Neuroscientist: This Is How To Defeat Stress! Sam Harris (401)

Today’s guest really needs no introduction…but here it is just in case you've been under a rock or not on social media, like him. Meet Sam Harris. Neuroscientist, philosopher, New York Times best-selling author, host of Making Sense, creator of Waking Up, and one of the most thought-provoking intellectuals of our time. Known as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett, he fearlessly navigates even the most difficult of topics.

He’s a true advocate of reason and an explorer of the human condition. His ideas transcend boundaries, challenge our perceptions, and invite us to think deeply about the world around us. In our thought-provoking conversation, we wrestle with topics ranging from the existence of free will to psychedelic drugs, meditation, and religion.

Join us for an exploration of reason, morality, and consciousness like no other!

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Key Takeaways:

00:00:00 Intro
00:01:55 Judging a book by its cover
00:05:14 Woke politics and recent developments in AI
00:17:19 Making your mind into a friend
00:22:28 Meditation and the nature of self
00:40:00 The analogy of the optic blind spot to explain the concept of the absence of a self. He describes how, through a simple experiment, one can confirm the existence of the optic blind spot by moving a dot on a piece of paper in and out of sight. Harris draws a parallel between this experience and the search for the self, suggesting that both require a deliberate and precise way of looking. He emphasizes that the sense of self is the anchor for most psychological suffering and that letting go of this sense of self leads to profound relief. Harris also mentions the importance of meditation in gaining perspective on the inner dialogue that often causes suffering. Additionally, we touch on the heightened sensitivity to grayscale intensity in the region of the optic blind spot, intriguing as an astronomer.
00:44:29 Slipping into psychopathy
01:10:29 Who Sam relies on for external advice
01:17:14 On Trump’s narcissism
01:33:56 Musk’s ambition to colonize Mars
01:40:00 Sam Harris shifts the conversation from religion to space exploration and the human obsession with leaving a legacy. He expresses his skepticism about the coherence of the idea of colonizing Mars as a backup plan for humanity, given our evolutionary success on Earth and the uncertainty of our ability to build a perfect city on the red planet. Harris also shares his perspective on human happiness and being a good person, emphasizing the importance of turning one's attention away from oneself and focusing on helping others. He criticizes the narcissistic nature of the Mars fantasy and the desire for a grand legacy, comparing it to vanity and other negative emotions. Harris also questions Elon Musk's belief in Stoicism, suggesting that Musk's Mars mission might not align with the stoic precept of accepting the inevitability of death.
01:50:49 Does Sam miss academia?
01:55:00 Research on the brain's response to beliefs, focusing on the distinction between belief, disbelief, uncertainty and disgust. Harris emphasizes that higher cognitive functions, including belief and judgment, are built on lower structures and processes that evolved for other purposes. He shares his personal preference for thinking, writing, and speaking about the mind rather than conducting neuroimaging experiments himself. Harris also expresses his dream of using advanced neuroimaging technology to verify the truthfulness of podcast guests' statements.
02:00:27 Free will, consciousness, and scientific experimentation
02:44:08 Can AI have free will?
02:46:14 Should we teach kids meditation or religion?
02:55:23 Barbaric beliefs in different religions
03:10:18 Outro
Additional resources:

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Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.

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#consciousness
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#mindfulness
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#wisdom

[DrBrianKeating]

Do you believe in free will? Why or why not?

[thomasrainer]

The intro to the podcast version of this is the definition of audience capture.

[Tristramwilliams]

I think the reason Dr Keating was so ungracious and dishonest in his introduction on the Spotify version was that Sam absolutely embarrassed him in the last minutes of this discussion.

[najneindustrijaliziraniji]

It's always great to hear Sam, he has brilliant mind.

[Avogadros_number]

This episode should be called “The Unmasking of Brian Keating.”

[cosalidra]

Let me just say, Sam Harris has changed my life in various ways. It's always a pleasure and a privilege to hear him speak. His wisdom is timeless.

[muffinman]

Brian, why did you slander Sam like that in the podcast intro. Incredibly dishonest and it shows that you have very questionable character at best.

I don’t mean to totally dunk on Keating but he was so lost in this whole conversation. He really can’t have a true intellectual conversation with Sam, or someone like Sam. It really felt like he was constantly just missing the mark.

[antitheistvegan]

It really seems like Brian is just so in love with his religion that he completely shuts off his logic and reasoning. For him to sit there and attempt to justify what is clearly barbarism is just proof that the cult he’s part of is simply man made make-believe. So strange how someone seemingly intelligent can still manage to uphold extreme intellectual laziness.

[TeamTingTong]

I'd like to know why you began your spotify podcast version of this discussion by suggesting Sam continuously steered the conversation back towards the topic of Trump when in actual fact it was you yourself that did this. You should listen to this podcast yourself then offer Sam an apology. No wonder he does so few podcasts. Very dishonest on your part Dr Keating.

