Sam Harris on Israel, Radical Islam, Trump, Taking Ecstasy, and more. 

Dear Sam, Please don't put Iran in the same basket with Syria or Afghanistan in terms of hopelessness. The rebuilding you mentioned is already happening in Iran. We started the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution against a religious government in the middle of a deeply religious region. We love Israelis. Most of us are not religious at all, and a big percentage of us even hate Islam.

"We should never assume people are bluffing when they want to eradicate a whole population" Thanks Sam! Good advice as always! Spot on!

Sam has been incredibly encouraging for me personally. It’s felt hopeless here, and hearing one calm voice of reason in the midst of seeming insanity has given me hope.

Sam really is a national treasure. His way of thinking about things from all angles is rarely seen particularly given our current political nightmare

Not the funniest set I've seen at the Comedy Cellar

I've been in Tel-Aviv many times for business and in other parts of Israel a handful of times. At least Tel-Aviv, it's the among the most secular cities I've visited. They could care less about Judaism as a religion. I've also been in Jordan and the Palestinian territories. In all instances, you could have a hysteria-free conversation about the Israel-Palestinian conflict, which is almost impossible in America. In fact, the most sober assessments I have ever heard about the conflict came from a Jordanian bus driver in East Jerusalem, a random Jewish guy working at my hotel, and a Palestinian doctor in Bethlehem. Good luck finding that hysteria-free conversation in the halls of Harvard or Stanford or in Israel friendly media like The Daily Wire.

So many Iranians do not believe in any religion. We believe there are better tools, like philosophy, psychology, meditation ..., to find our path through life and the freedom movement has already started in Iran. Iranians are different from other Muslim countries in the region. In fact, the reason we don't speak Arabic and have preserved our language and traditions is due to our resistance against Islam. Iranians are held hostage by the Islamic Republic, with many regime members not even being born in Iran.

Love Sam. However dear God, are we unable to ask him questions other than questions about Islam, Trump, & drugs? I think I've heard Sam answer the Islam, Trump, & drug questions over 500 billion times. Ask him something different, like did he ever date anyone while gallivanting the Himalayas? Did he ever fall down a mountain? Rumor has it Sam had shoulder length hair when in Nepal. While walking back & forth through the mountains, was he able to condition his hair? Did his thick curly hair become dreadlocked? These are questions no one has ever asked, & I want the answers.

Lets see Sam Harris vs Norman Finkelstein.

God it is so refreshing to listen to intelligent people talk. ❤

I agree with Sam that religion clouds human thinking when it’s not pointed in a humble loving direction.

What's the name of the interviewer?! Why don't videos list the names of the principal people in the video, if not in the title, at least in the description?!

As someone from Poland, the vagueness around the label of "Jewish" always intrigued me, with there being so many varieties not only of sects of Judaism, but interpretations of the term itself. I grew up near Hasidic-controlled communities and always associated Jews with their Synagogues and Orthodox attire, but I also knew 'modern' Jews who wore their yamaka/braids but dressed casually, as well as those who didn't have any religious attire/hairstyles. In my mind, the religious part of it (Hanukkah and Sabbath) was parallel to the distinct ethnicity because of how the religion strongly regulated bloodlines and made that known to outsiders.

I always look for the book title, “Pooh Bear on a Windy Day”, in the library backdrop. Love Sam’s clarity!

This is one of THE best conversations I’ve heard. Sam always fulfills my curiosity… I am however sceptical of his permanent right eyebrow raise…

Hello Mr Harris! trust you are well. Love your exchanges. So cerebral. Such a treat to listen to you.

Sam Harris has a brilliant mind. His thought is capable of surpassing ego. One is confronted with extreme intelligence and honesty and goodness.

Thank you for the cerebral and respectful interview

Sam was on my suggested reading list almost 20 years ago in Phil 1301, and I’ve been reading him ever since. It should be required reading in 8th grade.

That was quite a collection of topics. On the one about MDMA I agree with him that it has the most posative effect on the brain. They are presantly at stage three trials of using MDMA on people with PTSD, with great results. As someone who has used it a few times I can say it is a wonderfull drug to take in the right place and time. If it could be government controlled to guarentee quality I would use it more often.

One of Sams most honest & original interviews. Delighted

What an excellent interview. Really informative. I'd like to congratulate the host on giving his guest all the time he needed with interruption. So refreshing in this day and age where shouting and anger seem to dominate these formats. Thank you both.

Great conversation!

