Ask Sam Harris Anything #1
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 9 июл 2024
- Check out Bas Rutten's Liver Shot on MMA Surge: bit.ly/MMASurgeEp1
Sam Harris, author of the New York Times bestsellers, The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, and The Moral Landscape, answers questions submitted by users on Reddit.com.
Hear Sam talk about everything from meditation to religion, and see if one of your questions got answered!
To purchase Sam's books, click the links below:
The End of Faith: amzn.to/gIudHF
Letter to a Christian Nation: amzn.to/eTemcG
The Moral Landscape: amzn.to/jAPZur 
Хобби
"...some of the fault lies with me, if I were a better writer, a better communicator of these ideas I would have fewer problems.". Sam Harris is a breath of fresh air in this world full of extreme polarization and reputation protection. He understands truth and spreads it in the best way he can, becoming better and better as time goes on.
Sam is one of the great intellects of our time. His work will be remembered in the fields of sceptical and ethical thought. The clarity and eloquence of his talk here is something most of us will never get close to.
He is an excellent example of what a modern philosopher should be doing.
*****
What are you babbling about?
Would you like to turn your 'insane' setting off and try and express yourself like a sensible person?
***** Being a teenager is hard. Hang in there. My hope for you is that you push through it and find yourself eventually.
***** "accept for it says that god & spirit do not exist"
Atheism is merely the lack of belief in a deity. It makes no claim on whether or not deities or spirits exist.
"attempting to solve problems of society through the worship of the religion of atheism"
Atheism is not a religion. There are religious and not religious atheists.
He does not propose solutions by implementing a supernatural authority, but by critical thought.
Gibson is right. Harris will probably be remembered as one of the greatest thinkers of our time.
***** You are actually 99% atheist. I'm guessing you don't worship Allah, Zeus, Poseidon, Huitzilopochtli, Osiris, etc.... We just go one god further.
Sam Harris doesn't understand free will on any level. He argues that there is no such thing as a logical chain of thought that leads to a decision being made. No serious thinker in the world believes that, but that's a necessary component of believing there is no free will. Believing you have no free will as Harris does here is saying, "There's no way a person could reason their way through this problem and make a logical decision." Life is all about making decisions, and those who make the most conscious and logical decisions by using their free will will have the happiest lives. It's pretty amazing that Harris doesn't realize the colossal philosophy 101 error he has made here. He simply repeats the error over and over again.
Sam Harris really is one of the smartest people I've ever listened to.
Serendra Hardu I have a similar feeling. Its not just the fact that he knows so much, its that he has such an eloquent way to say it that understanding him is never a challenge. I think that quality is more valuable than a big intellect.
He has such an amazing way of articulating his thoughts into words! Wish I had that quality.
+Serendra Hardu Definitely. He is such a logical and clear thinker.
+Serendra Hardu I think I'm gonna start meditating too now
+cdahdude51 How? With your head up your fundament?
Sam is really nice to listen to. He's got a pleasing, smooth voice.
And pretty easy on the eyes, too.
@@hrh4961 lol how so?
@@barnikmahanty5174 Are you blind?
And a sweet ass
@@hrh4961 are you 3? Looks are subjective. It was a sincere question, is he good looking? or some other feature of his face
Love this guy. Fucking bulletproof.
yeah, he really stands out among his peers.
Bullet proof huh? ??
While I agree with what I think to be the nature of your statement; in that I think you mean his arguments are SIGNIFICANTLY difficult to refute, and frankly they're just awesome aren't they? But only because I feel people are going to nitpick I'm going to clarify this to be what I think you mean rather than the guy actually has bullets bounce off of him. People, please don't try to shoot him to test it, thank you.
Sarge Izzard He is. Rarely do I disagree with his stances on various issues.
Agreed
Sam Harris is a real inspiration to me. A real life role model on moral intergrity.
I could listen to Sam Harris all day. Such a great man
Harris is so well-read. smart guy.
I'm grateful to Sam for helping me to fine-tune my bullshit detector over the last 7 years.
"I share your disappointment railboy" what I love about Sam Harris is that he is making a concerted effort to engage with the larger community, in novel ways, and willing to try new avenues to spread his message, and ultimately what will form his legacy - I know he'll probably never read this, but hopefully one day we'll meet and I can say it in person!
+Debonair Fox You, a fox? Ha! If you were really a fox you would realize what the materialist Sad-u-cee Sam was really up to!
hahaha,
+Debonair Fox What? Fuck me again, Sam?