[batonmorina]

In your audio version of this podcast you sounded very condescending towards Sam and said he is obsessed with Trump. You said he kept bringing Trump up throughout every topic you discussed which is not true. He didn't bring Trump up in every topic yet that is what you are claiming. You are a dishonest person.

[callistomoon]

Brian how could you defend slavery, in whatever mild form? Sam is right. Why are we even talking about these stone age ideas?

[AlexStoner-sv]

The host provided a pretty dismissive and inaccurate introduction to Sam on his audio version podcast. Note he conveniently left this intro out of the Youtube version he posted on this subreddit yesterday. It was a long introduction/disclaimer about Sam Harris' "Trump derangement syndrome" and "obsession" with mentioning Trump every chance he could get. Pretty weak to provide this as a postscript with no way for Sam to respond. Not sure Sam would love his characterization of this conversation especially since Sam was "a get" for this guy's podcast and especially when it was the host who was bringing up Trump and it wasn't even that much of the conversation.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to a very special episode with Sam Herms on the into the Impossible podcast. My longest episode ever, I've never done an episode this long, and this audio essay I am about to give you is going to add to the length of it. But I wanted to express a little bit of my kind of inner workings and what what goes through my mind when I'm doing a podcast with somebody, A big name podcaster, like Sam Harris. And in that sense, it's incumbent upon me to try to do my best and make it so that people can really benefit from the wisdom of my guest. And, and this time, I, I kind of made a mistake, as you'll find out I did not ask Sam some tough questions, especially about Donald Trump. And you'll see almost every question he will reflect upon Donald Trump, even when we're talking about diverse topics as generative AI images and their wokeness.

And he'll come back to Trump. We'll talk about psychedelics Trump, we'll talk about, we'll talk about meditation Trump. So the question is, how can we learn from such people that seem to be obsessed with people that, you know, many of my listeners and audience members support? So, I don't know. I don't know the best way to, to attack that, except that I feel I let down my audience. My, my job in this podcast is to ask questions that you guys wanna ask, not to be a star, not to show off, not to do kind of the verbal gymnastics, to ingratiate myself with my guests. If that's gonna happen, it's gonna happen. And it didn't really work with a big name guest like Sam Harris, because I lost many, many subscribers on the podcast.

And it's unfortunate, at least on the video, they tell me they're unsubscribing, And, I, see a lot of unsubscribes from people that watch the clips on Dr. Brian Keating on YouTube and the shorts that I put up there prior to this episode being aired today. So I lost many, many subscribers. And the the point of doing that is not to say that sad or I miss them, although, you know, it's, it's, it's always better not to lose subscribers than to, than to try to gain more subscribers, you know, keep what you have in the leaky boat from going under. But in this case, you know, it's not really my concern. I'm not gonna just do things to pander to what the audience wants. I mean, obviously, can you imagine me going off and accusing him of Trump derangement syndrome?

And it, it would be, it would be, you know, kind of a very brief conversation and pointless one at that. And so I didn't do that, but I did fail. of course, you know, he views Trump and he does it. You'll hear, compare Trump unfavorably in some ways to Hitler, And I had to bite my tongue really hard during that, but let him talk. And, and for all the things that he said and, and done online and elsewhere, he is incredibly courageous and he just doesn't give a, you know what. But, you know, during those comparisons, I did fail to really ask the question that I should have. And I. I mentioned this in my Monday magic mailing list, which you should all subscribe to Brian Keating dot com slash list me to communicate with you guys, tell you about cool things coming up, like my upcoming appearance at TEDx San Diego April 10th. But the, the main question I really should have asked him, And I, wanted to ask him, but I didn't, is knowing his Sam's opinions about Free will, that we don't have Free will. How is it appropriate in any way or logical in any way to ascribe these evil, you know, just, just malevolent malicious notions to Donald Trump if they're not caused of his own volition? He doesn't choose to be this way according to Sam, I don't believe that, and you'll hear me pushing back extraordinarily hard. But respectfully on that notion from Sam about the non-existence of Free will and the non behaviorist activities, nobody behaves as if they have no Free will, as I mentioned with Polsky. And Polsky admitted it as he said, quote to my everlasting shame. So Sam, you know, is in a unique category, and that he believes nobody has Free will, and yet he believes Donald Trump is to blame for much evil and much more evil if he is elected again as president in November

[lonzo]

Keating sounds like another apologist for the bible, Judaism and Christianity. It's surprising, given how smart the guy is. It just sounded like mental masturbation towards the end of the conversation. Nevertheless, I mostly enjoyed this discussion.

[llaauuddrruupp]

I rarely downvote a video with Sam Harris but have to make an exception with this one. The good Dr. Brian Keating is a special kind of blundering collocutor.

[Surtr]

For those who don't know Dr. Keating added this preamble to his audio podcast version of this interview (transcription not my own):

"Hey, everybody. Welcome to a very special episode with Sam Harris on the into the Impossible podcast. My longest episode ever, I've never done an episode this long, and this audio essay I am about to give you is going to add to the length of it. But I wanted to express a little bit of my kind of inner workings and what what goes through my mind when I'm doing a podcast with somebody, A big name podcaster, like Sam Harris. And in that sense, it's incumbent upon me to try to do my best and make it so that people can really benefit from the wisdom of my guest. And, and this time, I, I kind of made a mistake, as you'll find out I did not ask Sam some tough questions, especially about Donald Trump. And you'll see almost every question he will reflect upon Donald Trump, even when we're talking about diverse topics as generative AI images and their wokeness.

