#382 — The Eye of Nature

Making Sense with Sam Harris

Waking Up with Sam Harris

Samharris, Currentevents, Politics, Ethics, Religion, Neuroscience, Science, Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.6 • 29.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 September 2024

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sam Harris speaks with Richard Dawkins about his new book The Genetic Book of the Dead, the genome as a palimpsest, what scientists of the future may do with genetic information, genotypes and phenotypes, embryology and epigenetics, why the Lamarckian theory of acquired characteristics couldn't be true, how environmental selection pressure works, why evolution is hard to think about, human dependence on material culture, the future of genetic enhancement of human beings, viral DNA, symbiotic bacteria, AI and the future of scholarship, resurrecting extinct species, the problem of free speech in the UK, the problem of political Islam and antisemitism in the UK, reflections on Dan Dennett, and other topics.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Making Sense Podcast, this is Sam Harris. Just a note to say that if you're hearing this you're not currently on our subscriber feed and will only be hearing the first part of this conversation.
0:18.0	In order to access full episodes of the Making Sense Podcast, you'll need to subscribe at Sam Harris.org. There you'll also find
0:24.8	our scholarship program where we offer free accounts to anyone who can't afford
0:28.0	one. We don't run ads on the podcast and therefore it's made possible entirely
0:32.1	through the support of our subscribers.
0:34.0	So if you enjoy what we're doing here, please consider becoming one. Well, today's guest needs no introduction.
0:48.0	Often one says that and then just gives the introduction anyway, but no, Richard Dawkins actually needs no introduction on this
0:55.8	podcast, except to say that he has a new book, which is titled The Genetic Book of the Dead, which we speak about in the first part of the podcast,
1:06.6	where we talk about the genome as a kind of palimpsest,
1:11.5	what scientists of the future may be able to do with our genetic information,
1:16.0	genotypes and phenotypes, embryology and epigenetics, why the Lamarckian theory of acquired
1:22.2	characteristics just couldn't be true?
1:25.0	How environmental selection pressure actually works.
1:28.0	Why evolution is so hard to think about.
1:31.0	Human dependence on material culture, the future of genetic enhancement of
1:35.9	human beings, viral DNA, symbiotic bacteria, AI and the future of intellectual life, the prospect of resurrecting
1:46.2	extinct species, and then we pivot to politics. We talk about the problem of
1:51.4	free speech in the UK, which has reached surprising proportions,
1:57.0	as well as the problem of political Islam and anti-Semitism.
2:01.0	And then we close with some reflections on our friend Dan Dennett.
2:05.0	And now I bring you the one and with Richard Dawkins.
2:15.0	Richard, thanks for joining me again.
	...

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