Making Sense with Sam Harris
Join neuroscientist, philosopher, and five-time New York Times best-selling author Sam Harris as he explores important and controversial questions about the mind, society, current events, moral philosophy, religion, and rationality—with an overarching focus on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live. Sam is also the creator of the Waking Up app. Combining Sam's decades of mindfulness practice, profound wisdom from varied philosophical and contemplative traditions, and a commitment to a secular, scientific worldview, Waking Up is a resource for anyone interested in living a more examined, fulfilling life—and a new operating system for the mind. Waking Up offers free subscriptions to anyone who can't afford one, and donates a minimum of 10% of profits to the most effective charities around the world. To learn more, please go to WakingUp.com. Sam Harris received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA.
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Recent Episodes
#501 — The Performance of Empathy
Nov 03, 2026Sam Harris speaks with Sherry Turkle about her new book, Artificial Intimacy. They discuss the early optimism of the internet, the attention economy, the loss of solitude and boredom, the decline of e...
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Sherry Turkle, MIT professor and technology researcher, discusses 40 years of studying human relationships with technology. She argues that our digital devices and AI are fundamentally degrading our capacity for empathy, solitude, and genuine human connection. While early internet pioneers hoped technology would enhance real-world community, today's landscape—dominated by social media algorithms and AI chatbots—is pushing people away from authentic relationships toward easier, artificial substitutes. Turkle warns against accepting "performed empathy" from machines as sufficient, arguing this retreat from reality threatens individual development, communities, and democracy itself.
- The Deterioration of Human Connection Since 1975
- From Optimism to Dystopia: The Lost Promise of Digital Community
#500 — The Playing Animal
Oct 30, 2026Sam Harris speaks with Jimmy Carr about comedy, culture, and the state of the West. They discuss Carr's new book on the craft of joke writing, why comedy should be taught, the ethics of crowd work, AI...
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Jimmy Carr joins Sam Harris for a wide-ranging conversation exploring comedy as a craft, the structure of humor, and society's relationship with technology and cultural change. Carr discusses his new book on joke-writing, the social function of comedy, crowd work ethics, and broader philosophical questions about AI, human connection, and civilizational risks. The conversation moves from technical comedy analysis to existential concerns about technology and social fragmentation.
- Comedy as a Teachable Craft and Social Good
- The Purpose and Social Function of Comedy
#499 — The Birth of AGI
Oct 20, 2026Sam Harris speaks with Kevin Roose about the race to build artificial general intelligence. They discuss Roose's book The AGI Chronicles, the scaling laws behind AI's rapid progress, Dario Amodei's "b...
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Kevin Roose, New York Times tech reporter and author of 'The AGI Chronicles,' discusses the inside story of the race to create artificial superintelligence. The conversation explores how a small group of approximately 50 people are making decisions that could determine humanity's future, the key breakthroughs that led to modern AI capabilities, and the concerning lack of oversight compared to the magnitude of potential risks. Roose shares his journey from religion reporter to becoming 'AGI pilled' after his viral encounter with Bing's Sydney chatbot, and examines why leading AI researchers assign double-digit probabilities to AI destroying humanity yet continue racing forward.
- Kevin Roose's Journey from Religion Reporter to AI Chronicler
- The Reality and Scale of AI Risk
In this latest episode of the More From Sam series, Sam and Jaron talk about current events. They discuss Alex Gibney's documentary on Elon Musk, Dara Horn's insights into antisemitism, the Democrats'...
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Sam Harris and his co-host discuss recent podcast episodes, focusing on Elon Musk's controversial behavior and the documentary about him, as well as an in-depth exploration of anti-Semitism's origins and persistence. The conversation shifts to concerns about Democratic politicians' associations with far-left figures and Islamist organizations, examining the tension between political strategy and moral principles. They debate whether certain political figures represent dangerous alliances that could ultimately benefit far-right movements.
- Elon Musk's Success and Moral Failures
- Understanding Anti-Semitism's Origins and Persistence
#497 — The Confidence Man
Oct 09, 2026Sam Harris speaks with Alex Gibney about his new documentary, Musk. They discuss Sam's former friendship with Musk, the line between visionary and con man, the myth of Tesla's founding, the staged sel...
