As a determinist, I find the political process more of an entertaining docu-drama than something over which I have any effect. I also understand that Mr. Harris could do no other than follow the path he currently follows. I would love to hear an episode exploring how he thinks. I would have thought someone who has dismissed the notion of free will would not feel the passionate urgency of this (or any) election. I do not mean any disrespect towards Mr. Harris, I am honestly not able to make sense (no pun intended) of his thought process and would like to learn.

Sams podcast is true knowledge of geopolitical. I love listening to he podcast and it makes sense the way he talks about geopolitical. My only complaint is that he is a LITTLE one sided with that being said is is still one of my favorite. Very much recommend is.

The fallacy Sam falls prey to is that the center is necessarily the default good. It’s not, at least not in all things. But the show is listenable and makes you think.

A seemingly rational guy who frequently demonstrates that he is subject to all of the folly the rest are. Occasionally a good show. Skip the political shows. Unlistenable.

I gobble up each one moments after release, and more often than not listen twice. It’s always a lot!

For such a “rational” person his take on the Gaza war is so one sided and has a complete lack of empathy for the Palestinians. Suggests that Islam is the reason Palestinians hate Israel, not the killing of civilians/settlements/stealing of land. That has nothing to do with it

Listened to the podcasts referenced lately by the 1 star reviews. His arguments seem sound to me.

Another fake intellectual that parrots information to make less successful parrots feel smarter. His TDS is so bad it’s hard to take anything else he says seriously.

I appreciate Sams rational, thoughtful and articulate discussions of the pitfalls of non-truths, demigods, and theological/political extremes.

What a thrill to hear Applebaum check Sam on his increasingly misguided notions about the threats to democracy. Sam, you are the epitome of privileged whiteness. I used to find your conversations to be really intelligent. But the older you get, the more unhinged you sound. (I’m speaking of your words, not the monotonous drone of your vocal cords.) It’s uncomfortable to listen to you anymore. Anne Applebaum really did a fine job of highlighting your multitude of blind spots without even trying.

I always liked the cognitive science and philosophy. He’s a neophyte when it comes to politics. Totally boilerplate observations mixed with bad instincts re: american electoralism.

Sam’s podcast is now completely unlistenable. Another person with TDS.

EPIC FAIL for this woke bloke. Spinning a political assassination attempt into the worn out “orange man bad” demonstrates his Insufferable arrogance and derangement syndrome.

Harris presents himself as a rationalist, but he frequently engages in motivated reasoning.

I appreciate Harris’s dive into the mind, though find it a sign of weakness that he continuously plugs AI and that he never interviewed John Searle. The biggest disappointment is his caricature of Islam. Although he claims “intimate knowledge “ of the Koran, blah blah blah. He has obviously not held any meaningful relationships w Muslims, nor does he understand enough to respect their beliefs - but equates the entire religious culture with violence. His equating anti Zionism ( a belief akin to hid and manifest destiny) w Anti semetism stems from anger and rigidity. It’s amazing to me that someone who has done so much good his Meditation app is ultimately STRIDENT AND JUDGMENTAL. It brings to mind what my Buddhist teacher in Nepal I. 1995 said to me “meditation will help you but it el t mane you a better person necessarily “.

Sam Harris masquerades as a thoughtful intellectual but clearly perpetuates his own and others’ dearly held biases and prejudices. The anti-Zionism is anti-semitism episode is such an example. It is rife with anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias, and fails to interrogate its own pro-Israel tribalism in the slightest.

More fuel to the fire of one-sided conversations. Such a disgrace.

Oh, man. Too bad about your podcast -- timing may not be everything, but it's a lot. Evidently not your concern.

More than 1/2 of all Israeli Jews are from Arab countries, Iran or Turkey. They were expelled from Arab countries and immigrated to Israel where they were magically transformed into “white settler colonialists.”

Can you please have on Dr mordechai Kedar, he’s an expert on Arab culture, and Islam,speaks fluent Arabic, you and the listeners will really enjoy it! Thanks

I am a long-time listener and reader. This review applies to the whole tenure of the podcast. Sam Harris helps listeners find clarity. I always draw a conclusion on a topic after listening to a given episode. But my conclusion often differs from Sam’s. His most engaging episodes rigorously test conventional angles on the human mind, culture, politics, technology, science. His least interesting episodes present a lower bar and usher people directly over it.

I started listening to Sam Harris when I heard him on Bill Maher show. I’ve been listening to him since October up and on and every time I pick up his episode it’s extremely thought-provoking. And today soundbites it’s hard to hear a holistic story. Sam does a good job of really looking at the story from all angles. Not the fake equivalency of this side versus that side, but of historical future in and out of the situation.

