | Episode 10 of The Essential Sam Harris Sun, 18 Jun 2023 - 0h
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347 - #322 — Predicting Reality Tue, 13 Jun 2023 - 0h
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346 - #321 — Reckoning with Parfit Mon, 05 Jun 2023 - 0h
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345 - Making Sense of Death | Episode 9 of The Essential Sam Harris Fri, 26 May 2023 - 0h
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344 - #320 — Constructing Self and World Mon, 22 May 2023 - 0h
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343 - #319 — The Digital Multiverse Mon, 15 May 2023 - 0h
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342 - Making Sense of Social Media and the Information Landscape | Episode 8 of The Essential Sam Harris Fri, 05 May 2023 - 0h
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341 - #318 — Physics & Philosophy Mon, 01 May 2023 - 0h
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340 - #317 — What Do We Know About Our Minds? Thu, 20 Apr 2023
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339 - #316 — Self-Defense: Reality and Fantasy Fri, 14 Apr 2023 - 0h
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338 - Making Sense of Existential Threat and Nuclear War | Episode 7 of The Essential Sam Harris Wed, 12 Apr 2023 - 0h
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337 - #315 — The Great Derangement Fri, 07 Apr 2023 - 0h