u/palsh7

NPR interview with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib

Ahmed was born and grew up in Gaza city, lost 2 friends in an Israeli airstrike when he was 11, eventually sought political asylum when he was 17 during the 2nd Intifada and moved to the US he became an advocate for Palestinians and peaceful solutions. Since he left Gaza he has lost roughly 30 family members to airstrikes in the region.

He places the blame squarely on Hamas. He expertly details the way Hamas rode a wave of Islamism in the 70's and 80's in what he calls a relatively secular region (Gaza) prior to that era. They embedded themselves in the schools, community resources, etc and then pivoted to an armed resistance wing that essentially rejected every opportunity to build infrastructure: airports, seaports, etc because it would've meant disarming. Ahmed voices his optimism prior to the 2nd Intifada and how 20 years went by since Gaza was offered $15bn to build these things (for which he developed a plan with "an army of engineers" and had actual designs at one point)....and Ismail Haniyeh rejected it. Because it meant disarming.

He pulls no punches, he doesn't give Israel a pass, but he keeps his discourse very much focused on what Palestine and specifically Gaza has done that has perpetuated the cycle of violence.

I appreciated his candid, peace- and developement-oriented outlook of Gaza and his continued work for a lasting solution.

Since October 7th, Sam Harris has celebrated Haviv Rettig Gur as a voice of reason in Israel. Sam has been on Haviv's show, and Haviv has been on Making Sense. Here, he criticizes the right wing of Israel's government. Some people claim that Sam and "his tribe" don't do this.

Ben Shapiro, who has debated Sam Harris about atheism and MAGA, is called out by Alex O'Connor, who Sam has talked to about philosophy and religion. Ben is a decent ally against the Nazi-wing of the conservative movement, but he should still be called out on things he's wrong about.

(0:00) Cold Open
(2:08) Tucker, Hunter & No Bravery Points
(5:35) Proximity Hong
(7:22) The Jason Arday Problem
(14:45) AOC & “Woke 1.0”
(22:28) Shane Gillis & the Great Walkback
(29:27) Thank You, Thom Tillis. Also, Fuck You.
(34:14) Funding the Other Side’s Whackos
(40:08) Mamdani vs. Amazon
(49:48) The Rent Strike
(53:56) David Remnick Meets the DSA
(1:00:38) Hasan Piker, Mao & the Bots
(1:16:48) Midterm Madness & 2028
(1:34:07) Can America Get a Busted Boris Johnson?
(1:35:36) Ben Sasse & the End

>Woke Two: Cancellation Boogaloo?!

>What to make of the progressive rethink of Woke One.

>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders have conceded to the excesses of what we must all now call Woke One. But the concession, and that characterization of it, raise some obvious questions.

>In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:

>What was Woke One;

>Which aspects of it do progressive leaders now concede were “crazy”;

>Why did it happen in the first place?

>Then, how relevant is any of this for near-term politics so long as Donald Trump is in power wrecking the economy? The country keeps losing jobs (or putting up extremely week monthly jobs numbers). Congress is about to give Trump more power to impose tariffs. And there’s no clear offramp to the war in Iran. Are Republicans simply fucked? If so, why hasn’t the war been a bigger political disaster for Trump? Could Democratic leaders forge a factional truce around a midterm-campaign promise to end the war next year? Or is it going to be 2007 all over again?

https://www.politix.fm/p/woke-two-cancellation-boogaloo

>
Further reading:

>Matt on how the high cost of living is tearing Republicans apart.

>Brian takes a stab at a Woke One origin story.

>Why are Democrats voting to give Trump more tariff power?

>The doctor advising Republicans on how to lose weight says his miracle diet gives him orgasmic, wipe-free poops.

Sam is on vacation. This is a rebroadcast of the first half of their conversation. Daniel Kahneman was the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University and Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs Emeritus at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He received the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his pioneering work with Amos Tversky on decision-making. He was the author of Thinking, Fast and Slow and co-author, with Olivier Sibony and Cass Sunstein, of Noise. Kahneman died on March 27, 2024, at the age of 90.

Submission statement: Romer, a co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, defends some of the D.S.A.’s controversial positions: “I think people like us being rather bold. . . . People want a fighter.”

David Frum of The Atlantic joins the Fifth to talk about the world that emerged from 1989, the collapse of the conservative future he once expected, Trumpism, immigration, fascism versus communism, and why American political life feels more fragile than it did a generation ago.

