Thoughts on Sam Harris

[tuckerwphotography]

Sam Harris sometimes baffles me. I just can't beg him. He seems to be a systems thinker and obviously is very intelligent. But he also has this seething anger just below the surface that feels very egoic and perhaps some shadow work that he's yet to work through? This podcast episode about "The New Religion of Anti-Racism" is a good example. Frankly, I just don't understand why he cares so much about the radical left, as if it's all some direct personal attack on him that he must defend against. He seems to be on a crusade to reign in the excesses of the Green Meme, which I guess is admirable to some extent, but again, it's the ego and anger that raises red flags for me. Full disclosure: perhaps I'm projecting my own shadows onto his shadows haha. 

Curious what others think about him and his perspectives.

https://samharris.org/podcasts/217-new-religion-anti-racism/ 

[Preety_India]

 

@tuckerwphotography Lol I was going to make a thread on this just now but you beat me. Congrats. 

I completely agree with you. When I saw the video a few days back, I was baffled and I felt the same way. 

But then again reflecting on some of the things that Sam Harris said in the past, I am not surprised. 

I noticed one thing. He usually brings on those people who will perfectly agree with him. That's like an echo chamber. 

 

[Opo]

@tuckerwphotography Lol, haven't seen the video but Sam is so painfully orange he seems autistic. 

[tuckerwphotography]

@Opo I've heard Ken Wilbur praise him as a second tier thinker, which was confusing.

[Opo]

9 minutes ago, tuckerwphotography said:

@Opo I've heard Ken Wilbur praise him as a second tier thinker, which was confusing.

Maybe he has some yellow, I haven't seen a lot from him, but what I saw was orange. 

[Forestluv]

57 minutes ago, Opo said:

Maybe he has some yellow, I haven't seen a lot from him, but what I saw was orange. 

I consider him an odd mixture of Orange, Green and Yellow. One dead-giveaway that he isn’t Tier 2 is how he has contextualized his psychedelic experiences with ownership and logic. 

[Opo]

3 hours ago, tuckerwphotography said:

https://samharris.org/podcasts/217-new-religion-anti-racism/ 

Watched 15 min and Vaush was right. They are literally saying the same shit for years.

I don't understand how don't they get sick of it? 

 

[Leo Gura]

The thing with Sam is, he loves to blow smoke up his own rationalist ass. That's like his life purpose

[outlandish]

4 hours ago, tuckerwphotography said:

Frankly, I just don't understand why he cares so much about the radical left, as if it's all some direct personal attack on him that he must defend against.

I've been thinking the same thing @tuckerwphotography but couldn't quite articulate it like you did right there. I recently checked out a few of his podcasts; his tone is quite grating. Reminds me of Richard Dawkins. 

It's a shame because like you said he's obviously very intelligent, and is on the right track most of the time. Most of the things he has to say, I actually agree with him on, but there's just something off about his delivery and priorities. I think he gets hung up on his own intellectual righteousness, and has a hard time putting down the sword. 

[Preety_India]

 

3 minutes ago, outlandish said:

I've been thinking the same thing @tuckerwphotography but couldn't quite articulate it like you did right there. I recently checked out a few of his podcasts; his tone is quite grating. Reminds me of Richard Dawkins. 

It's a shame because like you said he's obviously very intelligent, and is on the right track most of the time. Most of the things he has to say, I actually agree with him on, but there's just something off about his delivery and priorities. I think he gets hung up on his own intellectual righteousness, and has a hard time putting down the sword. 

You explained it really well. 

 

[Leo Gura]

Sam Harris:

[Opo]

@Leo Gura Lol

[Preety_India]

@Leo Gura  lol that always cracks me up. 

 

[Carl-Richard]

Sam's worldview is tainted by an individualist interpretation of the world (psychology, biology - beliefs, genetics) contrasted with a collectivist interpretation (sociology, history - material conditions). It's a form of stage orange paradigm lock, and it's why he likes to fight with the "identitarian, collectivist left".

A main belief that demonstrates this (and is the background of his dislike of religion, particularily Islam) is that "people's actions are primarily explained by the beliefs they hold". Not surprisingly, his PhD thesis was about how different beliefs affect the brain:

Quote

“Religious thinking is more associated with brain regions that govern emotion, self-representation, and cognitive conflict, while thinking about ordinary facts is more reliant upon memory retrieval networks.”

 https://cosmosmagazine.com/society/brain-according-sam-harris/

This "beliefs matter" stance is why he thinks Islam is such a huge problem, why it's very important to talk about stuff like racial differences in IQ, why he is pro-Israel (hint: they're not muslims) and generally pro-America ("intentions matter"). It's all seen through an individualist lens.

Let's also not forget that his whole career was built on his reaction to 9/11, when America was attacked by none other than Islamic terrorists; a time filled with fear, anger and hatred. It should be very clear why he has these angry undertones when talking about certain groups of people.

Edited September 24, 2020 by Carl-Richard

[Leo Gura]

I've never seen him angry. Just lost in his own rational mind.

[Carl-Richard]

Just now, Leo Gura said:

I've never seen him angry. Just lost in his own mind.

I actually haven't either, but I guess I mean "angry undertones" on a more intellectual level rather than an emotional. For example, you can say this with a smooth Sam Harris voice and not sound angry, but if you just read it on its own, it does come off slightly angry: 

Quote

We are at war with Islam. It may not serve our immediate foreign policy objectives for our political leaders to openly acknowledge this fact, but it is unambiguously so. It is not merely that we are at war with an otherwise peaceful religion that has been ‘hijacked’ by extremists. We are at war with precisely the vision of life that is prescribed to all Muslims in the Koran (The End of Faith, p. 109).

 

[Leo Gura]

He simply does not understand religion.

But that is his whole brand: grinding an axe against religion for the amusement of egos who are ignorant about religion.

[Forestluv]

I read a blog of someone who had some opposing views doing an interview on Sam's platform. It was like they were negotiating for a job. It seems Sam likes to have lots of control about rules and structure with guests he may disagree with. I imagine someone like Joe Rogan would be much more chill. 

[lmfao]

Sam Harris when he's talking about the importance of bombing brown children 

[tuckerwphotography]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

I've never seen him angry. Just lost in his own rational mind.

@Leo Gura This "debate" between Sam and Ezra Klein definitely has Sam's blood boiling. It's cringeworthy to listen to. 

I generally enjoy listening to Ezra Klein, but both him and Sam come off terribly in this exchange. They revert back to their teenage cafeteria food fight days. The result of two bruised egos trying to stab each other in the back while pretending not to.

 

Edited September 25, 2020 by tuckerwphotography