Episode

#87: Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read
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1:04:07
Published: Wed Jul 08 2015
Description

Sam Harris is a neuroscience Ph.D. and the author of the bestselling books, The End of Faith, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, and Waking Up. His work has been discussed in The New York Times, Time, Scientific American, Nature, Newsweek,Rolling Stone, and many other journals. In this episode we discuss: -Five books he thinks everyone should read -Why have he stopped doing public debates -Morning rituals and meditation -The one tip for better brain health outside meditation or exercise Links, resources, and show notes from this episode can be found at http://fourhourworkweek.com/podcast This podcast is brought to you by MeUndies. Have you ever wanted to be as powerful as a mullet-wearing ninja from the 1980’s, or as sleek as a black panther in the Amazon? Of course you have, and that’s where MeUndies comes in. I’ve spent the last 2-3 weeks wearing underwear from these guys 24/7, and they are the most comfortable and colorful underwear I’ve ever owned. Their materials are 2x softer than cotton, as evaluated using the Kawabata method. Check out MeUndies.com/Tim to see my current faves (some are awesomely ridiculous) and, while you’re at it, don’t miss lots of hot ladies wearing MeUndies. This podcast is also brought to you by LegalZoom. Matt Mullenweg (CEO of Automattic – now worth more than a billion dollars) first incorporated his company on LegalZoom. LegalZoom, which I’ve used myself, can help you with almost anything legal, including setting up a will, doing a proper trademark search, forming an LLC, setting up a non-profit, or finding simple cease-and-desist letter templates. LegalZoom is not a law firm, but they do have a network of independent attorneys available in most states. They can give you advice on the best way to get started, provide contract review, and otherwise help you run your business. Use the code “Tim” at checkout to get $10 off your next order. Take a gander at everything you can get for a fraction of what you’d expect — LegalZoom.com Enjoy! ***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Chapters
The podcast features a conversation on how they implement minimalism in their lives with Tim recalling his experience prior to spending 10 days in isolation and creating a 'minimalist' mindset.
00:00 - 00:51 (00:51)
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Minimalism
Summary

The podcast features a conversation on how they implement minimalism in their lives with Tim recalling his experience prior to spending 10 days in isolation and creating a 'minimalist' mindset. The episode is sponsored by Five Bullet Friday, Tim's email newsletter which contains mini-recommendations on cool things he found each week.

Episode
#87: Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
Tim Ferriss answers questions from his audience and covers a wide range of topics in this action-packed podcast episode.
00:51 - 05:52 (05:01)
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Tim Ferriss
Summary

Tim Ferriss answers questions from his audience and covers a wide range of topics in this action-packed podcast episode.

Episode
#87: Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
The podcast explores the concept of moral luck and how being moral and functioning well in the world involves a certain amount of luck.
05:52 - 10:49 (04:56)
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Philosophy
Summary

The podcast explores the concept of moral luck and how being moral and functioning well in the world involves a certain amount of luck.

Episode
#87: Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
In the book "Superintelligence," philosopher Nick Bostrom delves into the difficulty of building artificial intelligence that aligns with human interests, and how this poses a significant problem as we advance technologically.
10:49 - 16:08 (05:18)
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Artificial Intelligence
Summary

In the book "Superintelligence," philosopher Nick Bostrom delves into the difficulty of building artificial intelligence that aligns with human interests, and how this poses a significant problem as we advance technologically. This book is considered an important and thorough examination of the control problem.

Episode
#87: Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
Conference organizer, Jan Talin, believes that those without children are less likely to understand how pressing the concern of artificial intelligence is.
16:08 - 23:00 (06:52)
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Artificial Intelligence
Summary

Conference organizer, Jan Talin, believes that those without children are less likely to understand how pressing the concern of artificial intelligence is. The control problem of building super-intelligent machines, given the consequences of losing control, is a terrifying prospect.

Episode
#87: Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker challenges people to debate on topics other than religion versus science or atheism versus religion, as he finds a little of those debates goes a long way at this point.
23:00 - 28:13 (05:13)
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Debates
Summary

The speaker challenges people to debate on topics other than religion versus science or atheism versus religion, as he finds a little of those debates goes a long way at this point.

Episode
#87: Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker discusses his thoughts on the ethics of abortion and believes there is no principled stand on the convention of breaking pregnancy into trimesters.
28:13 - 32:38 (04:25)
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Abortion Ethics
Summary

The speaker discusses his thoughts on the ethics of abortion and believes there is no principled stand on the convention of breaking pregnancy into trimesters. He suggests the viability of a fetus outside the body is a better line to draw and finds abortion to be a serious ethical concern depending on the stage of pregnancy.

Episode
#87: Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker emphasizes the significance of meditating daily after spending weeks and months meditating 12 to 18 hours a day, having experienced the benefits of the practice.
32:38 - 41:04 (08:26)
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Meditation
Summary

The speaker emphasizes the significance of meditating daily after spending weeks and months meditating 12 to 18 hours a day, having experienced the benefits of the practice. The concept of an ego or self in the center of consciousness and its involvement in meditation is also discussed.

Episode
#87: Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
Practicing meditation for a few minutes throughout the day can have a profound impact on one's life.
41:04 - 48:26 (07:22)
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Meditation
Summary

Practicing meditation for a few minutes throughout the day can have a profound impact on one's life. Waiting for scientific evidence to back up the benefits of certain supplements such as ginkgo biloba before incorporating them into one's routine may be wise.

Episode
#87: Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
In this episode, Sam Harris discusses the idea that religious moderates shelter fundamentalism and extremism by insisting we respect religious faith.
48:26 - 54:48 (06:22)
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Religion
Summary

In this episode, Sam Harris discusses the idea that religious moderates shelter fundamentalism and extremism by insisting we respect religious faith. He argues that the disposition to force others to live by the lights of one's own religious worldview needs to be opposed, particularly in the Muslim world where secularism is almost nonexistent.

Episode
#87: Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
Trolley problems are a series of thought experiments that represent moral dilemmas.
54:50 - 1:03:12 (08:22)
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Philosophy
Summary

Trolley problems are a series of thought experiments that represent moral dilemmas. As people make decisions in these puzzles, it reveals a lot about their moral values and beliefs - making them increasingly influential in psychology and philosophy alike.

Episode
#87: Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
The concept of consequentialism in ethics should account not only for the body count of a scenario but also the psychological consequences and lack of analogy between different cases with the same body count, according to the speaker.
1:03:12 - 1:04:00 (00:48)
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Ethics
Summary

The concept of consequentialism in ethics should account not only for the body count of a scenario but also the psychological consequences and lack of analogy between different cases with the same body count, according to the speaker.

Episode
#87: Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show