And he'll come back to Trump. We'll talk about psychedelics Trump, we'll talk about, we'll talk about meditation Trump. So the question is, how can we learn from such people that seem to be obsessed with people that, you know, many of my listeners and audience members support? So, I don't know. I don't know the best way to, to attack that, except that I feel I let down my audience. My, my job in this podcast is to ask questions that you guys wanna ask, not to be a star, not to show off, not to do kind of the verbal gymnastics, to ingratiate myself with my guests. If that's gonna happen, it's gonna happen. And it didn't really work with a big name guest like Sam Harris, because I lost many, many subscribers on the podcast.

And it's unfortunate, at least on the video, they tell me they're unsubscribing, And, I, see a lot of unsubscribes from people that watch the clips on Dr. Brian Keating on YouTube and the shorts that I put up there prior to this episode being aired today. So I lost many, many subscribers. And the the point of doing that is not to say that sad or I miss them, although, you know, it's, it's, it's always better not to lose subscribers than to, than to try to gain more subscribers, you know, keep what you have in the leaky boat from going under. But in this case, you know, it's not really my concern. I'm not gonna just do things to pander to what the audience wants. I mean, obviously, can you imagine me going off and accusing him of Trump derangement syndrome?

And it, it would be, it would be, you know, kind of a very brief conversation and pointless one at that. And so I didn't do that, but I did fail. of course, you know, he views Trump and he does it. You'll hear, compare Trump unfavorably in some ways to Hitler, And I had to bite my tongue really hard during that, but let him talk. And, and for all the things that he said and, and done online and elsewhere, he is incredibly courageous and he just doesn't give a, you know what. But, you know, during those comparisons, I did fail to really ask the question that I should have. And I. I mentioned this in my Monday magic mailing list, which you should all subscribe to Brian Keating dot com slash list me to communicate with you guys, tell you about cool things coming up, like my upcoming appearance at TEDx San Diego April 10th. But the, the main question I really should have asked him, And I, wanted to ask him, but I didn't, is knowing his Sam's opinions about Free will, that we don't have Free will. How is it appropriate in any way or logical in any way to ascribe these evil, you know, just, just malevolent malicious notions to Donald Trump if they're not caused of his own volition? He doesn't choose to be this way according to Sam, I don't believe that, and you'll hear me pushing back extraordinarily hard. But respectfully on that notion from Sam about the non-existence of Free will and the non behaviorist activities, nobody behaves as if they have no Free will, as I mentioned with Polsky. And Polsky admitted it as he said, quote to my everlasting shame. So Sam, you know, is in a unique category, and that he believes nobody has Free will, and yet he believes Donald Trump is to blame for much evil and much more evil if he is elected again as president in November."

Inaccurate characterizations of the interview aside (it was Dr. Keating who brought up Trump for the most part and it encompassed a very small portion of the interview), if it was cowardly of him not to challenge Sam more then it was double-cowardice to only voice his alleged frustration when he started losing subscribers. During the interview he asks Sam for advice for podcasters, but allow me to proffer some of my own: don't publicly disparage your guests for your own failures and definitely not only after losing subscribers and definitely definitely not when the main challenge you wanted to present they already answered during said appearance.

[yosivin]

Such a great talk. As time passing like Harris more and more. Great thinker.

[nottroy]

2:56:00
hahaha I love these moments from Sam. The subtle, politely snide response, certain that the bomb the host thinks he's about to drop is a dud. Being distracted with the water bottle really added to it.
And the warm and unthreatened smile of kind condescension at 2:57:54 as his expectation is fully realized lol. Sam's the best.

[charleshartlen]

Brian you seem like a great person, you seem kind and empathetic. This discussion was not your best moment. Thanks for posting it and best of luck to you. Thanks Sam for agreeing to come on

[mp]

Brian, I say this with respect and compassion - your discussion/questioning style is extremely chaotic. It nearly became unlistenable in the free will and religious sections towards the end.

In trying to ask a question or present a counterargument, you'd go off on many tangets, without finishing any of them, and not even getting close to finishing your original point.

Yes, this was compounded by Sam interrupting - I think due to the meandering/rambling way with how your thoughts were manifesting.

If you have a point, please try and make it efficiently. As it stands, no points were even made, and it was very frustrating to listen to.

It's much more pronounced during a discussion/debate. But it's still present when you're asking questions. You often ramble until the guest is basically forced to interject with their response. They've gotten the gist of the question and things are just becoming more convoluted by letting you continue.

Can you write your questions down and word them efficiently beforehand? It seems like it would help a lot.

[bb-he]

I’m astonished at how even scholarly physicists can be confused about free will.