I'm athiest and ethnically jewish. Israel didn't form because jews were so jewish and thirsty for the holy land but because of people like me who even thought they integrated into society they still got singled out and persictuted for having a jewish mother.

Noam, what a great interview! Thanks!

Been waiting for these two to hook up on the pod for quite some time.

I enjoyed Sam's books, The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation.

You are so lucky that your Muslim friends are not turning away from you. I am a woman and my ( highly educated) Arab friends of different nations have all posted very violent postings and stopped talking to me since October 7th. We already had a clash many years before when we used to cook for fun and they said horrible things to me about Jews which I strongly opposed as the only one( German), I thought because of my nationality they thought I would think likewise.

Except the religious Jews do not call for violence, do not seek to “martyr” themselves.

Excellent conversation. Thank you for doing this.

Civilised people in Ireland 🇮🇪 support Israel 🇮🇱. ❤❤

Sam, you still seem to be able to read my mind since I met you at the humanist conference in Albany in 2005.

So true that the moderate elements of Islam must put an end to jihadism and send the fundamentalist element to anger management classes.

I loved this conversation. The mutual respect they continued to have for each other after the conversation seemed like it was about to end but did. Noam and Sam should talk more, there's more to be said.

Super exchange. Sam's logic sits well with his formidable command of the English language.

Plase let peer morgan pay attention to this wonderful host way of interviw very professional and easy to follow

Thank you Noam.

Wise, eloquent and interesting. As always.

good talk!!

Hello Sam. You have a seat in my pantheon after this discussion.

The problem is not in radical Islam the Problem is in Islam ~ HH prince 🤴 MBS

"Comedy Cellar USA"

I took your advice and took some psychedelics, an excellent third eye opener

Who would have thought that I, as an Israeli Jew in Israel, could listen to Sam Harris for 90 minutes and agree with almost everything he said?!

To the suggestion that Israel "guard the fence" better what are they going to do about the rockets?

As a theist and I love the way this man thinks and explains his thoughts. He is very practical and logical and insults no one. I agree with him entirely.

Amazing talk!

"Lunacy", being the operative word when panning over the genocide happening in real time in Gaza.

U can not force a woman, who accidentally got pregnant, to carry and deliver a child if she doesn't want to.

Sam is the glimse of sanity in this insane state of the world right now

Great conversation. Logical and clear.

Been waiting for this duo to get on podcast together for years. Two of the clearest and rational thinkers of our time. Lets do more !!

Sure the interview is great but audio levels are so low I can barely hear in my AirPods while walking outside. Please turn it up a bit in post next time. Thanks

I am a Christian looking to revert from all this religious nonsense. Sam harris helps, but i misss when he would do his anti religiokn talks. It brought sanity to my mind. I think new age ideas would help as thry have helped me in the past, but that all kinda vague. Does anyone have ANY advice?

12:00 for the best example of the European attitudes Sam's talking about, read the book Neighbors by Jan Gross.

Thank you for the truth sam❤

Denmark saved 95% of its Jewish population, but we also surrender after 2 hours

This man is the voice of reason and common sense.

Sam Harris was actually really lucid and succinct.

He's one of the four horseman of the apocalypse. I'll always love sam

Noam says a lot of smart things, but some pretty ignorant things too. I'll note just one. He apparently has no idea what's happening in red America with (lack of) access to emergency life-saving and health-preserving abortions. What a glaring omission in that whole discussion!

~21:00 Also... what other war required the provision of aid to the enemy?

Sam, You are a light, a compass a voice for reason… really appreciate you. You look tired, please take care of yourself, get some rest..

Awesome!

And every cease fire has been violated by the Palestinians. There was a cease fire in place on October 6.

"Jews waiting for the messiah to return" @5:24-no Mr. Harris we are not, that would be Christians. We are waiting for the messiah to make his first appearance.

Sam, your wife's book, 'Conscious", is amazing!

Thanks Sam!

The suicide freaks remind me of Zombies.

“Waiting for the messiah ‘to return’??? That’s not what Jews are thinking at all- for the messiah to ‘arrive’ is what we are waiting for.

12:51 people in Germany were also punished and killed if they didn't cooperate and participate in the "cleansing" 💔 Including family members if they didn't inform on their family members

Excellent discussion

Hamas is dastardly, obviously, but exactly what you expect them to be; they are governed by resentment. What worries me more is the privileged, enlightened west's lack of support for the productive, principled democracy that is trying to remove Hamas from Gaza. The condescension is stunning. Stay three steps ahead of the US and UK, Israel.