Sam, using Sebastian Junger’s near-death experience to ply listeners for subscriptions is a bridge too far. Good intellectual ideas are not the property of one person.

The high rating on this podcast gave me hope that would be a place for intelligent discourse with engagement arguments on both sides to the extent they are reasonable. What a disappointment. This is just one of dozens of similar podcasts in which the host has a fixed opinion and demonizes the other side without engaging with the evidence that contradicts his point of view. It is one polemic after another, usually crafted exactly as one might expect from the the far right. I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone finds this pseudo-intellectual podcast compelling.

I used to appreciate the even keeled discussion (even when i didn’t agree), but the quality of the logic and well balancedness has been deteriorating since covid and now has gone totally off the rails. The Israel/Palestine rants are alarming :: all student protestors are antisemites and hamas supporters?! All Palestinians are hamas?! At first I thought: this has to be hyperbole…but later realized that the hate and prejudice have taken over… Sam, please take care and do better!

As the title says, i’ve been a subscriber of Sam’s making sense podcast for years. He brought knowledgeable insights about biases, and rationale pits that anyone is susceptible to, even the most trained and self aware mind. But of course, this show has become unlistenable after Sam seemingly forgot everything he’s talked about in his past shows, and just dove head first into blatant propaganda and dehumanizing rhetoric. His thinking is so incredibly black and white right now, that he is doubling down each time with each episode, he refuses to listen to the opposition, or any discourse. You would think that he’d recognize his position on things by the sheer amount of invitations to guest host right wing podcasts and shows. He got lost in the sauce, and at this point, I think he realizes there’s no redemption or backing down, because he’d lose all credibility if he were to retract any of his previous stance or opinions. He is a prisoner of his own podcast show, and his institutionalized beliefs. I do hope he can see, with time, how damaging his impact was, to real civilian lives, who suffered due to his platform, and his harmful rhetoric.

Sam harris, at the most part, described the situation accurately and I agree with him. I am Iranian and I lived the most of my life in Iran under aIslamic regime and by the way, I am well educated and informed about Islam, Islamists ideology, and Middle East.

Sam I have relatedd to your podcast about campus protests five times. I cannot thank you enough for verbalizing exactly what my heart aches over. I couldn’t find the words, but you have for me. I have forwarded this podcast on to so many friends and colleagues. I hope your message is heard far and wide. The world needs to know.

The “accidental killing of aid workers”?! This is insanity. “War” is fighting between two states, which is not what is currently happening in Gaza. This is lunacy, maybe stop touching this topic if you can’t be unbiased. Your critical thinking and so called journalism on this subject is seriously lacking. *update, someone else commented “Sam Harris is not making sense” and I think that’s best description for this podcast I’ve now unfollowed.

Sam, I was a subscriber and I am out. This latest rant was so typically one sided and selective in factual reference. To categorically dismiss leftists, college students, universities, Gazans, Muslims, and Islam, while selectively ignoring the atrocities of the west and Christianity, has gone too far for me. This is at best a pro Israel hatred filled rant, wrapped in a high brow, right wing, anti-woke wrapper. Your other content is generally positive and well researched, but I can no longer listen to this holier than thou baloney.

Clear, concise, well-spoken, and incredibly interesting. I’m a fan!

Clearly one of the most intelligent authors ever.

Sam is not making sense.

Sam Harris has done an amazing job in providing clear and informative answers and information about n the war between Israel and Hamas. It is a must listen if you have any opinion and are unclear on the subject.

At a time like this, for your clear thinking and communication. Thank you, Sam Harris!

To do this podcast with a guest who answered the question “What Did The IDF Do Wrong” and he answered “journalism” as the sole criticism without pushback from you is so disingenuous it hurts as a long-time listener. How could you let him walk all over you when this is happening? You could have challenged him for needed criticism. Who will have the courage to challenge the IDF to have some form of responsibility?

He pompously glosses over Palestinian deaths and yet will detail the horrors of an Israeli death. He will gloss over Israeli atrocities and will hyperbolize the Palestinian wrongdoings. He doesn’t even for balance dare to present the Palestinian or anti-zionist point of view, even when offered by highly articulate and educated Jews. It’s grotesque & disappointing. I’ll take Ezra Klein & Gabor/Daniel Mate for a more enlightened, self-aware, and less biased discussion. Sam lacks nuance & flexibility of mind on this subject, indeed lacks courage to consider different views/realities, & in the end serves as just another mouthpiece for Israel. He will stereotype all palestinians based on hamas but won’t assume all israelis as as extremist as the Jewish “settlers.” For someone who touts awareness, he simply cannot see his implicit bias and the bubble he is in.

