Making Sense with Sam Harris

Siddhartha Mukherjee discusses major advances in cancer prevention, detection, and treatment since his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, emphasizing that cancer is not one disease but hundreds of distinct genetic entities. He highlights the emerging role of AI in drug discovery and clinical trials, while addressing the challenges of liquid biopsy false positives through Bayesian reasoning and the importance of risk stratification.

Sam Harris and Paul Bloom discuss AI's rapid development and its psychological impact on human connection, particularly regarding artificial intimacy, loneliness, and the question of whether AI companions can fulfill genuine human needs for mattering and social connection.

Alain de Botton discusses how secular societies have lost the psychological and communal functions that religion provided, particularly around rituals, ecstasy, and meaning-making. He argues that modern culture needs to creatively reconstruct what religions did well—such as orchestrating emotional transitions and normalizing intense experiences—without reviving religious belief itself.

Sam Harris discusses topics crowdsourced from his Making Sense community, including his evolved views on world government, consciousness and materialism, philosophy's intellectual value, meaning and purpose, wealth inequality, AI's impact on careers, and the value of college education.

Sam Harris receives the 2026 Richard Dawkins Award in a ceremony hosted by the Center for Inquiry, followed by a wide-ranging conversation between Harris and Dawkins covering consciousness, AI, morality, democracy, Trump, and the legacy of Christopher Hitchens. The discussion spans philosophy of mind, the moral landscape, political corruption, and the challenges of navigating misinformation in the digital age. The event concludes with audience Q&A touching on persuasion, psychedelics, and Carl Sagan's warnings about pseudoscience.

Sam Harris interviews economist Noah Smith about the U.S. national debt, covering its mechanics, risks, and potential solutions. They discuss how rising interest rates compound debt problems, the failure of MMT as a framework, and why a combination of tax increases and spending cuts is necessary. The conversation also briefly touches on how smartphones have damaged society.

Sam Harris interviews venture capitalist Vinod Khosla about the economic and political implications of AI, focusing on job displacement, wealth concentration, and the potential for AI to create a deflationary economy. Khosla argues that AI will displace up to 50% of jobs by 2035 but sees a future of micro-entrepreneurs and near-free services. His primary concern is not AI existential risk but rather political backlash slowing AI development.

Sam Harris interviews Robin Carhart-Harris, a UCSF researcher, about the current state of psychedelic science and therapy. They discuss the FDA denial of MDMA therapy approval, the importance of therapeutic context, quality control concerns, and contraindications for psychedelic use. The conversation covers both the promising clinical results and the significant risks and challenges facing the field.

Sam Harris interviews Lloyd Blankfein, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, about his memoir 'Streetwise,' the 2008 financial crisis, wealth inequality, and current economic risks. Blankfein explains Goldman's role as a financial intermediary, defends their conduct during the crisis, and reflects on how regulatory responses and human nature shape economic cycles. The conversation also touches on market rationality, the disconnect between markets and the real economy, and growing concerns about inequality and political dysfunction.

Sam Harris and Ben Shapiro engage in a post-mortem debate on Trump's second term, revisiting predictions Shapiro made before the 2024 election. Harris challenges Shapiro on Trump's tariff policies, familial corruption, the pardoning of January 6th rioters, and whether Shapiro's 'lesser of two evils' framework adequately accounts for unprecedented presidential misconduct. Shapiro defends a policy-outcomes-focused view while conceding surprise at the scale of Trump family corruption.

Sam Harris interviews political scientist Francis Fukuyama to revisit his 'End of History' thesis, explore the meaning of liberalism, and assess the current threats to liberal democracy from both the populist right and identity-politics left. They discuss China as a potential rival model, the self-defeating tendencies within liberalism, and the state of American democracy under Trump.

Rahm Emanuel discusses his potential 2028 presidential run, criticizing both parties for focusing on nostalgia rather than the future. He argues Democrats must abandon identity politics distractions and embrace educational accountability while addressing anti-Semitism and critiquing Netanyahu's leadership of Israel.

Tristan Harris discusses his journey from social media critic to AI safety advocate, arguing that current AI development incentives are leading toward an 'anti-human future' characterized by mass unemployment, political instability, and potential loss of human control over increasingly autonomous AI systems.

Sam Harris discusses navigating overwhelming current events through mindfulness, the challenges of AI displacement, and his philosophy on podcast conversations. He critiques conspiracy thinking and misinformation spread by large platforms while explaining his selective approach to adversarial debates.

Sam Harris and William MacAskill discuss the current state of effective altruism after recent setbacks, covering core EA cause areas like global health, animal welfare, pandemic preparedness, and AI safety. They explore tensions between quantifiable interventions and harder-to-measure but potentially high-impact problems like political dysfunction and social media's effects on democracy.

A discussion between Sam Harris and a guest about how information technology has harmed society over the past decade, exploring social media toxicity, AI's impact on human behavior, and the potential for both technological solutions and social adaptation. They examine how anonymity enables bad behavior online and how AI might change human interactions both positively and negatively.

Sam Harris discusses concerns about the current administration's handling of the Iran conflict, criticizing Trump's poor communication and diplomatic failures while maintaining that preventing jihadists from obtaining nuclear weapons justifies military intervention. He argues that jihadism represents a unique existential threat that requires relentless opposition, and criticizes both left and right-wing opposition to the war for different reasons.

Matt Mahan, mayor of San Jose and Democratic candidate for California governor, discusses his pragmatic approach to governance, focusing on measurable outcomes rather than performative politics. He emphasizes the need to address California's housing crisis, homelessness, and bureaucratic inefficiency through focused execution and accountability.

A detailed discussion about Deep Vision, a canceled $125 million USAID program that would have collected 10,000 unknown viruses from remote locations, characterized their deadliness, and published their genomes publicly. The speakers describe their successful whistleblowing campaign that led to the program's termination.

Sam Harris discusses Trump's approach to potential Iran conflict, America's declining international standing, and rising anti-Semitism. He argues that while Trump's norm-breaking may occasionally yield results, it has fundamentally damaged America's moral authority and alienated democratic allies.