+Lloyd Dettering what ideas opposing materialism do you follow?
Did u ever meet hin
Ben Stiller is right!
thaaank you!
+pouria siavashi can't spell either, eh?
@@lloyddettering2975 They spelled everything right. The only important thing that is going to need to be spelled correctly by your doctor in your life is the type of diarrhea you have, because you are clearly full of shit.
Like Sam, my son has a doctorate in neuroscience, but did research on the peripheral nervous system, not the brain. My son's focus has been on robotics from an electromechanical and system dynamics standpoint, using computer control (he's an engineer). Sam's comments about how we naturally perceive ourselves to exist behind the eyes invoked my experience of considering myself as an organic robot!
I'm a retired engineer who automated several machines & instruments over the years. Most were robots to some extent or another, each requiring a control system. That challenge of designing or specifying control circuits had me thinking about the thought processes of making the body move, and how those processes are determined; all begging to regard the rest of my human body as separate from 'me'. This illusion of duality is pervasive and not surprising, considering that most information comes to us through our eyes and ears!
As Sam said, what we are, each of us is a biological entity from head to toe, and no further. Consciousness seems to be disembodied from us, not anything physical! This illusion persists in most of us, but a few have broken through to understand the mind a little better, to see it as very sophisticated computer's processes! The brain is a computer. Consciousness is part of the process, as far as scientist have discovered so far! Beyond that it's still a huge mystery that's unfolding.
Regarding the sensation that the body is separate, my son shocked me with his research. He's discovering that the motion of our bodies is controlled directly from the spine! Of course, the spinal column is integrated with the brain to communicate directives that are interpreted to produce complex motion, but the actual commands & feedback often bypass the brain with nerve routes from muscles & some organs directly to the spinal cord. When we learn complex, coordinated motions, especially in childhood, much of the feedback information is precisely processed and memorized within structures in the column; my son speculates that such learning and muscular control evolved as the shortest, most fast-acting nerve circuits to enhance our physical response to threats, while freeing the brain to make slightly slower rational decisions. [I'm very loosely paraphrasing]
So, it looks like who we are must include our bodies because the brain is tightly integrated into the entire body as a part of the central nervous system. One explanation for the mind-body duality illusion is that thinking is an electro-biochemical *process*, not the physical matter itself; so it seems to be an abstraction to us, that it can't be detected. Another explanation might be that we're somehow aware that our bodies are largely controlled by local subsystems for the extremities.
So far, the concept of the 'soul' is not holding up to the mounting evidence that we are self-contained biological robots with brains.
Adding a clarification; my son's doctorate is in Computer Engineering based on his research in Neuroscience. Perhaps, the line between the two is blurring with certain distinctions that should be defined. There's a challenge for us to refine.
***** The rules of grammar in writing require double spacing between sentences of a paragraph, just like the same rules that require a question mark at the end of a written sentence!
***** You're welcome.
+SIMKINETICS moe like an organic idiot!
nice post
25 minutes in he talks about MDMA. Most everyone does ecstasy to socialize and rave, but my first time was with my best friend for the first hour then alone till it wore off. It changed my life completely. I have aspergers and had never really been aware of OTHER people's emotions and had felt very depressed. MDMA made me realize that happiness was a choice, I decided from then on out, I would chose to be happy. Everyone saw this confidence, and in the past year my life has been incredible.
sam harris for president please
+GamingLoadown101 Of Israel. please!
This was great! Thank you for uploading the video.
"Cognitive illusion". I love it! I sometimes refer to it as "third person" from Douglas Harding's work. Or color commentary. "Ego" of course is a common name for the separate sense of self. Or the illusory self. I love to name call in this case. The more names I can give it the less real it becomes for me. Thanks again Sam for your vocabulary and way of phrasing things. I am learning so much from you in languaging things to help me in my daily life and work. 🎆
This seems like ancient history but it was only seven years ago.
Sam has always been amazing. I wish he had video on his current podcasts.
One of the smartest people on the planet at this moment. Brilliant
Just listening to him makes my heart melt like butter.
Let me sum up some of Sam's important points for you:
1) If it has no evidence do not claim it to be true or base your behavior on it.
