Making Sense with Sam Harris - Invalid feed
By Making Sense with Sam Harris
Join neuroscientist, philosopher, and best-selling author Sam Harris as he explores important and controversial questions about the human mind, society, and current events. Sam Harris is the author of five New York Times bestsellers. His books include The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, Waking Up, and Islam and the Future of Tolerance (with Maajid Nawaz). The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction. His writing and public lectures cover a wide range of topics—neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion, meditation practice, human violence, rationality—but generally focus on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live. Harris's work has been published in more than 20 languages and has been discussed in The New York Times, Time, Scientific American, Nature, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, and many other journals. He has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Economist, The Times (London), The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, The Annals of Neurology, and elsewhere. Sam Harris received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA.
12 episodes
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Mindfulness: Foundational Skill for Reclaiming Attention in Digital Age
Reclaim your attention from the digital economy's distractions. Mindfulness clarifies focus, revealing transient thoughts and emotions to cultivate intrinsic well-being and improve all life commitments.
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Fragmented Reality Fuels Societal Crises and Hinders AI Safety
Misinformation fragments shared reality, fueling polarization and hindering solutions to existential threats like AI, making critical thinking and attention crucial for survival.
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Religion's Role in Navigating AI Upheaval and Cultural Decline
AI and digital life create an evolutionary bottleneck, potentially rendering human purpose obsolete; religion's dogma and tribalism may be essential for navigating this crisis.
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Reconciling Moral Intuitions with Effective Altruism's Rational Demands
Discover how to maximize your positive impact by directing resources to the most effective causes, potentially yielding a thousand-fold difference in results compared to less effective charities.
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US De-industrialization and Alliance Dismantling Risk National Security
US tariffs de-industrialize the nation, replacing high-skill jobs and risking shortages and inflation, while a fractured political landscape and weakened alliances create profound instability.
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Happiness: The Ultimate Metric for Ethical Impact
Maximize happiness as the ultimate metric and discover counterintuitive interventions that deliver the most well-being impact, challenging traditional notions of effective altruism.
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Parenting's True Impact vs. Genetics and Luck
Parental effort's limited impact on child development and the vital role of luck in life's circumstances, contrasting the wealthy's self-reliance with genuine compassion for misfortune.
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Zombie Democracy: Institutions Fail, Authoritarianism Rises
America's democracy is a "zombie," institutions hollowed out by 21st-century authoritarianism's subtle norm erosion, unchecked executive power, and the rise of shamelessness.
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