#48 Sam Harris On How Not To Ruin The Dinner Party

Рет қаралды 43,447

Жыл бұрын

🔔 Did you like this episode? Don’t forget to like, subscribe and leave a comment down below.
In the bonus segment, we talked about more. This is for paying subscribers only, so if you want to hear it, upgrade your subscription here: bit.ly/3s4qKWV
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Original post date: August 22, 2021
Sam Harris is a giant in the world of podcasting. His podcast, Making Sense, which began in 2013 under the name Waking Up, averages more than a million downloads per episode. He is also a philosopher and neuroscientist, a meditation expert, the author of several bestselling books, and a prominent voice in both the “new atheist movement” and in “heterodox” intellectual circles, which has led him to have public debates and disagreements with other high profile thinkers. Meghan and Sam cover lots of ground in this long conversation, including the perils of confusing messaging around vaccines, the cowardice of institutional leadership in the face of social media mobs, and why the debate format can be, as Sam puts it, “a commercial for the limitations of conversation.” Most of all, they talk about what Meghan calls the question of “how not to ruin the dinner party,” which can happen when people who think too much about all of this stuff (like they do) engage in intellectual nitpicking and ruin everyone’s fun.
Who is Sam Harris?
Sam Harris is a neuroscientist, philosopher, and author of five New York Times bestsellers, including The End of Faith, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, and Waking Up. Sam hosts the popular Making Sense podcast and is also the creator of the Waking Up app, which offers a modern, rational approach to the practice of meditation and an ongoing exploration of what it means to live a good life. Sam has practiced meditation for over 30 years and has studied with many Tibetan, Indian, Burmese, and Western meditation teachers, both in the United States and abroad. He holds a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA.
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Пікірлер: 140

@MrMurph73 Жыл бұрын

Sam Harris changed my life. Thank you for this

@peacehunter26 Жыл бұрын

If hunter bidden had your chuldren sam would be just fine

@karagi101 Жыл бұрын

@@peacehunter26 Idiots can’t spell.

@timothypanngam2249 Жыл бұрын

I had the distinct honor of having a very brief debate with Sam Harris on Twitter years ago. The subject was free will (his book having recently come out). I had the distinct feeling that Sam enjoyed any such exchange - an opportunity to sharpen his legendary chops in real time.

@pinchebruha405 10 ай бұрын

That’s a story I would tell often, just the fact you got the chance is legendary, congratulations, very cool indeed!

@PandaBoy-zi2hg 9 ай бұрын

You sound really smart using the word distinct twice!

@timothypanngam2249 9 ай бұрын

@@PandaBoy-zi2hg that’s a distinctly indistinct comment

@pinchebruha405 9 ай бұрын

@@timothypanngam2249 😂😂😂😂😂😂

@Samael-Metzger 9 ай бұрын

We have lost the benefits of debating because people are too "dug in" and no longer value finding the truth.

@steveb3881 11 ай бұрын

An excellent conversation, thanks Meghan. Always good to listen to Sam. He is informed, calm, measured and considered. We need more of this, especially on (un)social media.

@WorldSurvivalist 10 ай бұрын

Sam is brilliant and thus was a good discussion, sadly the amount of youtube ad's means I can't subscribe. Is it really necessary I counted 8 in just the first 22 minutes

@brianmeen2158 Жыл бұрын

Love listening to Sam 👍👍

@kevincloar2443 Жыл бұрын

Sam is the goat

@VaibhavChimalgi Жыл бұрын

🐐

@PMKehoe Жыл бұрын

He was once in the top tier, an elite commentator, but now sadly, seems a shadow of his rhetorical’ self…

@yaqov Жыл бұрын

More like the ibex

@slowdown7276 Жыл бұрын

Sam is a goat.

@jqyhlmnp 11 ай бұрын

He’s not happy with the Abrahamic religions… so he probably hates goats :\

@behonestwithyourself3718 Жыл бұрын

I like the formal debates. Sometimes it can turn into who's the best debator but the debators prepare and really try and get their best points across. The entertainment value of it can draw people in and get people thinking about issues they may not have. For podcasts I like Colman Hughes style. He'll disagree with points but not get hung up and has a way to keep the conversation flowing.

