#483 — The Knots We Tie Ourselves Into

#483 — The Knots We Tie Ourselves Into

July 1, 2026 · 23 min

About this episode

Sam Harris speaks with Alain de Botton about various psychological and societal topics including unhappiness, psychedelics, and the implications of meritocracy.

Sam Harris speaks with Alain de Botton about the psychology of unhappiness, the secular world's discomfort with ecstasy and ritual, psychedelics as a tool for self-discovery, Freud's legacy, AI as the ultimate mirror, the case against meritocracy, the cancel culture purity trap, the psychological meaning of death, 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 samharris.org/subscribe .

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