(0:00) Cold Open
(0:25) David Frum Joins the Fifth
(5:00) Spy Novels & Bill Buckley
(10:36) Frum’s Conservatism
(15:20) A Man of 1989
(23:05) Never Trump & Betrayal
(28:48) The Anti-Trump Coalition
(34:46) The Michigan Senate Race
(50:03) Midterm Madness & Polymarket
(54:40) Polling Is in Crisis
(1:01:59) Politics as a Consumption Good
(1:08:16) Immigration & Trumpism
(1:15:03) What the Atlanticists Got Wrong
(1:24:51) Fascism vs. Communism
(1:28:45) Unpatriotic Conservatives
(1:32:41) What Does Trump Love?
(1:35:15) What Frum Got Wrong
--
Hosted by journalists Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch, The Fifth Column provides a weekly rhetorical assault on the news cycle, the people who make it, and occasionally themselves.

Scott Galloway speaks with neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris about why social media rewards political extremism, how our devices have made sustained attention nearly impossible, and why reclaiming control of our minds may be the key to a happier life.

They also discuss the erosion of trust in expertise, the dangers of the AI arms race, and why Democrats need to draw a clearer line against the far left.

Subscribe to Prof G+ to join our next livestream at https://profgmedia.com.
And if you're not already reading Sam’s work, check out his Substack: https://samharris.substack.com/

Timestamps
00:00:00 - In This Episode
00:01:06 - Why has skepticism toward experts become so mainstream?
00:03:21 - What’s driving the collapse in trust in our institutions?
00:05:52 - Has technology outpaced our ability to process information?
00:10:28 - Where does criticism of Israel become antisemitism?
00:18:14 - Did releasing wealthy property owners’ addresses amount to doxxing?
00:22:18 - Are progressives spending too much time fighting each other?
00:27:09 - Why do so many young people feel capitalism has failed them?
00:32:22 - Ad Break
00:34:50 - How is the attention economy affecting our wellbeing?
00:43:29 - How can we become more present in everyday life?
00:53:31 - Ad Break
00:57:11 - What are your thoughts on AI?
01:04:33 - What has changed most about how you invest your attention over time?

Sam Harris speaks with Neal Brennan about the experiences that shaped his life and work. They discuss Sam's mother's television career, growing up with an absent father, his struggles with perfectionism, his first experience with MDMA, dropping out of Stanford, meditation retreats, spiritual charisma and claims of psychic powers, the illusion of self, the limits of pacifism, deleting Twitter, Trump and the politics of shamelessness, hypocrisy and vice signaling, the future of American democracy, and other topics.

Neal Brennan is a comedian, writer, and director best known for co-creating and co-writing Chappelle's Show with Dave Chappelle, for which he received three Emmy nominations. He also co-wrote the film Half Baked and has written and directed for comedians including Chris Rock, Amy Schumer, and Seth Meyers. His most recent stand-up special is Crazy Good. He also hosts the popular Blocks podcast, where he interviews friends and colleagues about the psychological struggles that shape their lives.

Website: www.nealbrennan.com

This was posted a few weeks ago, but the video was taken down. All for the best, because this version isn't a "part 1, wait for part 2!" version.

July 31, 2026

Sam Harris speaks with Cameron Berg about whether AI systems are or could become conscious. They discuss self-reports in LLMs, what models say when deception is switched off, the "bliss attractor" state, consciousness and sentience, the hard problem of consciousness, parallels between neural networks and biological brains, the moral risk of building minds that can suffer, possible parallels to factory farming, moral patienthood, the alignment problem, and other topics.  

Cameron Berg is the founder and director of Reciprocal Research, a nonprofit AI research lab. Using mechanistic interpretability, computational neuroscience, and psychometric tools, he studies whether frontier AI systems exhibit computational properties associated with consciousness. His aim is to reduce uncertainty about the kinds of cognitive systems we are building, an important but neglected component of the alignment problem. A cognitive science graduate of Yale and former Meta AI resident, he writes regularly about these questions in The Wall Street Journal, and his research has been covered by The Washington Post. He is the subject of the feature documentary AM I?.

 

Website: https://reciprocalresearch.org/

X: u/camhberg

Annaka Harris’s upcoming book: Unlocking Consciousness

See updates, including today's oral arguments, in r/EqualCitizens.