@Theactivepsychos Жыл бұрын

We need more normal conversations that have had the preparation of formal debates.

@pinchebruha405 10 ай бұрын

I love intelligence squared for that reason, gotta love the proper ness of the English.

@timothypanngam2249 Жыл бұрын

its very well known that conflict sells (tv, films, podcasts and debates). It's unfortunate because compromise and agreement conversely are boring to the audience. So, if your goal is to achieve common ground or genuine conversation you are in a natural conflict with creating popular content.

@sethhardcastle4093 Жыл бұрын

That was a very good interview with Sam. Listening to how his career started, his podcast experiences, etc.. instead of just Trump, covid, and transgenderism was a welcome change. I bought the End of Faith in 04 when it was released and have followed him off and on since. I have many disagreements with him. Im more conservative/traditional than he is. I do find him intelligent and usually well spoken and can understand and respect his perspective. Even when vehemently disagreeing at times. I agree with the interviewer in that i loved hearing him and Jordan going round and round for 2 hrs😂. I would love to hear the Rebecca Traister stuff he wouldnt release, as well. It may not have been productive but i bet it was entertaining as hell lol. Nothing wrong with being entertained instead of informed every now and then🤔. Anyways, really good interview.

@godisbollocks Жыл бұрын

What are your main areas of disagreement with him?

@sethhardcastle4093 Жыл бұрын

@@godisbollocks his insistance that values or "ought" statements can be derived from facts or "is" statements without an axiom that itself is a value judgement is one. His refusal to engage in certain conversations because of "reputational costs" is one, and so on... Like I said, I find him intelligent or I just wouldn't even click on his shit. I really enjoy his takes on existential risks like ai, nuclear war, etc and not really his politics bc like I said, I'm conservative.

@godisbollocks Жыл бұрын

@@sethhardcastle4093 You don't think scientific findings can help to tell us what we ought to value in this world?

@sethhardcastle4093 Жыл бұрын

@@godisbollocks no I don't. I don't even think "scientific findings" can exist without axiomatic presuppositions to start with. I don't feel like nerding out in a comment section tho buddy. Just basically, I can't scientifically show that I'm not in dream, computer, vat (as a brain), etc. There's the philosophical problem of induction itself. I obviously don't live like this tho lol!! I'm sure me, you, and Sam share 99 percent of our values. But we only do so because of those similar axioms we start with and they, themselves, CAN'T be "scientifically" shown to be "true". I realize thats a bunch of high brow bullshit that's only academic but Sam is a philosopher and the moral landscape is an expanded version of his PhD thesis so I don't see how he misses this. The theory of mind or even solipsism are only accepted or disconfirmed axiomatically and fall outside science. That's fine tho. All he would have to do is admit that it's an axiom that we should value the well being of conscience creatures but he refuses to do so and tries to act like it's just a brute fact when it's not. There's some articles online by a few philosophers and scientists that lay this out better than I have. One I remember was from Sean Carroll, the physics professor at Caltech.

@jmc5335 Жыл бұрын

@@godisbollocksWanting to deny Muslims their human and constitutional rights. Painting Black people as intellectual inferior.

@guirongo Жыл бұрын

Hold up… this interview is from July LAST YEAR?

@evamurray2564 Жыл бұрын

I think it is from 2 years ago as the description panel says August 22, 2021.

@Primalxbeast 11 ай бұрын

@evamurray2564 It's weird that they put these out so late. Nobody is even talking about covid anymore, and I'm sure that what is known about covid and the vaccine has changed by now. A lot of the topics discussed will be out of date after 2 years.

@Theactivepsychos Жыл бұрын

The thing with Bret is that I think he spied an opportunity to be right on something established science was wrong about and it fell apart without him seeing it.

@mikerobinson7206 Жыл бұрын

Bret saw an opportunity to be contrarian and grow his platform. It was a business decision, no more. He doesn't want to go back to academia, and will market himself in the most effective way in order to stay a free agent.

@beephex1 Жыл бұрын

This was recorded in 2021? Curious, why is it being released now?

@TheUnspeakablePodcast Жыл бұрын

It was released in 2021. The Unspeakable is an audio podcast that began in 2020 and this is a new channel where I will post audiograms of new episodes and selected back catalog episodes.