2) Although all religions are equally false they are not all equally dangerous. For example: Islamic scripture has the concept of holy war in it - so it gives followers justification for killing others in defense of the faith. Jainism, on the other hand, has the concept of not harming any living creature - and although there is no reason to assume their assumptions about reality, Jains are simply not going to find a way through their faith to justify killing people.
3) There is no free will. Our consciousness and experiences are to be talked about in terms of brains. Brains have systems in them that through hierarchical processes produce our thought patterns and our thoughts, we are not the authors of those thoughts and therefore we have no free will: for example - think of a city.
You cannot explain why your brain brought into consciousness those 3-5 cities and no other cities, even though you knew the names of other cities. More then that, when you actually picked one of those cities and said to yourself - "I was the one who freely chose that city among those 3-5 cities that came to my mind" - you cannot explain why you chose that city over another, and if you try to give reasons you quickly find that you cannot explain why that reason and not another came to mind, and if you think you know why that reason came to mind, you still cannot explain why an experience, that was the cause of the reason, didn't produce another choice. For example: "I chose Tokyo because I went to Japan last year", well guess what, you cannot explain why the fact that you were in japan last year made you choose Tokyo, it could have easily been something like this: "well I was in Japan already last year so I'm gonna pick another city that isn’t in Japan". Its all processes which most of them you are not aware of. You are simply at a receiving end of thoughts (and emotions) arising in your mind. This fact doesn't lessen value at all, brains can learn and change, well being is still better then suffering. Its just that you are not producing your thoughts, that is all it means.
4) When we are fighting religious people about their faith, we must understand that we are not fighting about logic, they are actually more logical then most people think. What we are really fighting is grief over dead family members, we are fighting their fear of death. They fight for their faith because they know that if their bible has even one falsehood in it then it is possible that it is wrong about our origins and the afterlife. So they fight to defend it all - for example they would defend beating children with a rod even though we know today that its not a good way to bring up children to become compassionate, non violent, adults.
5) There is no word that describes non astrologers, and for good reason. There is no place to define groups by their non belief in things we cannot be sure exist. A catholic never needs to define a word for the fact he does not believe in Zeus does he? Atheism is therefore a silly word. So is 'brights' and so is any word that tries to define people by their non belief, we are simply people who follow what we can know by reason. Words like Catholic and Muslim are ok, because we need a word to describe sectarian belief systems, since there are so many of them - we need to keep track of what assumptions the person we are engaging with has (So we can anticipate how he is likely to act based on those assumptions).
6) Any dogma shuts down free inquiry and is therefore counter to discovery of truths about the nature of reality. Hitler, Maw, Stalin... they created dogmatic societies which distorted a few scientific truths to fit their dogma. After they let those few truths in, they closed the doors for any further inquiry that could question their dogma, that is not the way to do science. Therefore, they cannot be used as examples to show what happens to any society who does not follow dogma (Look at Scandinavian countries - atheistic+non dogmatic, peaceful and the happiest societies on the planet). Sam is really fighting dogma, it just happens to be that religions are extremely dogmatic. So he criticizes them first.
7) Experiences don't have to last forever in order for them to have meaning. A good friendship has meaning even if it ends. A good meal was good even if it didn't last forever. So can your whole life be full of meaning even if it ends.
+Michel Stronguin Sez you!
A most comprehensive and sensible review of Sam's broadcast. Love your point form summation and logic. Cheers
Thanks for pointing out how dictators play the same game that we reject in religion, this is extremely useful in arguments with the religious or their apologists. They're clearly just weeding out the competition.
Thank you mah man (or woman). Lol.
The idea of free will is about as subjective of an opinion can get. 100% no way to prove it.
Sam Harris is an intellectual, capable of knocking sense into the brains of people who are blind believers of religion and faith in non existing divine character. It would be incredible to see such intellectuals elected to public offices and make living a great pleasure on earth.
His words are the future of our civilization.
Short but significantly profound. You should've got more thumbs-up
truuuuuuue
Seriously? Why the fuck is it important that he's using a macbook? For fuck sake.. This humble man talks for almost one hour about very interesting subjects, and most of the comments below are people ranting about his macbook, which maybe isn't even his. But even if it is, why is it a problem?
maybe the words are too hard for them to understand.
c Yes, you might be right on that one..
danhenricus These are the very idiots that need to pay attention to the messages in the video The most. smh
"Go forth and roll"
-Sam Harris on MDMA
I looked up "badass" in the dictionary and I found a picture of sam harris.