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Alex Gibney discusses his four-hour documentary 'Musk' with Sam Harris, exploring Elon Musk's complex legacy as both an industrial transformer and serial mythologizer. The conversation delves into the central tension of the film: how to reconcile Musk's genuine accomplishments in revolutionizing electric cars and space exploration with his pattern of deception, self-aggrandizement, and increasingly controversial political involvement. Gibney reveals the challenges of documenting a subject who refused to participate, the difficulty of finding people willing to speak on camera, and how the film evolved from a two-hour version into an extended examination as Musk's political transformation accelerated. The discussion covers everything from the founding myths of Tesla to fraudulent demonstrations, government subsidies, and the blurry line between visionary optimism and actual con artistry.
- Origins of the Documentary and Musk's Evolution
- Making a Documentary Without the Subject
#496 — The Oldest Lie
Oct 07, 2026Sam Harris speaks with Dara Horn about antisemitism, Jewish identity, and the failure of institutions. They discuss Horn's new book, why Jews predate the categories of religion and nationality, antise...
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#495 — Foreign Policy for Sale
Oct 01, 2026Sam Harris speaks with Anne Applebaum about corruption, authoritarianism, and America's retreat from the world. They discuss her Atlantic cover story, the revolutionary project behind Trump's second t...
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Sam Harris speaks with Anne Applebaum about how American foreign policy under Trump has transformed into an instrument of corruption and revolutionary change. They discuss the ideological agenda to dismantle traditional institutions, the support for far-right movements in Europe, the complex dynamics around European rearmament, and the current state of the war in Ukraine. Applebaum argues that a coalition of ideologues, tech companies, and cryptocurrency interests are working together to reshape global politics while profiting from the chaos.
- The Revolutionary Nature of Trump's Foreign Policy
- The Alliance of Ideology, Tech, and Crypto Supporting the Far Right
#494 — A Coin Toss for the Future
Sep 22, 2026Sam 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 ri...
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#493 — Two Reasons to Meditate
Sep 17, 2026Meditation 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 t...
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#492 — The Second Plane, 25 Years Later
Sep 09, 2026On 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 t...
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Sam Harris reflects on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, examining how the second plane hitting the World Trade Center revealed the true nature of jihadist ideology. He traces the continuity between 9/11 and October 7th, critiquing how Western society, particularly elite institutions, has failed to maintain clarity about Islamic extremism and instead embraced confused ideologies that conflate criticism of religious ideas with bigotry.
- The Second Plane and the Reality It Revealed
- How 9/11 Shaped Harris's Career and Message
#491 — The Suicide of the Left
Sep 01, 2026Sam 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,...
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Sam Harris and journalist James Kirchick discuss the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and its influence on the Democratic Party. They explore how the DSA's extreme platform—calling for the abolition of capitalism, private property, and democratic institutions—represents a dangerous ideological shift that mainstream Democrats have failed to adequately confront. The conversation examines the alliance between the far left and Islamist movements, the rise of politicians like Zohran Mamdani, and why liberals struggle to draw boundaries against extremism within their own coalition.
- The DSA's Radical Platform and Democratic Complicity
- The Failure of Liberal Open-Mindedness
#490 — Lies, Bulls**t, and the Rule of Law
Aug 25, 2026Sam 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 politi...
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Sam Harris and Preet Bharara discuss the degradation of public discourse, examining how social media, podcasting culture, and COVID-19 have fragmented society's ability to engage in good faith debate. They analyze the asymmetries in how different political tribes perceive corruption, the role of law enforcement in political accountability, and Trump's unique ability to survive scandals that would have destroyed previous politicians. The conversation explores how Trump functions less as a strategic genius and more as a figure who has found himself in a context where a significant portion of the population no longer cares about objective truth.
- The Decline of Good Faith Discussion
- Tribalism and Confirmation Bias in Media Consumption
#489 — More From Sam: A Fabulist at Cambridge, the Strait of Hormuz, AOC in 2028, and More
Aug 21, 2026In 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...
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Sam Harris and his co-host discuss several major controversies involving institutional failures, including the plagiarism scandal and death of Cambridge professor Jason Arda, Trump's foreign policy disasters with Iran, and the complex legacy of Dr. Anthony Fauci. The conversation explores how identity politics, institutional corruption, and political tribalism have undermined trust in major institutions while examining the nuanced reality behind viral narratives.