@Saeder Жыл бұрын

Great hosting! Always love hearing from Sam.

@pinchebruha405 10 ай бұрын

Hé of course is just incredibly direct and so easy to understand. My first time hearing her, she’s a great interviewer such great questions, I like being able to have women in on the conversation, I know that may go against the grain but I was born in an era where this just didn’t happen!

@daughter_of_earth 11 ай бұрын

It was heartening to hear someone from the "heterodox world" speak about vaccines, the response to Covid 19 and the threat of public health emergencies sensibly.

@sharonmarx3911 7 ай бұрын

Can expect nothing less, indepth conversation, enjoy the topic. Well done

@JPJosefPictures 5 ай бұрын

Thought I was playing KSP at first. :)

@thejellokats8338 8 ай бұрын

I hope Sam's ideas and influence continue to spread as far and wide as possible. This can only lead to good.

@warrenbigelow539 Жыл бұрын

Do you actually play Kerbal Space Program?

@swapblue 4 ай бұрын

why no video 😭

@possumface2425 Жыл бұрын

What defines a good artist? The form may be exquisite but the subject matter and content may be questionable. A painting may be so bland that it tells us nothing about its creator. Good art does ask questions. Fredric Spotts explains why Hilter was not a good artist. The most telling observation is that he had a profound lack of interest in people.

@Stobbie 10 ай бұрын

I came here for Sam and was frustrated at the 8 minutes of advertising and introduction. Wonderful discussion but please consider mentioning at the outset what time to skip to, to get to the guest. That would make me so much more likely to become a subscriber.

@margaretshepard9466 Жыл бұрын

I think it is false argument to say that police racism is a one to one correlation with systemic racism 😂because black and black crime is higher than police killing. Police attitudes about blacks is just one aspect of systemic racism. Poverty and hopelessness is endemic in systemic racism and a major factor in black and black crime. We cant change the environment of the police without addressing the economic situation for inner city blacks. There is a correlation between black poverty and both police racism and black on black crime.

@aceee4386 7 ай бұрын

Whether Derek Chavin was a racist or not is not the issue. It's his actions of police brutality.. A man died because of his actions. He didn't go on trial for being a racist. It was the unnecessarily kneeling for 9 minutes. It's pretty cavalier of Sam to talk about gang violence and black on black crime without talking about the deep systemic issues behind why that is happening. It is huge issue and to just bring it up to debunk the idea that police system is racist.

@JD.......... Жыл бұрын

1:09:19

@rationalityrules111 9 ай бұрын

Meghan's definitely Daum

@pinchebruha405 10 ай бұрын

Jaws… true couldn’t even get anyone in my neighborhood into our pool!!!

@jestermoon 8 ай бұрын

Take A Moment Sam Harris 0:53 Relax and Enjoy the life we know we have 1:15 🎉❤ Help is always here ❤️ Stay Safe and Stay Free 🌐 🙏 No god's required or seen in my foxhole for 40 years. thx Zeus 😅 2:46 yah 2:54 You do! Thx 3:11 😂😂😂 3:19 Stay Silly Stay Safe and Stay Free 🌐 🙏 3:50 popcorn time ⏲️ ❤ Great app. 4:22 Bye-bye Free Speech and Inquiries are vital today. 5:08 😂😂 Peace and love etc

@estellahavisham156 Жыл бұрын

Just for future reference, an introduction that long is off putting. It was as long as a short of its own.

@marnajackson9648 2 ай бұрын

i realize this is old and i love Sam but....the covid vax IS problematic for many many people and Sam, I wish you would explore this more.

@Samael-Metzger 9 ай бұрын

We have lost the benefits of debating because people are too "dug in" and no longer value finding the truth.

@ramudon2428 7 ай бұрын

What makes you think it was ever any different? And I'm not saying that to suggest that it wasn't ever any different, I'm genuinely curious what you base this on.

