u/Brunodosca

Sam Harris speaks with Susan Cain about writing, creativity, and what AI means for human culture. They discuss the future of books and reading, the tells AI inherits from good writers, why the advent of AI may spark a revival of the humanities, following your bliss, the ethics of curing sadness, the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, and other topics.

Link to the episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/476-the-bittersweet-age

Sam Harris speaks with Michael Pollan about consciousness, the mind, and the self. They discuss Pollan’s new book, the relationship between consciousness and intelligence, whether consciousness is a product of evolution, the role of psychedelics in consciousness research, AI and the question of machine consciousness, the illusion of the self, and other topics.

Link to the episode: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/475-the-hard-problem-of-consciousness

I wonder whether Sam Harris has, in some sense, been radicalized by the October 7 attacks. Not into religious extremism, obviously, but into a kind of reflexive moral absolutism regarding Israel. He often seems remarkably quick to dismiss evidence of Israeli wrongdoing, while portraying many critics of Israel as morally confused, ignorant, useful idiots, or secret Islamists.

What makes this particularly interesting is that Harris built much of his reputation on the importance of intellectual honesty and the ability to reason clearly through emotionally charged topics. But traumatic events can narrow anyone’s moral aperture, even highly analytical people.

I’m curious what his reaction will be to the recent The New York Times piece by Nicholas Kristof reporting allegations of widespread sexual abuse and rape of Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention centers. Will he instinctively move into dismissing the report and Kristof himself?

Here's the link to the article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/opinion/israel-palestinians-sexual-violence.html?unlocked_article_code=1.hlA.kfgZ.ZMP5yQa7u9k7&smid=url-share

In this latest episode of the More From Sam series, Sam and Jaron talk about current events. They discuss the launch of Making Sense Community, Sam’s Ben Shapiro conversation, the New York Times’s embrace of Hasan Piker, Zohran Mamdani’s approach to Islamism, the misuse of the word “genocide,” AI-driven job displacement, and other topics.

Link: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/474-hasan-piker-islamism-making-sense-community-and-more

Sam Harris speaks with Lloyd Blankfein about finance, politics, and the state of American society. They discuss Blankfein’s memoir, Goldman Sachs and its role as a market maker, the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the AI investment bubble, wealth inequality and the rise of trillionaires, the crisis of antisemitism on the left and right, Trump-era corruption and the post-truth political environment, the national debt, and other topics.

Link: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/473-money-power-and-moral-failure

Niall Ferguson, a MAGA-aligned historian, co-founder of "University" of Austin, and the husband of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, opines that the Trump shooter was indoctrinated at woke Caltech. This guy is still invited to Sam Harris' podcast and writes of The Free Press, oh surprise!