+xalspaero Of him shitting materialism, no doubt!
you surely did not. he's under "self-importance".
love him tho
You have a dictionary with pictures ;o I want one of those
Sad, i found wonder woman
Sam Harris voice always puts me at ease. Great independent critical thinker and intellect
Cannot wait for the new book!
Much thanks to this man for promoting meditation outside of any religious or traditional context!!!
When Reality is believed to be myth and myth is believed to be Reality...you have religion.
And when people follow self made men, that is also religion.
His blue eyes, his huge arms, his face, his hair, and don't forget his obvious amazing brain, my god, this guy is the bomb!
Thanks for all you have done and continue to do for the advancement of reason. I always feel a little better after hearing or watching you speak. And I enjoyed your “Waking Up}” audiobook on Audible.
I might not agree on 100% on everything. But I still believe you are 100% open to changing your view when the evidence deems it necessary. And that is all I ever ask of anyone. I wish the world had more people with that quality.
Again I want to say thank you so much for the passionate and engaging conversation you share with us!
Can you tell me where that Bible ad is. I looked for it but I couldn't find it. :(
If only Sam could be elected.
I'm 66, and I doubt I'll ever see an atheist elected to public office. Sigh....
What motivates you to continue your journey? I'm 27 and I feel like I've had enough of this world.
goaliedude32 more than a few atheists feel as you do. I grew up very religious. After realizing atheism was the truth, there were times where I felt the way you do now. Sometimes oblivion seems pretty appealing, doesn't it? That feeling is a bundle of thoughts that comes and goes, like all thoughts do. Stay with me here. You need to experience the kind of transcendence that is usually associated with spiritual experiences, without the religious bullshit, and you can. Get Sam harris's book Awakening. I practiced Zen Buddhism when I was young, and Sam will show you how to love your own mind. He knows way more than the zen masters I met and sat with. Consider this, the you, you think you are is a bundle of thoughts. There is no being in your head. There is consciousness and what it contains at any given moment. You're filled with sad thoughts because there is actually a lot that's fucked up in the world. What your missing out on is this. You haven't experienced the beauty of life and your own mind that happens once you stop the inner dialogue with that you in your head. That's just thoughts talking to other bundles of thoughts. This mental shit is habitual. The world is what it is. You didn't get that wrong. But There's no you that should be sad because things are fucked up. Imagine this, because what I'm going to describe now is what you can easily become. A sad thought arises in your mind. You don't get caught up in the thought and become sad. You notice it arise, you let it do its thing and you notice it get stronger. You notice it level out and finally you notice it fad out. That's what happens to thoughts when they are watched. You will learn to do that. When the thought is gone, bare consciousness until the next thought. Do you remember when you were younger and happier? People get sadder as they age because they get more stuck in thought. That can be reversed. Please trust this old man. Life is beautiful once you learn what is actually going on in your head moment to moment. You don't need to become something. You need to uncover what you already have. It's there, between the thoughts. Consciousness is beautiful. It's your birthright. You already have it. You've been thinking around it. If I can help, email me at kevn12003@yahoo.com.
goaliedude32 the title of the book is Awakening. Made a mistake below.
Donald Trump is an atheist
Like hell he is. He narcissizes religiously for a start. He's a also a christian of the obnoxious variety.
He's better in a debate forum. Smart guy, speaks well.
I love this form - just being able to take the time to answer really good frequent questions fully without some live audience to worry about.
I love ypou
There are 15 more videos in this playlist. Best day ever!
When I win the Powerball, I'm going to hire Sam to read me bedtime fairy tales from the bible every night.
Money can't buy that m'fer.
You won't fall asleep. The Bible is too scary.
If you cross Ben Stiller with Bradley Cooper you get Sam Harris. Spooky.
Dude, you're right! xD That's odd.
Spot on
Do you always copy and paste?
Bradley Cooper!!?
Your ability to keep calm and to the point are quite impressive!
I really like Sam Harris. The only thing I dislike is his Mac... I just can't understand why he would use a Mac. :)
Sam you are good i agree with you 100 %
+Ahmed Rasheed why not? you're incapable for thinking for yourself.
I tend to zone out when the legendary Sam Harris talks about meditation. Maybe it's working for me...
Not only is his logical point of thinking right on par with the top intellectuals of the day his voice is soothing in a way that it comforts you and makes you believe what he's saying... almost hypnotic like( I wonder if that's coincidental)
An important thing to point out is that if a person was happy because of a religion, and that religion turns out to be false, the happiness was still real. It shows the potential we humans have. The sense of security and purpose is something we ourselves can create. The mental crutches in the form of religion is redundant. Even IF the religion was true, we ourselves have that power over our own feelings in our hands.