- The Jason Arda Plagiarism Scandal and Institutional Failure
- Trump's Iran Policy Disaster and American Weakness
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 rel...
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In this archived episode from the Making Sense podcast, host Sam Harris presents a live conversation with Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman from the Beacon Theater in New York. The wide-ranging discussion explores the replication crisis in science, cognitive biases, the limitations of human intuition, and our systematic failures in reasoning. Kahneman, known for his groundbreaking work on decision-making and his book 'Thinking Fast and Slow,' shares candid insights about the unchangeable nature of cognitive biases—even in experts who study them—and discusses how framing effects, loss aversion, and emotional responses systematically distort our judgment on everything from personal decisions to global challenges like climate change.
- The Replication Crisis in Psychology
- System 1 and System 2: Two Modes of Thinking
#488 — Ego, Ecstasy, and Equanimity
Aug 04, 2026Sam 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 perfectioni...
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Sam Harris discusses his unconventional upbringing as the son of Susan Harris, legendary television writer and creator of iconic shows like Golden Girls and Soap. He reflects on his mother's remarkable journey from single motherhood to becoming one of the most successful sitcom writers in television history, all while raising him largely on her own and taking him on transformative travels around the world.
- Sam Harris's Professional Identity
- Susan Harris: From Single Mom to TV Legend
#487 — Is AI Already Conscious?
Jul 31, 2026Sam 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" sta...
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#486 — Luck All the Way Down
Jul 22, 2026Sam 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...
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Sam Harris and behavioral geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden revisit their contentious history from six years ago, when Harden co-authored a Vox piece criticizing Harris's podcast with Charles Murray about race and IQ. They discuss how both have since faced similar attacks for their work in behavioral genetics, the evolution of political discourse around wokeness, and dive into Harden's new book on genetics, vice, blame, and forgiveness. The conversation explores why behavioral genetics remains controversial, the nature-nurture debate, and the future implications of genetic science for society.
- Revisiting the Charles Murray Controversy
- Harden's Reflection and Apology
#485 — The New Science of Cancer
Jul 14, 2026Sam Harris speaks with Siddhartha Mukherjee about the science of cancer. They discuss the updated edition of The Emperor of All Maladies, whether cancer is one disease or many, why prevention is so ha...
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Siddhartha Mukherjee discusses the updated edition of his Pulitzer Prize-winning book 'The Emperor of All Maladies,' exploring major developments in cancer prevention, detection, and treatment over the past 15 years. He covers the challenges of prevention science, the promise and pitfalls of early detection technologies like liquid biopsies and full-body MRIs, breakthrough treatments including immunotherapy and CAR-T therapy, and the transformative potential of AI in drug discovery. The conversation also addresses the concerning impact of the current administration's policies on medical science and innovation.
- Understanding Cancer as a Disease
- The Challenges of Cancer Prevention
#484 — Artificial Intimacy
Jul 08, 2026Sam 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 imp...
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Sam Harris and Paul Bloom discuss the rapid advancement of AI technology, exploring its implications for consciousness, human relationships, loneliness, and the future. They examine how quickly society has adapted to AI capabilities that seemed impossible just years ago, including passing the Turing test. The conversation delves into the psychological and social dimensions of AI companions, the nature of mattering and attention, and both the potential benefits and risks of AI relationships, particularly for vulnerable populations like the elderly and young people.
- Opening Reflections on AI's Surprising Progress
- The Westworld Problem: AI Consciousness and Moral Consideration
#483 — The Knots We Tie Ourselves Into
Jul 01, 2026Sam 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...
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Alain de Botton discusses his work exploring the psychological sources of human unhappiness and the gaps left by religion's decline in modern secular society. He examines how religious frameworks once provided structure for emotional and psychological development through ritual, community, and engagement with profound experiences. The conversation explores how secular culture struggles to address ecstasy, transcendence, and self-exploration, touching on the potential of psychedelics, the importance of ego attenuation, and the dangers of regressing to childlike hero worship in political contexts.
- The Decline of Religious Frameworks and Modern Society
- Culture as Incomplete Replacement for Religion