It’s a good bet that if most of us were to glance around our living rooms or offices, we’d quickly spot all manner of electronic devices that are powered by microchips. Since their introduction in the 1950s, chips have become one of the fundamental building blocks of the various digital technologies we rely on in our daily lives. What impact has this had on ... Show More
Yesterday
Why human urine may be our most untapped natural resource
While largely viewed as a toxic waste product with no practical use, our urine is actually rich in all manner of valuable nutrients that, with a little effort, can be extracted, recycled and converted into fertiliser for use on food crops, used to make building materials or even ... Show More
26m 33s
Jul 16
How new technology can change our emotional lives for the better
It’s clear to all of us that the rapid progress that technology has made over the last century or so has had profound impacts on almost every aspect of our lives. But often, the impact on our emotional well-being associated with these great changes is overlooked, or, if mentioned ... Show More
29m 8s
Jul 9
What we can learn from music’s ability to evoke images in our minds
For most of us, music has a unique, almost supernatural, ability to trigger our emotions and memories and conjure up evocative images or even fantasies in our minds in a way that few other experiences or art forms can. But what exactly is happening in our brains when we listen to ... Show More
26m 11s
Nov 2020
#226 — The Price of Distraction
Sam Harris speaks with Adam Gazzaley about the way our technology is changing us. They discuss our limited ability to process information, our failures of multitasking, "top-down" vs "bottom-up" attention, self-interruptions and switching costs, anxiety, boredom, "digital medicin ... Show More
44m 18s
Sep 2015
#18 — The Multiverse & You (& You & You & You...)
Sam Harris speaks with MIT cosmologist Max Tegmark about the foundations of science, our current understanding of the universe, and the risks of future breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain ac ... Show More
43m 49s
Dec 2015
#22 — Surviving the Cosmos
Sam Harris talks to physicist David Deutsch about the reach and power of human knowledge, the future of artificial intelligence, and the survival of civilization. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episode ... Show More
48m 58s
Feb 2020
#184 — The Conversational Nature of Reality
Sam Harris speaks with poet David Whyte about the importance of work and relationships, the balance between training and expressing of one's talents, the lessons of mortality, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain ac ... Show More
29m 20s