It's Ben Stiller!
Haha... I've always joked that he was half-brothers wit stiller.... lmao
Dan Thomas Ben stiller wishes he was this cool
Its karl pilkington!
Sam for president
does anyone know how one can send sam harris questions to get them answered in videos like this?
Sam please let me know where can I buy your books
Nice job Mr. Ham sarris
I wish Sam Harris would grow a beard, he'd look like an ancient middle-eastern God.
+ab You obviously knew some, didn't you?!!!
He occasionally lets his shadow grow out for a little bit, and then shave it off. I'd rather keep a clean shave too. It's less ichy and it fits some peoples look. :)
Ra's Al Ghul yuk. He is absolutely beautiful as is as all clean-shaven men are!
I like how calm Sam Harris is and every answer is reasonably thought trough, I wish more people would think as clear and rational as him, in a world which becomes increasingly polarised with stupitidy and irratonality.
have you ever visited atheist island?
he is so coooool aaaaaaaah man.
"Living in an echo chamber of confirmation bias" - that some good talking right there!
The meditation mean...for me..is to ignore all the things in life .. because the life is like that and it is always .. this is what i learn from the meditation, sometime the problems so heavily, hard to carry on my shoulder.. but I can not leave all over the area.. it is not good ..not to responsibility or st least fight for the right or something.
I greatly appreciate Sam mentioning cultivated meat in his response to the question about veg(etari)anism. I've seen several discussions on this topic as of late and this point was strangely absent from all of them. Having our natural/preferred diet without the ethical and ecological problems meat production normally comes with would be the best solution we could possibly come up with, I think.
Primates are omnivores. Humans would not be here( 1/2 a chromesome from Chimps),if our ancestors had not eaten ANYTHING the could get their hands on. YOU,personally,would not be here. Be grateful of the ethical behaviour of your ancestors when they domesticated goats,sheep,chickens,etc, and ate meat about 10 000 years ago
how to win in armwrestling match, Sam ?
+Dragan Dostanic Eat garlic!
His comment about it being difficult to be an active vegetarian was the most flawed of that talk. He has since walked back that comment a bit, & said he is reconsidering the issue. It's a medical fact that people can be perfectly happy & healthy without animal products in the diet at all (Harvard Medical & every other major health researcher agree.) Sam has since explained that he was irresponsible with his eating habits when he was vegetarian. The truth is that vegans & omnivores alike typically get *more* than enough protein. Sam has clarified that he didn't eat well enough when he abstained from meat, but it's not difficult to abstain from meat or other animals products in the developed world regarding health.
I didn't take it as flawed. He said that he is enthousiast about the developpement in science to make synthetic meat and have a more compassionnate substitute to animals. It is not immoral to eat meat. It is immoral to make them suffer. Saying that people encourage animal suffering when they eat meat is a deductive fallacy. One man way of life should never be the dictated to be the way of life of others. Vegetarian people should learn this, without making deductive fallacies by saying that "meat eaters are evil". If someone feels bad when eating meat, I invite him to restrain from it, and I'll be happy to see him feeling better with his choices, as much as I respect Sam Harris who decided the opposite with the idea that animals shouldnt suffer, now that our technology permit it.
Your choices are yours to make, let the others have the same opportunities without bad insinuation like "it's not difficult to abstain from meat or other animals products in the developed world regarding health" wich is not true for everyone.
Peace.
It's not that it's not possible.... It's just very difficult and involves planning your diet more strictly for example to ensure you get enough protein... Maybe he finds this difficult.
Valyndril Dragonfang Explain exactly how that's a deductive fallacy. It's simple economics; if you purchase a product you directly increase demand for that product. The product in question necessarily involves taking a life and almost certainly involves unnecessary suffering. Both are unethical.
"One man way of life should never be the dictated to be the way of life of others." You can't really believe this. If my way of life involves killing and eating babies because it amuses me, others have the moral obligation to not only dictate that I refrain from this way of life, but actively stop me from doing so.