Thank you, Sam, for excoriating moral clarity in a time of willful ignorance, extreme naïveté and sheer malice. Thank you for defending Israel and reality itself against the onslaught of lies and anti-Semitic smears that the western left gleefully launders for Islamist jihadists through the media, UN, activism masquerading as “human rights” agencies and pseudo-academia, with devastating effect. Don’t always agree with Sam on every topic but appreciate the mental tonic of discussions that wrestle hard with ideas and themes swallowed too often by too many on unquestioned premises and assumptions. Wish there were more voices out there like him.

So I love that you introduced John Spencer as an “expert on modern warfare” but fail the mention the fact that he is a full Zionist, personally interviewed Netanyahu, AND actively contributes content to a Pro-Israeli organization. Your show is called Making Sense, but all you did was blatantly withhold critical BIASED information about your guest while holding him up as an “expert.” You’re right, he is an expert… in supporting Israel. That doesn’t make much sense to me. If you wanted an intelligent, fact based take on the war you absolutely failed. This is blatant propaganda presented as a rational, fact based conversation. You should be embarrassed.

Sam’s perspective is the voice of reason making sense!

Sam brings logic and perspective to a world gone completely mad. ❤️

I never voted for Trump, but Sam’s insensate fixation and angst against him is so overboard it clearly demonstrates the Trump Derangement Syndrome is alive and well in Sam’s intellect. I never thought Sam’s intellectual composure would be so weakened by Trump. It’s humorous to witness but I’ve lost respect for Sam and his voice of reason.

I've bought Harris' books and used to support him as a patron on his website. His intellect and eloquence connected with me. It is sad and alarming to see how obviously wrong he is about the atrocities in Gaza. Perhaps his anti-religion rhetoric was a harbinger all along, or maybe he lost his moral compass somewhere along the way. But his embrace of nihilist Zionist warmongers was not something I saw coming. Please pull your head out of your butt, Sam. We need smart people like you to focus on improving the world.

Sam’s atheism is nothing more than a shield to hide behind his prejudice. An outright embarrassment with nothing to offer atheism or free society. Claims to want to end suffering yet sides with capitalists and transphobes. Nice to see the mask is fully off. Thanks for wasting everyone’s time.

Sam Harris is a great listen and deep thinker on many topics, but his obsession with Islam and jihadism, which he continually conflates, detracts from way too many of his other very informed and interesting opinions.

9/10 of what I hear on other podcasts is obvious; this is not. I don’t listen as much because the full versions are expensive and 2/3rds of the episodes aren’t of interest. I also think he gets a bit deranged about Trump (who I think is a jerk) and far too woo in some areas like the nature of reality, but I just don’t listen to those. But the depth of insight is amazing. His latest on Knowledge Work was just brilliant. The ones on SBF, nuclear proliferation and others made me think a different way. Even the shortened free versions are just better than almost all the other podcasts I listen to. And unlike Malcolm Gladwell, he never seems to just mail it in. I really should just pay for the full versions, but I listen to so many podcasts, it sets an expensive precedent at a time when I’m trying to cut back on subscriptions. I should comment on the negative reviews. My guess is these come from people who disagree with him on highly polarized issues like Israel. They’re not on the quality of the program.

While normally this podcast is a source of insight, your assessment of Israel's annihilation of the aid workers was premature at least. If not an assassination, it reads more of a society who has forgotten anything except retaliation. It's like an abused child growing up to become an abuser. Everyone loses. Your short-sightedness surprised me. Keep an open mind- like you teach us to do. The team had established a “deconfliction” plan ahead of time with Israeli forces, so the military would know when they would travel and what route they would take. They also wore GPS trackers to make certain their location was clear. The first missile struck one of the armored cars as it drove along the coastal road. Aid workers fled the damaged vehicle for the other armored vehicle. minutes later, the second vehicle was hit and yet people injured and alive moved to this third vehicle until it too was struck.

Think you Sam and for your thoughtful and analytical podcast. I will subscribe.

Harris has lost the script and is now making sweeping statements about important current events which are devoid of any historical context and/or outright false. It’s hard to take him seriously as an arbiter of logic and reason when he lacks such qualities in his commentary on current events.

The speaker is clearly an apologist for israeli apartheid regime. Spewing anti-Palestine hatred along with rabid hatred of islam in general. It’s quite amazing how could an atheist support a religious ethinonationalist society?! Could be a tribal thing !!