Never heard of this host before, but his lack of being able to entertain ideas without being wed to them is apparent. I'm not religious in any way, but I can still recognize how there are indeed fanatics who think this realm is temporary and they will go to paradise. Obviously I disagree with the belief, but having such flexibility in thought is kind of required for critical thinking.

You need to google the documentary “Iron Wall” from Israel.

Sam, jews are not waiting for the messiah to "return", we are waiting for the messiah to arrive for the first time. You are simple expressing your opinion, which i do appreciate.❤

Sam Harris - my hero. Please watch your back.

Sam Harris, brilliant and clear as always, thank you for this interview

Very refreshing to hear this episode.

Is Hatem Gabr the interviewer? If not, what is his name?

If my doctor walks in and they have green/purple/blue hair, then those are the colours that make me walk out.

I have been a big fan and staunch supporter of Sam Harris for over a decade. He has sensibly claimed that none of his ideas are bigoted and it's all about fighting bad ideas and doctrines. Unfortunately the time has come for Sam to take a deep look into the mirror and consider the possibility that he has become a bigot and has not realized it. The only way he can hold the beliefs he has today and say the disgusting things he says is by being wildly uneducated about history and totally out of touch with modern affairs. Sam I hope you come to this conclusion soon. I hope you awaken once again, become a voice of reason again. The world could use you.

Look at all the books in the background- wow! Noam must be a human encyclopedia lol

Dirty bombs are a scare tactic. Came from the movie “Wag the Dog”

I tried listening to Sam and could not. The man who teaches peace and meditation and likes Buddha’s message of loving kindness on his Waking Up App, sounds so different when it comes to Israel. He was sounding as if he would welcome WWIII over this.

Great interview, Noam! I’ve heard many of Sam Harris’s points on these topics before, but his delivery is so compelling and persuasive that I couldn’t resist listening.

We need more actually reasonable convos like this...

We NEED more people like Sam Harris..highly objective..Islam NEED also to know the LIMITS of its power..

Refreshing to see Sam again. Thanks for having him and it's good to hear his views which to m are always very rational.

God chose the Jews as His people. I’m a Palestinian born in Palestine. I love God’s people.

Sam doubling down on "bombs can kill bad ideas" is unbeleivable horrific and is in opposition to all evidence. I used to be a big fan of his. It is interesting how someone can be so "evidence based" in some topics and so cruel and unjustified on other topics.

Omg what a treat

'Trump has not been wrong, altogether, about China'. Surely, what you mean Sam, is that Trump was 'altogether' right about China.

Not sure why people have to rely on drugs. Focus on positive things and faith and science

Suggesting the Israeli might have exaggerated with the number or type of atrocities perpetrated by Hamas is ludicrous. Israel initially claimed there were 1400 casualties, only because there were so many mutilated body parts, they over counted the dead. Once they put it all together, they came clean. 1200 or 1400 are all way too many!!!!