There are already many substitutes for animal products. For the vast majority of people, it is very possible to avoid ever using animal products. Not only are there obvious ethical benefits, there's also some well-recognized health benefits. It's unfortunate that Harris didn't put a little more effort into his diet. It could have made a positive impact on his health and the welfare of others.
crunch9876 I've been vegan for over a decade and I've put very little planning into it while remaining healthy. I very rarely used any supplements, including multivitamins. I naturally tend to like healthier foods, but I don't spend any significant time or effort on it. The same foods you'd go for to try to be healthy on an omnivorous diet (veggies, leafy greens, fruits, nuts, legumes, seeds, etc.) are the same foods a vegan trying to be healthy goes for (minus the meat, dairy, eggs, honey, etc.). I've gotten complete bloodwork done and every single value--including ones like B12, iron, and creatinine--were all perfect. It can sometimes be difficult and frustrating to find diverse food in some situations, like restaurants in foreign countries though.
Unless you regularly perform strenuous exercise like weight lifting, it would be almost impossible to not get enough protein, no matter what you ate. For the average person, even if you ate nothing but plain potatoes you would not only get enough total protein but also more than enough of every essential amino acid. Most Americans get far more protein than is necessary or beneficial. The highest RDI in both the U.S. and Europe is 56 grams/day. Feel free to look all this up.
Nayr747
People just like the taste of meat. It's usually that simple.
Always a breath of fresh air......... Peace.........
I have a man crush on this guy.
I bet you do.
dèepak chopra is insane
Situations are complex. There are deeper degrees of happiness and suffering than the mere consumption or non-consumption of drink. Liberty, trust, and respect, are some of them, and they should factor into our decisions.
In Sam's words, experiences that are deeper are more valuable.
7:35 there isn't only that one form of "classic" meditation where you pay attention to the breath. I remember teaching myself "meditation"... basically just being curious if I could stop the chatter of my thoughts. If I could stop thinking. I got to a point where I could wander around my house without thinking thoughts. It was a really bizarre feeling. I could walk around and look at things, and make decisions, but there was no internal dialogue. There was no talking in my head. There were no thoughts or commentaries. But I could freely "float" through my house, I guess making decisions, but with no words or internal dialog. So the whole "mantra" or concentrating on your breathing thing isn't the only way to meditate or relax your mind. To give your brain a rest. Getting rid of the ongoing "chatter" seems to be important.
Islam in Europe is different for one important distinction. Muslims in Europe are in there for the social welfare in overwhelming percentage (80%).
It's quite hard to live by Sharia and have a job other than herding goats and beating wives or vice versa.
In European welfare state you can radicalize yourself, grow beard and walk in pajamas whole day and still be able to take care of 5 kids and three wives (you "divorce" 2 of them so they can get support for single mothers), because tax payer supports you in unreasonable faith that he will enrich him by his difference and that his kids will sustain the ponzi scheme of pension and universal health care system.
Be fair. A muslim in EU must be allowed 2-4 hrs to day to condemn western colonialism, white man's racism, sexual depravity, slovenly drunkenness and sinful wickedness which inevitably befalls peoples who do not fall down and worship the one true good Allah, peace be upon his prophet.
After that, C U down the pub, cos’ it’s pole dancing night and I get a rush looking down the cleavage of Cloe, the cocktail waitress. Wooo, I'd like to groom her for wife number 3.
"Muslims in Europe are in there for the social welfare in overwhelming percentage (80%)." can you link the study that found this in the statistics? sounds intersting.
+sfwill3 You'll save yourself from rejection by taking your tiny prong in hand.
Harris/Clinton 2016
It's time....we must all rally around him
Minus clinton
I too have read all his books, seen most of his lectures, and consumed most of his media, but I would have to say my favorite work you've done is playing White Goodman in Dodgeball.
His voice is so soothing😘
Sam talks about vegetarianism at 25:25. As an informed vegan atheist I have to say that I love Sam's works and talks. I've read The End of Faith, Free Will, Letter to a Christian Nation, I use his meditation app and find them all great. Here Sam is right when he said that there is no ethical argument or excuse for killing a living being and eating its meat. He is also right when he said that, if you couldn't bring yourself to kill an animal, then paying someone else to do it while still eating meat is not a solution. But it saddens me that Sam also makes the same fallacies and excuses as most other non-vegans. He said that:
1) He didn't get enough protein and therefore still eats meat,
2) We should slaughter them in a more humane way,
3) He is very buisy and active, and therefore needs the strenght of meat.
