Making Sense of Existential Threat and Nuclear War | Episode 7 of The Essential Sam Harris

In this episode, we examine the topic of existential threat,
focusing in particular on the subject of nuclear war.


Sam opens the discussion by emphasizing the gravity of our
ability to destroy life as we know it at any moment, and how
shocking it is that nearly all of us perpetually ignore this
fact. Philosopher Nick Bostrom expands on this idea by explaining
how developing technologies like DNA synthesis could make
humanity more vulnerable to malicious actors.


Sam and historian Fred Kaplan then guide us through a
hypothetical timeline of events following a nuclear first strike,
highlighting the flaws in the concept of nuclear deterrence.
Former Defense Secretary William J. Perry echoes these concerns,
painting a grim picture of his "nuclear nightmare" scenario: a
nuclear terrorist attack.


Zooming out, Toby Ord outlines each potential extinction-level
threat, and why he believes that, between all of them, we face a
one in six chance of witnessing the downfall of our species. Our
episode ends on a cautiously optimistic note, however, as Yuval
Noah Harari shares his thoughts on "global myth-making" and its
potential role in helping us navigate through these perilous
times.


 


About the Series


Filmmaker Jay Shapiro has produced The Essential Sam
Harris, a new series of audio documentaries exploring
the major topics that Sam has focused on over the course of his
career.


Each episode weaves together original analysis, critical
perspective, and novel thought experiments with some of the most
compelling exchanges from the Making Sense archive. Whether you
are new to a particular topic, or think you have your mind made
up about it, we think you’ll find this series fascinating.