Making Sense of Death | Episode 9 of The Essential Sam Harris

Making Sense with Sam Harris

Waking Up with Sam Harris

Samharris, Currentevents, Politics, Ethics, Religion, Neuroscience, Science, Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.6 • 29.1K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, we explore Sam’s conversations about the phenomenon of death.

We begin with an introduction from Sam as he urges us to use our awareness of death to become more present in our day-to-day lives. We then hear a conversation between Sam and Frank Ostaseski, founder of the Zen Hospice Project, who shares the valuable lessons he has learned through caring for those in their very last days. Next, we move on to a conversation with Scott Barry Kaufman, who explains what it means to pursue a good life by putting a modern spin on Abraham Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs.

Researcher and professor of neuroscience Roland Griffiths then details his findings on psychedelic therapies. He and Sam discuss the inexplicable powers of psychedelics in easing the anxiety around death, and how these experiences can potentially help us live fuller lives. Shifting perspectives, we move on by hearing NYU professor Scott Galloway explain the social and economic impacts of a society made painfully aware of death by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We then listen in to author Oliver Burkeman as he outlines how the knowledge of our mortality can inform practical time management techniques before addressing an age-old question with physicist Geoffrey West: Theoretically, could we engineer humans to live forever?

Sam closes this episode with a solo talk, explaining that we needn’t be cynical about the fact that all life must come to an end. Instead, it is the transient nature of life that might be the very thing which makes it beautiful in the first place.

About the Series

Filmmaker Jay Shapiro has produced The Essential Sam Harris, a new series of audio documentaries exploring the major topics that Sam has focused on over the course of his career.

Each episode weaves together original analysis, critical perspective, and novel thought experiments with some of the most compelling exchanges from the Making Sense archive. Whether you are new to a particular topic, or think you have your mind made up about it, we think you’ll find this series fascinating.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Making Sense Podcast. This is Sam Harris. Just a note to say that if you're
0:12.1	hearing this, you are not currently on our subscriber feed and will only be hearing
0:16.2	the first part of this conversation. In order to access full episodes of the Making Sense
0:20.7	Podcast, you'll need to subscribe at samharis.org. There you'll find our private RSS feed
0:26.1	to add to your favorite pod catcher, along with other subscriber-only content.
0:30.4	We don't run ads on the podcast, and therefore it's made possible entirely through the support
0:34.5	of our subscribers. So if you enjoy what we're doing here, please consider becoming one.
0:42.7	Welcome to the Essential Sam Harris. This is Making Sense of Death.
0:57.0	The goal of this series is to organize, compile, and juxtapose conversations hosted by Sam Harris
1:03.5	into specific areas of interest. This is an ongoing effort to construct a coherent
1:09.0	overview of Sam's perspectives and arguments, the various explorations and approaches to the topic,
1:15.6	the relevant agreements and disagreements, and the pushbacks and evolving thoughts which his guests
1:20.9	have advanced. The purpose of these compilations is not to provide a complete picture of any issue,
1:28.1	but to entice you to go deeper into these subjects. Along the way, we'll point you to the full
1:34.0	episodes with each featured guest, and at the conclusion, we'll offer some reading, listening,
1:40.1	and watching suggestions which range from fun and light to densely academic.
1:45.9	One note to keep in mind for this series. Sam has long argued for a unity of knowledge where
1:51.7	the barriers between fields of study are viewed as largely unhelpful artifacts of unnecessarily
1:57.2	partitioned thought. The pursuit of wisdom and reason in one area of study naturally bleeds into,
2:03.7	and greatly affects others. You'll hear plenty of crossover into other topics as these dives into
2:10.0	the archives unfold, and you're thinking about a particular topic may shift as you realize its
2:15.8	contingent relationships with others. In this topic, you'll hear the natural overlap with theories
	...

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