The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Intelligence ft. Sam Harris | Shane Smith Has Questions
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Show Notes
Shane Smith sits down with Sam Harris, philosopher, neuroscientist, and bestselling author for a deep conversation about artificial intelligence, consciousness, and the fragile future of humanity. They begin with Sam’s early life and unlikely path, from studying English at Stanford to dropping out after a transformative MDMA experience that led him to India and Nepal, where he meditated and even served briefly on the Dalai Lama’s security detail. What follows is a wide-ranging exploration of how psychedelics, meditation, and neuroscience all shape our understanding of the mind and what happens when machines start thinking faster than we ever
could.
From the quantum weirdness of parallel universes to the moral peril of unaligned AI, Sam warns that humanity isn’t in an arms race with China or Google—but with its own ignorance. The two dive into the ethics of wealth and power, the danger of tech billionaires acting like Bond villains, and how meditation might be the only antidote to an accelerating world we no longer understand.
Funny, philosophical, and fearlessly honest, this episode tackles everything from Elon Musk and Bill Gates to psychedelics and the illusion of the self, weaving science and spirituality into a single, provocative conversation about where we go next.
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