The Taboo Topic Sam Harris Won't Touch

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Physics, Natural Sciences, Science

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2026

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 In this episode, I revisit my podcast with Sam Harris. At the end of our discussion, Harris abruptly cut things short after we debated the meaning of slavery in the Bible and Talmud. Was this an honest philosophical disagreement, or an example of intellectual overstatement and rhetorical sleight-of-hand? Sam Harris is widely regarded as a leading public intellectual, yet during our 3.5-hour dialogue, I encountered a curious blind spot he consistently sidesteps. We cover: Sam Harris fleeing the 2025 LA Fires with a 'jar of MDMA and a gun" (02:00) Harris’s controversial claim that slavery disproves a benevolent God (09:12) The Hebrew word *“eved”* and its deeper meaning (09:30–11:51) Why Biblical servitude is not the same as American chattel slavery Sam’s dismissal of centuries of rabbinic scholarship (15:39–16:17) His argument about the optic blind spot as a “design flaw” (12:59–14:36) The role of psychedelics in Harris’s worldview (18:45–20:43) How confidence without expertise can turn into intellectual bad faith This isn’t about attacking Sam Harris — it’s about testing the limits of rationalism, confronting blind spots, and asking whether even the most brilliant thinkers can fall into ideological echo chambers. Watch the full original conversation here: • Sam Harris: The TRUTH About Consciousness ... 👉 Subscribe for more debates with leading scientists, philosophers, and iconoclasts. - Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: / @drbriankeating 📚 Get a copy of my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un 📺 Watch my most popular videos:📺 Neil Turok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt5cFLN65fI Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1 Eric Weinstein vs. Stephen Wolfram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose: https://youtu.be/AMuqyAvX7Wo Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/g00ilS6tBvs Avi Loeb: https://youtu.be/N9lUceHsLRw Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast #universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology #cosmicmicrowavebackground #intotheimpossible #briankeating #NikolayKukushkin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:59.3	Neuroscientist and author and host of the waking up podcast, my friend Sam Harris.
1:03.5	Sam Harris, one of the world's great thinkers.
1:05.5	Dr. Sam Harris.
1:06.9	What people seem to mean by free will makes no sense.
1:10.5	Depending on the context, the AIs we have either pass the Turing test or they pass it so well that they fail it.
1:18.5	At a certain point, we will build machines that are smarter than we are.
1:22.3	Sam is a neuroscience, philosopher, and New York Times bestselling author.
1:26.5	He's the host of the Making Sense podcast, and he's the creator of the Waking Up app.
	...

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