Making Sense with Sam Harris

<p>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.</p> <p dir="ltr">If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p> <p> </p>

<p dir="ltr">Sam Harris speaks with Kathryn Paige Harden about behavioral genetics, moral luck, and the problem of blame. They discuss Harden's book <a href="https://amzn.to/4wijxyw" target= "_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Original Sin</em>,</a> the controversy over Charles Murray and Ezra Klein, why behavioral genetics remains taboo, the meaning of heritability, nature and nurture as feedback loops, why biological explanations can increase blame, psychopathy as a continuum, a hypothetical cure for evil, embryo selection and IVF, and other topics.</p> <p>Related Episode: <a href= "https://samharris.org/episode/SEC04543DA5" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">#212 - A Conversation with Kathryn Paige Harden</a></p> <p>If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p>

<p>Sam Harris speaks with Siddhartha Mukherjee about the science of cancer. They discuss the updated edition of <a href= "https://a.co/d/01ed57Wk"><em>The Emperor of All Maladies</em></a>, whether cancer is one disease or many, why prevention is so hard, inflammation and air pollution as carcinogens, the myth that cell phones cause cancer, liquid biopsies and Bayesian reasoning, immunotherapy and CAR T cells, drug pricing, the promise of AI in drug discovery, the state of American medical science, and other topics.</p> <p dir="ltr">If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p>

<p>Sam Harris speaks with Paul Bloom about our relationships with AI and the future of human connection. They discuss the surprising pace of AI progress, AI companions as a remedy for loneliness, the importance of mattering to other people, digitally resurrecting the dead, whether AI can be conscious, the moral failings of artists, what science actually knows about parenting, the ethics of apology, why late converts from Trump provoke outrage, and other topics.</p> <p dir="ltr">If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p> <p> </p>

<p dir="ltr">Sam Harris speaks with Alain de Botton about the psychology of unhappiness, the secular world's discomfort with ecstasy and ritual, psychedelics as a tool for self-discovery, Freud's legacy, AI as the ultimate mirror, the case against meritocracy, the cancel culture purity trap, the psychological meaning of death, and other topics.</p> <p>If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p>

<p>In this latest episode of the <em>More From Sam</em> series, Sam and Jaron talk about current events. They discuss topics from Making Sense Community, including one-world government, the value of a degree as AI reshapes careers, and factory farming ethics, along with Mamdani's DSA-aligned candidates, Trump's humiliating capitulation in the Iran deal, the Tulsi Gabbard guru story, and other topics.</p> <p dir="ltr">If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p> <p> </p>

<p>Richard Dawkins presents Sam Harris with the 2026 Richard Dawkins Award at a live Center for Inquiry event. After the tribute, the two friends discuss consciousness and epiphenomenalism, AI and the Turing test, the scientific basis of morality, the failures of democracy and Trump's corruption, the role of philosophy, changing deeply held beliefs, Sam's path to meditation, the legacy of Christopher Hitchens, and other topics.</p> <p>If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p>

<p>Sam Harris speaks with economist and Substack writer Noah Smith about the U.S. national debt, wealth inequality, and the economic consequences of AI. They discuss the mechanics of debt and inflation, the case for fiscal austerity, why the U.S. squandered low interest rates, modern monetary theory, how AI may restructure labor and ownership, the anti-billionaire politics of the American left, the degrowth movement and its failures, demographic decline and fertility trends, the role of smartphones in eroding democratic culture, and other topics.</p> <p dir="ltr">If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href= "http://samharris.org/subscribe">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p> <p> </p>

<p>Sam Harris speaks with Vinod Khosla about AI, economic disruption, and political risk. They discuss the prospect of mass job displacement, a trillion-dollar policy framework to redistribute AI's gains, the failure of the California wealth tax, the corporate capitulation to Trump, Elon Musk's embrace of white nationalist rhetoric, US-China competition, semiconductor dependence, and other topics.</p> <p>If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p>

<p>Sam Harris speaks with Robin Carhart-Harris about psychedelic research and its therapeutic potential. They discuss the current state of the field, the FDA denial of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, the critical role of set and setting, risks for vulnerable populations, the REBUS model of how psychedelics work on the brain, the default mode network and ego dissolution, microdosing, the neuroscience of consciousness, DMT entities, and other topics.</p> <p dir="ltr">If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p> <p> </p>

<p dir="ltr"><strong>Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence against civilians during the October 7 attacks (33:49 - 34:35). Listener discretion is advised.</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">In this latest episode of the <em>More From Sam</em> series, Sam and Jaron talk about current events. They discuss the Trump administration's bungled Iran campaign, the information war surrounding Gaza and October 7, Nicholas Kristof's disputed <em>New York Times</em> report on Israeli prisoner abuse, Sam's controversial take on AI-generated music, Claude solving a decades-old math problem, the ethics of concealing GLP-1 use, and other topics.</p> <p> </p>

<p>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.</p> <p>If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p>

<p>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.</p> <p>If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p>

<p dir="ltr">In this latest episode of the <em>More From Sam</em> series, Sam and Jaron talk about current events. They discuss the launch of Making Sense Community, Sam's Ben Shapiro conversation, the <em>New York Times</em>'s embrace of Hasan Piker, Zohran Mamdani's approach to Islamism, the misuse of the word "genocide," AI-driven job displacement, and other topics.</p> <p>If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p>

<p>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.</p> <p>If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Sam Harris speaks with Ben Shapiro about their pre-election debate and the fractures on the right. They discuss Trump's second term surprises, familial corruption, tariff policy, the ideological world of Tucker Carlson, the spread of conspiracism on the right, antisemitism as the ur-conspiracy theory, JD Vance's political calculations, the future of Israel and the Palestinian question, and other topics.</p> <p dir="ltr">If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href= "http://samharris.org/subscribe">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Sam Harris speaks with Francis Fukuyama about liberal democracy, American politics, and global order. They discuss the misunderstood thesis of "The End of History," how conservatism has mutated into ethno-nationalism, the self-defeating extremes of both identity politics and neoliberalism, the damage of Trump's second term, the war in Iran, the future of Israel, antisemitism on the left and right, and other topics.</p> <p dir="ltr">If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">samharris.org/subscribe</a>. </p> <p> </p>

<p>Sam Harris speaks with Rahm Emanuel about American politics, the state of the Democratic Party, and the 2028 presidential race. They discuss Emanuel's possible presidential run, identity politics and the left's cultural cul-de-sac, the Mississippi reading miracle, antisemitism on the left and right, the Gaza war, Netanyahu's failures, U.S. policy toward China, wealth inequality, and other topics.</p> <p>If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Sam Harris speaks with William MacAskill about effective altruism, AI, and the future of humanity. They discuss the post-FTX recovery of the EA movement, global health and pandemic preparedness, the limits of quantifiable ethics, the intelligence explosion, risks of concentrated AI power, what a post-scarcity world might look like, and other topics.</p> <p>If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p>

<p>Sam Harris speaks with Nicholas Christakis about technology, society, and human nature. They discuss the harms of modern communication technology, polarization and anomie, how AI agents can improve human cooperation, the social implications of humanoid robots, Christakis's experience at the center of the woke moral panic at Yale, the Trump administration's assault on American universities and science, the collapse of public trust in institutions, and other topics.</p> <p>If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe">samharris.org/subscribe</a>.</p>