1. Protein is not a worry in a vegan diet. As long as you eat enough calories, you get enough protein. There are many vegan bodybuilders. Protein is highly found in beans, dark green leaves, peas and nuts. The fact is that we are herbevores by nature and don't need animal products to survive. Infact we live healthier if we only eat plants and get less diseases.
2. Rape is bad but we should still rape in a more humane way. Humane means compassionate. How do you compassionately take the life of an animal that does not want to die, for unnecessary reasons? You can't. Humane *Slaughter* is an oxymoron.
3. As I said, there are vegan bodybuilders. Dr. Michael Greger, Earthling Ed and Gary Yourofsky (whoms videos I highly recommend) did a lot, and I really mean a lot, of activism, lectures and public enlightenment - and are vegan. If you just try it, and pay attention to a well planned, plant based diet, then its pretty easy. Veganism is the best for your health, the best for the climate and the best for all animals. Watch the documentary 'What the health', 'Dominion', Ed's talk 'You Will not look at your life the same way again' and Dr.Gregers lecture 'The Leading Causes of Death' on RUclips, get more enlightened than just being an atheist, and know that you are right and most of the masses are blind, ignorant psychopaths.
Have you ever looked into non-biased reasons as to why all of the things you said are wrong?
@@John_Doe742 the ending tells you everything you need to know
on a more serious note; sam harris burns away money on apple products
Why are Apple computers great? They cost more than PC's, they can run less software, and they force you to use a narrow interface... :) What's not to like?
As for me, I'll stick with my PC running Linux.
antiprotons Outstanding hardware, esp. the macbook pro, it's awesome. I don't think it's worth the money but my gf has one and it's a piece of art compared to my crappy HP, dell and lenovo
Roger Rhodin My comment was satirical. I think Macs are one of the worst choices you can make when buying a computer. The Macs costs most, uses proprietary parts (other PC's sometimes do this too), and have significant problems with using software unless it comes from the small selection of Mac-specific software. I was a hardcore Apple user in the 80's and early 90's, but when System 7 came out I switched to PC's.
My wife and I just bought two new gaming desktop PC's. She is a graphic designer and does all of her work on a PC.
They do look nice, aesthetically speaking.
I use my iMac 7 years already and had no single problem with it. It was cheaper than my previous PC.
Izolda G An imac? You can buy a PC for under $700 which perform reasonably well *
Macs generally cost more, cannot run much, and require special repair services. I can just open my PC up and fix or replace anything I want with anything I want. If my Ge Force card broke, I could open up my box and easily replace it with a new Radeon. I'm not limited.
Remember a few years back when mac switched from their mac OS to the UNIX-based one? All of your software became useless. I can run dos games from the mid 90's on my system, still.
*www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Back-To-School_2015
Sam is a great intellect and he's good at making me laugh too. Insightful and enlightening, he provides comic relief without trying. He needs to be listened to by our leaders and public intellectuals.
It’s actually interesting to me meditation comes hard for some people, the effects of it come very easy for me, almost immediately when I found meditation I could understand these ego things and recognize them in my brain. I didn’t like who it made me though and chose Travis over the vessel type mentality. I think ego is important for psyche, maybe I’m wrong, but I think allowing my body and mind to work autonomously is the best choice for me and the people around me.
I'm 100% with sam on all these topics except for vegetarianism. compassion towards all sentient beings must be cultivated. you can't just "eat pigs and cows but not cats and dogs" and expect to be taken seriously.
I have a question for him..
If you're ever free, would you marry me? :O)
What a lovely bloke!
+Lloyd Dettering
Why are you taking a flippant comment so seriously?
But, if you really want an answer to your "intelligent," question?
I've tried that, it didn't last.
But, Sam looks like a "keeper!"
+Wild Heart You only tried the small size. Try using a large table leg.
+Lloyd Dettering
And you think I haven't? :O)
Trust me, it's no substitute for the real thing.
+Wild Heart I'd offer to help but I'm now asexual. I've seen through the pretense of women. A man runs after a woman until SHE catches him. The sucker!
I like your idea. But you just pick out the good one like Sam Harris. How about Boy George or Michael Jackson for a suggestion?
Go forth and roll. By the MILLIONS!
I can't find this study, can you provide a link? Even if that happens, it isn't "pain" as we know it. Our pain acts via our nervous system. Even if plants emit a sound, that could be explained in many ways. To call it "pain" I think is incredibly misleading.
