Sam Harris speaks with William MacAskill about his new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/What-Owe-Future-William-MacAskill/dp/1541618629"> What We Owe the Future.</a> They discuss the philosophy of effective altruism (EA), longtermism, existential risk, criticism of EA, problems with expected-value reasoning, doing good vs feeling good, why it's hard to care about future people, how the future gives meaning to the present, why this moment in history is unusual, the pace of economic and technological growth, bad political incentives, value lock-in, the well-being of conscious creatures as the foundation of ethics, the risk of unaligned AI, how bad we are at predicting technological change, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at <a href="http://samharris.org/subscribe">samharris.org/subscribe</a>. Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That's why Sam Harris created the <a href="http://wakingup.com/">Waking Up</a> app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life's most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

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#292 — How Much Does the Future Matter?

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Sam Harris Episodes Around August 14, 2022

#277 — How Does the War in Ukraine End?

#278 — The Man Who Will Be King

#279 — The Rules of the Stage

#280 — The Future of Artificial Intelligence

#281 — Western Culture and Its Discontents

#282 — Do You Really Have a Self?

#283 — Gun Violence in America

#284 — The Funny Business

#285 — American Division

#286 — The Paradox of Psychedelics

#287 — Why Wealth Matters

#288 — The End of Global Order

#289 — Time Management for Mortals

#290 — What Went Wrong?

#291 — Where is Happiness?

#292 — How Much Does the Future Matter?

#293 — What I Really Think About Trump and Media Bias

#294 — Status Games

#295 — Philosophy and the Good Life

#296 — Repairing Our Country

#297 — Preparing for the End

#298 — Leaving the Faith (Rebroadcast)

#299 — Steps in the Right Direction

#300 — A Tale of Cancellation

#301 — The Politics of Unreality: Ukraine and Nuclear Risk

#302 — Science & Civilization

#303 — The Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried

#304 — Why I Left Twitter

#305 — Moral Knowledge

#306 — Psychedelics & Mortality

#307 — Twitter, Elon, & Free Speech

Summary