@Samael-Metzger 7 ай бұрын

I have never seen people marry themselves to beliefs, ideas and theories that are so easily shown to be absolutely false (or at least false by an extremely unlikely statistical basis). There was always those who would disagree and upon being shown positive proof of otherwise, they would just leave it at: "Lets just agree to disagree" and everybody was fine. Now people are bringing hate, aggression and hostility into these nonsensical opinions, beliefs and dogmas. It is no longer you showing them why believing the earth is flat is statistically impossible but its not helpful or useful. Now it has taken on this underlying belief system that if you are questioning anything I have decided to believe, its because you are trying to manipulate me and turn me into a (liberal...a christian,...pro-life, ...FILL IN THE BLANK). I believe you are correct, it has always been around and part of the human condition, I just don't recall it ever being this PERVASIVELY TOXIC on a core hidden permanent level. We would usually see it pop up on issues hot and specific to a time (Vietnam, Abortion, Civil Rights....) but now its with everything. @@ramudon2428

@ramudon2428 7 ай бұрын

@@Samael-Metzger Hm yeah that's how it feels for me too here in Norway. I'm just unsure if it's just my perspective that makes it seem like it's a bigger deal now than it used to, or if it actually is.

@gymhayes4613 Жыл бұрын

Lots of atheists are not anti theists. Stop this whole atheists are this and that talk. Just because we all agree on the answer to one question doesnt make us all believe the same thing about everything else.

@christopherhamilton3621 Жыл бұрын

Indeed. In fact, I consider myself a non-theist, but the nutty theists don’t even understand that distinction.

@gymhayes4613 Жыл бұрын

@@christopherhamilton3621 you dont have to make up a new word. If you dont believe you are an atheist. Anti theists are people who want to destroy all religion. Its not just another word for atheists.

@christopherhamilton3621 Жыл бұрын

@@gymhayes4613I’m not inventing a new word/term, it’s already referenced elsewhere. Just adding that many viewpoints may obtain.

@asraarradon4115 Жыл бұрын

@@christopherhamilton3621 a- means without and non- means without; a- just comes from a greek origin. You're just saying the same thing. Atheism is literally just greek for nonreligious. But the word has garnered so much negativity, in part to the behavior of those who label themselves such, and part to being pilloried by the vastly larger religious population, that many who are atheist avoid the word: such as you appear to try to be doing. Even back in the days of Charles Darwin, who himself avoided the term atheist and instead preferred the use of agnostic, this has been the case. I would imagine there is a strong correlation between which label one chooses and their level of agreeableness.

@markfuller Жыл бұрын

@@christopherhamilton3621 I get the impression Sam is agnostic. No knowledge of a god, but not opposed to there being a good. Just no personal knowledge. No claim to there being one.

@andrewb8235 Жыл бұрын

Great podcast!

@chrissscottt Жыл бұрын

I have to admit, I thought the George Floyd incident was symptomatic of a deeper issue of institutional racism and was surprised by the actual statistics. And yes, addressing the underlying problem of income inequality is probably the most effective way to address the problem of too many African Americans resorting to crime.

@ChristianToth-uv1nv Жыл бұрын

we have an issue with race that I honestly think none of us are willing to go where we need to go. because for anyone talking about this, there is a lot of out of touchness that taints the conversation. I mean I have enough life experience and enough audacity to say that the problems for black people are DEEP. there are a lot of problems that don't get fixed because Im not sure that they can. rich black people resort to crime more than anyone other demo of rich people. so income equality is not obviously the main issue. black culture is so defunct that yeah its a dumpster fire that no one is going to make any inroads into improving black prosperity unless they dismantle the culture. and then like c'mon are we not mature enough identify that black people display some of the dumbest behavior we have ever witnessed? are we going to pretend like a preponderance of black americans aren't dumb as rocks? I mean I've seen it. I've witnessed it. like no one who has been in these communities isn't acutely aware of that.I mean we are talking literacy, basic math skills. etc.they aren't keeping up with anyone in those areas. black ppl are consistently the worst employees that I have worked with. I was in a pharmacy as a tech and they had a black kid on to close when I started and like he had to go. he f***ed everything up it was just not acceptable. and look around to almost every black elected officials like Lori lightfoot is a moron and there is a congress woman in Ohio she can barely speak or read. I mean a lot of these officials make Lauren boebert sound like a genius. I mean its BLEAK and we are all too afraid of being called racists to address real endemic problems which is like everything else in this country and that is why it never gets better and it just keeps getting worse. give every black person 1 million dollars it won't change anything .

@aceee4386 7 ай бұрын

But what's the real income inequality? Trauma.