Thanks for calling Depok Chopra what he is, a con-man. Was Oprah's fave for awhile. Some ppl feel desperate I guess.
That white background is brighter than heaven- great talk, but way to white.
How about putting a jungle in the background? Would that cheer you up?
I
you gotta get a good look at the pow pow.
listen to it like radio, the visual aspect is superfluous in this case.
What's the way to white?
where can i submit a question for sam harris to answer? I want to know whether or not he is 1. aware of who Alan Wilson Watts is, and 2. if he is familiar with his views (all/some), and 3. his reactions to them. Its not enough to know argument per argument where they stand, I'd rather like to know Sam's reaction to Watts' articulation of Causation, Free Will, and Consciousness. please let me know as I would like to frame the questions to him..
Great question....what to do next? Raised Catholic & as we age, my friends say they are "closer to their faith" as we age! I've been pretty quiet as a non-believer. I did come unglued when friend took her vacation to visit ARK Creationist Museum, where plastic dinosaurs romp w/ humans!!!
Sam Harris would love the truthcontest website. The site is something that has *a good chance to wake people up (wake yourself up)*. I really recommend it. Both spirituality and science. Something that *makes sense*, like sam (y)
+Forrest Gump
Do you get paid or something for name dropping truth contest? It's a load of bollocks.
+Forrest Go shave your beard off! it's clogging your brain.
this whole site is a huge scam. the fact that its still fooling people...
Guitar lessons and sam harris. BEST RUclips CHANNEL EVER!!
Finally, a video.
Thanks, I went to read it after you sent me the response.
24:49 - you heard it here folks! Go forth and roll!
Alan Watts did a good job of explaining transcendence without tethering it to religion. He made it clear that he got the notion from religion, but never once claimed that to be a qualifier. I like that about both Watts and Harris.
Sam is one of my favorite personalities.
"Celebrating everyone's craziness "........🤣🤣🤣🤣
What watch is he wearing?
Regarding being/feeling unfit if you don't eat meat:
Sam was not eating right as a vegetarian if he did not feel well after being a vegetarian for as long as 6 years. It was probably all of the dairy products that he was ingesting in an attempt to overcompensate for the lack of protein he thought he wasn't getting. Fact is that there is more protein in some vegetables than in any meat.
As for not being strong, well, Germany's strongest man in 2011 was a vegetarian. He is now a vegan.
Well said, The lack of an explanation does not give you the right to make something up without evidence. Kudos to you!
How can you live happily without the feeling of "self"? For example, I've believed that my feeling of low self-esteem has caused much suffering in my life. So my goal has been to raise my self-esteem. But if the feeling of a "self" is just an illusion, how can you even function happily in your life???
You are fond of the word ‘marshal’. And no doubt, you are very articulate.
Life is not a random coincidence, we formed completely based on the fact that our existence was not a gamble. But merely a slow process, but a magnificent one.
He was asked about it in another video and said that he has never tried it. If you want to find his comments on it, I believe I saw it during the Q&A after his "Death and the Present Moment" speech, which can also be found here on RUclips.
I have a extremely terroristic going on after being hospitalized with a brain bleed...the medical law & ethics was non existence and I explained my experience to my cardiologist & if he didn't know that in the medical community he would have said I need to see a psychologist and this is not the 1st time. One time my blood pressure was so high he went to call whomever to knock it off and there was nobody but me in the office!
Amen to that,brother!!!!
Right or wrong it doesn't matter I have to say .. and it is so true.. it is about if the kids know that what the kids did it need to change and try to do the different way to .. make thing ...perfect
(1/4) I would really much appreciate if you could send me some link to this study you talk about, 'cause I strongly suspect its implications have been drastically overstated or misinterpreted as it is in the case of most incorrectly reported scientific papers.
Then I'll give one example of how even elementary forms of life are able "communicate" between each other in absence of any form of "agency" and therefore why it is simple irrelevant to talk about feelings of any kind, including pain.
He is using mahalo studios and that is their symbol i believe. I am not sure if Chad Neidt still works there but he makes some great music with a great sense of humor which is how i learned of mahalo.
Thanks. A member at AtheistNexus told me that in a chatroom that Sam spoke about his DMT experience in a recent video. As far as I knew, Sam has always admitted that he hadn't tried it, but was familiar with people who spoke a great deal about it, i.e. Terence McKenna, Alex Grey, etc. So, I'm not sure if this guy was pullin' my leg or if Sam has recently tried it.