Sam Harris & Konstantin Kisin Debate "Platforming" the other side - Israel-Hamas, Tucker, DEI & Migrants

In today’s episode of Impact Theory, I’m joined by Sam Harris and Konstantin Kisin to dive deep and debate the pressing issues surrounding misinformation, corruption, credibility, and the societal impact of distorted realities.

Sam Harris is a neuroscientist, philosopher, best-selling author, and podcast host whose work focuses on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live.

Konstantin Kisin is a Russian-born comedian, author, and podcast host that explores complex topics with a blend of humor and serious inquiry, making acute observations about modern societal trends and challenges.

Together, we dissect the challenges of navigating the modern information landscape, combatting cognitive biases, and championing the pursuit of truth in a world where truth itself seems increasingly elusive.

We also discuss:
- Importance of Pursuing Truth and Independent Thinking
- Overcoming Bias in Perception
- Influence of Social Media on Discourse and Truth
- Necessity of Error Correction in Knowledge Growth
- Challenges in Determining Truth and Reality
- Media Influence on Public Opinion and Reality
- Individual Rights in the West
- Upholding Liberal Democracy

From addressing controversial figures to defending Western values, we explore the power of truth, the challenges of social media, and the quest for meaningful discourse in a world filled with noise.

CHAPTER MARKERS:

[0:00] Tools distort reality
[21:48] Ideas & the truth
[41:15] Historical context matters
[1:00:46] The spread of misinformation
[1:21:54] Carefully engage with criticism
[1:38:55] Protecting democracy and capitalism

POWERFUL QUOTES FROM THE DEBATE:

"They notice a signal in their audience. They notice an appetite for a certain message, and because they're incentivized to feed that signal, they do it, and they wind up becoming radicalized by their audience."
— Sam Harris

"The truth matters because there is a reality. And if we're not tracking it to some pragmatic approximation in our lives, we're just going to bump into hard objects."
— Sam Harris

"You can always find a crazy PhD, or a PhD who's semi crazy and has just a hobby horse that he can't get off of, who will attest anything, no matter how crazy."
— Sam Harris

"I don't think it's an accident that democracy, the combination of democracy and capitalism and political freedom has been this engine of wealth and creativity. And we should want to defend that because the alternatives, all the alternatives that we know about suck, right?"

"I think the fragmentation of our reality is a really scary thing."
— Konstantin Kisin

"We have now reached a stage where we're not talking about the truth. We are now pandering, playing to our audience, compensating for our own psychological traumas."
— Konstantin Kisin

"I think that being interested in what's ultimately true is the way that we can overcome our inclination to believe things that charismatic people tell us, to believe things that match what we already believe."
— Konstantin Kisin

"I have found that, I think in the US, those kind of ideas about how the world is and who runs it and all of that seem to have a way broader appeal than they do in the UK, where I live."
— Konstantin Kisin

"The reason our system works is because we have created incentive structures that take us forward that mean that talented, inventive, creative, driven, passionate, smart people can profit from that talent, can profit from their own hard work and retain what they create."
— Konstantin Kisin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4Ha8yeXuU8