All Podcasts / Making Sense with Sam Harris / #442 — More From Sam: Public Speaking, Nuclear War, & Christian Nationalism
Making Sense with Sam Harris
Making Sense with Sam Harris

#442 — More From Sam: Public Speaking, Nuclear War, & Christian Nationalism

November 03, 2025 • 17m

Summary

⏱️ 7 min read

Overview

Sam Harris discusses his journey overcoming public speaking anxiety, reflects on the terrifying realism of Netflix's nuclear war film 'House of Dynamite' (directed by Catherine Bigelow), examines the moral insanity of nuclear deterrence doctrine, and touches on the phenomenon of prominent atheists converting to Christianity for cultural reasons.

Upcoming Tour Dates and Show Announcements

The episode opens with announcements for Sam Harris's 2026 speaking tour across North America. Multiple cities are confirmed including Los Angeles, Dallas, Austin, Portland, Vancouver, Palm Beach, Toronto, Washington D.C., and New York City, spanning from January through May 2026. There's also a final reminder about remaining tickets for an upcoming Chicago show in November.

  • Chicago show on November 19th still has tickets available
  • 2026 tour kicks off January 21st in Los Angeles and runs through May 14th in New York City
  • Sam continues to evolve his talk between events, making each show unique

Overcoming Stage Fright: From Anxiety to Empowerment

Sam discusses his transformation from someone with severe public speaking anxiety to a confident speaker on tour. He reveals that he declined being valedictorian in high school specifically to avoid giving a speech, and only confronted this fear in his early 30s when graduate school and his first book publication made it unavoidable. Through repeated exposure and cognitive reframing, he completely transformed his relationship with public speaking, now viewing pre-show physiological arousal as excitement rather than anxiety.

  • Sam declined being high school valedictorian to avoid giving a graduation speech
  • Forced to confront the fear in his early 30s during graduate school with first book release approaching
  • Actual exposure to the feared situation is more effective than meditation or therapy alone
  • Now perceives pre-show jitters as energy and caring rather than anxiety
  • Anxiety and excitement are physiologically indistinguishable - framing matters
" Though I think mindfulness is actually quite helpful, I don't think it's sufficient to deal with it for most people. I think the crucial bit is to actually just do the thing you're afraid of and get used to it and cease to catastrophize about it. "
" You can notice that anxiety is fairly indistinguishable physiologically from excitement. And apart from your thoughts about it, about the thoughts you're using to frame it. And you can just kind of grab the reins of your mind and reframe it. "
" I used to before I'd go on stage, I would imagine that I had just gotten off stage and was very disappointed in my performance. And now I get a chance to go back up there. And how would I do that now? "

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