@chrissscottt 7 ай бұрын

That's part of the cause, yes.@@aceee4386

@brianmeen2158 Жыл бұрын

1:30 Sam points out that black intellectuals and scholars will have to come out and speak against certain racial issues in order for the Vox or social justice crowd to take it seriously. I disagree because as soon as a black intellectual like say John Mcwhorter or Coleman Hughes comes out and echoes Sams thoughts - they are immediately seen as a “right winger” or worse yet “Uncle Tom” or coon. I’ve seen this Halen many times over the years . I don’t see any end to this issue . Most people I know personally have just given up trying to discuss it as it’s pointless

@sharonhearne5014 Жыл бұрын

I was raised in a Evangelical Christian family who have been Trump supporters in the recent past. No matter how critical it is currently to discuss religion/political situations I have discovered over long years that evangelicals are unwilling to accept any perspective on religion and/or the Bible except that the Bible must be taken literally; one may be able to make a few points within that strict baseline. It is most often “my way or the highway” no matter the bold humanitarian “love for mankind” claims. To pretend otherwise is fantasy and this only worsens the enormous divide which neutral observers say has be crossed.

@Theactivepsychos Жыл бұрын

Hitler was a painter not an artist.

@StingrayAkbar 11 ай бұрын

He was an artist but a below average one who turned to be a psychotic killer.

@Theactivepsychos 11 ай бұрын

@@StingrayAkbar what was his artistic view of the world? What was he trying to portray?

@WorldSurvivalist 10 ай бұрын

@@Theactivepsychosa painter is why yiu call to redecorate. No matter how bad the person if he did art then its art

@Theactivepsychos 10 ай бұрын

@@WorldSurvivalist not really. Intention is key. If someone paints a cock on the railway bridge it’s not art unless it’s got meaning.

@aceee4386 7 ай бұрын

What's the point of people needing to claim that Hitler was actually a good artist or gardener or sourdough baker or whatever. Like, what argument is that propping up?

@trukxelf 11 ай бұрын

Who's here because they thought it read "Donner Party" ?

@lupemerrit 9 ай бұрын

Ad is way too long. See u later Sam.

@godisbollocks Жыл бұрын

Wow, that vocal fry is really pronounced.

@tobymonger7884 10 ай бұрын

I found her voice enraging.

@moodrahkamite818 11 ай бұрын

Don't worry Sam. You'll be able to buy and sell me at auction again as soon Legacy Media get the correct talking point.

@GingerDrums Жыл бұрын

Trump derangement syndrome, amazing BLM commentary, incredible takes on meditation, highly unpersuasive moral arguments, great religion critique.

@evansevansevans1 6 ай бұрын

Been skipping through this (+15s) I have heard nothing but her speaking. And I’m up to 10 minutes. Is this an interview or a monologue? Her vocal fry is so irritating.

@buddinganarchist Жыл бұрын

Afflick hasn't mentioned Islam since. Silly Sam.

@kevincloar2443 Жыл бұрын

Because he hasn't been back on a talk show where he can virtue signal about it

@shyman3000 Жыл бұрын

Sam Harris stopped talking about Islam once Trump got elected.

@Theactivepsychos Жыл бұрын

Since about 2015 actually. He said the book hit Nawaz was his final word for a while and wanted to get back to science and amplifying new ideas hence the podcast.

@shyman3000 Жыл бұрын

@@Theactivepsychos Right. So he stopped talking about Islam once Trump started talking about it. In 2015.

@Theactivepsychos Жыл бұрын

@@shyman3000 if you wanna believe that then well done you.

@peacehunter26 Жыл бұрын

Talk about hunter biden.

@randyevermore9323 Жыл бұрын

🥱

@christopherhamilton3621 Жыл бұрын

What did you not get about bad-faith gotcha arguments? 🙄

@randyevermore9323 Жыл бұрын

@@christopherhamilton3621 If it wasn't for bad faith, right-wingers wouldn't have no faith at all (apologies to Ray Charles).

@Blonde111 Жыл бұрын

Talk about the trump crime family

@peacehunter26 Жыл бұрын

Trump is honest and as non corupt as we are ever likely to encounter in politics. Talk with hunters russian hores or the daddy daughter showers. Enough said