Making Sense with Sam Harris

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#446 — How to Do the Most Good

Sam Harris speaks with Michael Plant about the philosophy of happiness and effective altruism. They discuss the nature of well-being, Nozick's "Experience Machine" thought experiment, the validity of self-reported happiness data, the conflict between the experiencing self and the remembering self, Derek Parfit's "Repugnant Conclusion," the disconnect between moral intentions and consequences, why treating depression is more impactful than cash, the massive disparities in charitable impact, the potential effects of AI on human flourishing, the meaning crisis in a post-work future, 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.

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  #447 — The Unraveling of American Power

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  #445 — More From Sam: Marjorie Taylor Greene, Billionaires, Thanksgiving P…

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  #444 — America's Zombie Democracy

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  #443 — What Is Christian Nationalism?

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

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  #441 — The Threat of Civil War

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  #440 — A World in Crisis

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  #439 — How to Lose a Democracy

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  #438 — "More From Sam": Israel-Hamas Deal, Qatari Air Force Base, Trump, C…

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  #437 — Two Years Since 10/7

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  #436 — A Crisis of Trust

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  #435 — The Last Invention

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  #434 — Can We Survive AI?

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  #433 — How Did We Get Here?

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  #432 — The Undoing of America