#493 — Two Reasons to Meditate

Sam Harris speaks with Ryan Greenblatt about AI misalignment and the risk of losing control of increasingly capable systems. They discuss the Hugging Face incident, the spectrum of concern about AI risk, why companies are racing ahead despite high odds of a, reward hacking, the distinction between alignment and control, the danger of AIs reasoning in "neuralese," alignment faking, how an AI takeover might unfold, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.

Meditation can help us live better. It can also help us understand what is true about our own minds. These motivations might seem fundamentally different, but Sam explains why they're two aspects of the same project. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.

On the 25th anniversary of September 11th, Sam discusses the significance of the second plane, the writing of The End of Faith, the failure to take jihadist belief seriously, the costs of the war on terror, the abandonment of America's Afghan allies, the continuity between 9/11 and October 7th, the rise of Islamo-leftism, the misuse of "Islamophobia," and other topics. Making Sense has no advertisers and no sponsors, which is what allows Sam to talk about whatever he thinks is most important, with no one else having a say. If you already subscribe, thank you. If you'd like to subscribe, you can start at SamHarris.org. Subscribers can also join the Making Sense Community to keep the discussion going. This is the recording Sam refers to at 13:18. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.  

Sam Harris speaks with James Kirchick about the far left's growing influence over Democratic politics. They discuss Kirchick's article "The DSA Is a Parasite," the group's platform and foreign policy, entryism, the alliance between Islamists and the far left, Third Worldism, Zohran Mamdani, antisemitism on the left, polling on political violence, Kirchick's exit from The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof, Jim Jones and the Jonestown massacre, JD Vance, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.

Sam Harris speaks with Preet Bharara about the collapse of good faith debate in American politics. They discuss the fragmentation of media, the treatment of Anthony Fauci, the rush to prosecute political opponents, Trump's self-dealing, why indictments strengthened Trump, lying vs bullshit, tribalism and dogmatism, the failures of the Democratic Party, hypocrisy and sanctimony, restoring norms and institutions, the 2028 election, and other topics. This episode was originally recorded for the Stay Tuned with Preet podcast. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.  

In this latest episode of the More From Sam series, Sam and Jaron talk about current events. They discuss the death of Cambridge professor Jason Arday and the institutions that promoted him, America's deteriorating position in the war with Iran, the witch hunt against Anthony Fauci, AOC's prospects in 2028, two former NBA players trolling the WNBA's eligibility rules, the strange appeal of Nick Fuentes, why pacifism fails against real evil, a Making Sense community question on parenthood and mortality, and other topics. Further reading: How to Stop a Lab Leak From Starting the Next Pandemic If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.

From the archive: In this 2019 episode, Sam Harris speaks with Daniel Kahneman at the Beacon Theatre in NYC. They discuss the replication crisis in science, System 1 and System 2, where intuitions reliably fail, expert intuitions, the power of framing, moral illusions, anticipated regret, the asymmetry between threats and opportunities, the utility of worrying, removing obstacles to wanted behaviors, the remembering self vs the experiencing self, improving the quality of gossip, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.

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. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.

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. Annaka Harris's upcoming book: Unlocking Consciousness If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.  

Sam Harris speaks with Kathryn Paige Harden about behavioral genetics, moral luck, and the problem of blame. They discuss Harden's book Original Sin, 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. Related Episode: #212 - A Conversation with Kathryn Paige Harden If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.