I wrote this comment under Hatem's heartfelt, cool headed video response to Sam and thought I'd contribute it to the discussion here: The beauty of this podcast is shown by the fact it gives responses and different viewpoints. I love Hatem and Sam. I think they might be talking from two different vantage points or two different levels of threat assessment: Sam's main concern is violent Islamic Jihadism in a volatile world full of nuclear/chemical/biological weapons, and Hatem's main concern is how Sam's focus on Islam and Jihadi violence will affect the lives of everyday Muslims and how many eggs Sam is willing to break to "make the omelet", i.e. eliminate militant Islamic fundamentalism and violent Jihadism. Sam argues that the problem is there's an intolerable number of "everyday" or "ordinary" Muslims who support, sympathize, or are indifferent to violent Jihad. Sam argues that (1) since Muslims claim religious kinship/brotherhood/sisterhood and (2) to the extent that Muslims are connected by Islam (a system of beliefs), they shoulder much of the responsibility to show the world that they're rooting out the violent actors who are distorting Islam in the same way that Christians would be on the hook if Christianity were at issue. Sam thinks that many people have deluded themselves into (1) minimizing the amount of Muslims who support a militant reading of Islam and (2) ignoring the associations between sincere belief and behavior, and the possibility that a group of violent Jihadis who love their ideology more than the world itself might be able to have access to dangerous weapons is intolerable to him. In this way, Sam's a proponent of Huntington's "clash of civilizations", which I think Benny Morris is also a proponent of. To a lesser degree, Sam is also worried about the anti-enlightenment undertones of ancient religions and their dead weight on society. Basically, Sam is concerned about the effects of primitive ideas in a modern world, and to whatever degree religions have helped humans become civilizational in the past, religions are now anti-civilization. Also, if religious belief (especially religious rapture) influences behavior and religions have different beliefs, then it follows that different religions will influence behaviors in different ways (e.g. Jainism will cause less violent behavior than Islam). Sam argues that people who criticize him for ignoring/discounting the role of history (e.g. foreign policy) in shaping Islamic Jihadi violence are themselves guilty of ignoring/discounting the role of history in understanding Islamic violence. For example, though most major religions have violent clauses in their holy books, the warlord phase of Muhammad abrogates the more peaceful phase of Muhammad. Sam argues that Islam conquered Arabia by "sword" and points to the violent passages in the Quran and Hadiths, and argues many people take those passages seriously. In sum and in Sam's own words, "Religion is the devil's masterpiece." But just as Sam is concerned with the connection between Islamic belief and violent behavior, Hatem is concerned about the connection between Sam's beliefs (in a less cosmic sense of the word) and violent/oppressive behavior, i.e. people's negative intuitions about Islam can harm (physically/socially) Muslims who are just Muslim like Christians are just Christian. In other words, religion isn't the only important aspect of a person's identity. Imagine how fucked up it would be if a bigot hurt someone like Hatem, whom we all love and know is a good man, because he believes all Muslims are on the hook for the violence committed by "their people". Hatem also thinks Sam (1) overstates the connection between Islam and violence and (2) understates the role of other factors behind the violence (historical, political, and socioeconomic factors), and so mono-causally focusing on Islam is a misdiagnosis of the problem, which at best keeps the problem as it is and at worst makes the problem even worse. In this way, Hatem is more a proponent of Karen Armstrong or Tariq Ramadan's school of thought. When Sam points to the fact that many violent Islamic Jihadis aren't poor or oppressed, Hatem points to the many who are poor and feel oppressed and lost. Hatem would also point to a collective sense of oppression and sense of religious/ethnic kinship that could explain the phenomenon of the wealthy/educated violent Islamic Jihadi who wants to avenge Muslims/Islam (in the same way that many American Christians care about the fate of other Christians in other parts of the world). When Sam points to surveys/polls that suggest an intolerable number of Muslims support violent Jihadis as an indictment on Islam itself, Hatem would say that the surveys/polls don't tell the entire story and Sam just doesn't understand Muslim societies, culture (e.g. honor based), motivations, and grievances. Hatem argues that both critics of Islam like Sam AND violent Islamic Jihadis are cherry picking the same parts of Islamic text to take literally, and so they are selectively choosing the parts that justify their particular goals. If violent Jihadis were truly fundamentalists who actually took the text literally, then they'd also take the peaceful parts literally. Hatem argues that Sam wants to paint Islam as violent, which is why he agrees that violent Islamic Jihadis have the most faithful reading of the text, ignoring the hundreds of millions of Muslims who choose a more peaceful reading of the text. Generally, Hatem thinks Sam is ignorant of the relevant historical details and nuances of the conflicts between Muslims. When Sam points to Muslims being violent about religious symbols as evidence of their fanaticism/radicalism, Hatem points to the fact that some Muslims don't actually care about Islamic symbols because they destroy some Islamic symbols---and even though this doesn't take away from Sam's arguments about Islam and symbols (e.g. depiction of Muhammad), it should at least show that there are conflicting motivations, ulterior motives, and ad hoc rationalizations that animate violent Jihadis given that they pick and choose what they want to destroy. How complicated is life?

To solve the racism issue - capitalism need some serious revisioning, as Sam Harris said, CHILDREN need to be all given the same kind of opportunties to eat healthy diets, go to school, save from gang violence, etc. Test scores MUST remain in place, selection processes need to be merrit-based.

Whenever it comes to money concerning international relations. Everyone (As in the foreign policy makers) is of the same religion...(This is an indirect quote).

Until the Third Reich surrendered, the Allies did not provide to Germany's civilian population the kind of aid Israel is providing in the midst of an urban war to the civilian population of Gaza, who, overwhelmingly, voted Hamas into power and to this day, still support it.

Thank you for having Sam on. I don't know how we got here. After everything we went through from 9/11 or the pulse nightclub shooting or the boston marathon bombing - how are we still too scared and sheepish to take a firm stance against terrorism? Pro terrorist activists are chanting intifada in our streets, they are ignored entirely because we as a "progressive" society would be accused of Islamophobia to pushback against it. We're too obsessed with Jews fighting back against their enemies and unwilling to address our own issues with terrorist fanatics celebrating dead Jews in our streets... i keep hearing "the west is next" but they are already here.