Making Sense with Sam Harris
#455 — More From Sam: Guns, Propaganda, AI, and Power Unbound
30 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Okay, we're back with another episode of More From Sam. Hi, Sam.
Hey.
How you doing? Good to see you. Good to see you too. Before we begin, I just want to quickly run through yet again your upcoming shows. LA was amazing, by the way. Yeah, that was a good crowd. Yeah, it was a great one. Again, for the audience, Sam will be giving a talk in a number of cities in North America this year. Next week, we are in Dallas and Austin.
And March, we're in Portland and Vancouver. And then May, we're in Toronto, D.C., and wrapping up things again in New York. If you'd like tickets, you can find all the information at SamHarris.org. And also, I just have to announce that yesterday, the Waking Up app was named App of the Day in the Apple Store. Oh yeah, that's great. Yeah, like all overnight sensations. It only took us seven years.
Yeah. Yeah, in the making. Yeah, I don't know what took so long, but hopefully that's helpful.
Graphically, it looks great. It looks amazing. I think they did a great job. The app is bigger than ever, and I can only imagine it's at least due in part to many of the things we discuss here on the podcast. So if you're listening right now and been meaning to try it out, you can find Waking Up in the App Store, but now with a big shiny Apple endorsement.
All right, last week we began in Minneapolis, and this week we're unfortunately back in Minneapolis again with another utterly depressing killing, this time of Alex Preddy, again by what appears to be very poorly trained ICE officers.
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Chapter 2: What recent event in Minneapolis sparked a discussion on gun culture?
I mean, that's the thing that I just cannot get my head around, that half of America that cares so deeply about gun rights or whatever it is, let's just say it's 25% of America that really cares deeply. Let's just say it's 10 million people for whom it's their single issue. Where the hell are they?
Yeah. Well, I'm sure we'll continue to talk about this on future episodes, unfortunately, but we got to move on to another topic. Iran. It seems that last time we said it was 12 to 15,000 people who had maybe been killed. Now that number looks to be closer or over 30,000. Anything new to add to this?
Yeah, well, I don't know how reliable these numbers are, but obviously Trump's demand that they not kill their protesters went unheard, and perhaps we're getting ready to respond to that atrocity. I've heard some news that we're moving necessary equipment into the region. So it remains to be seen what's going to happen there. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if we respond.
And again, I do think it's sad we didn't do it earlier, but I do think we should give whatever help we can give to toppling this regime and rolling the dice with whatever is the aftermath. Again, this is kind of up to the Iranian people to figure out what the aftermath will be. And I don't know what to hope for there, but preserving this regime as it is seems to be in no sane person's interest.
Well, we don't need to spend too much time on this next topic, but Candace Owens was apparently confused this week when she tweeted back online after internet blackout, I grew up in Connecticut and have truly never seen an ice like this ever. The temperature is 30 degrees, but the ice on our treetops is not melting at all. Never seen anything like this. Anybody else?
Well,
So 30 degrees and the ice is not melting.
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Chapter 3: Why is there a lack of outrage from gun owners regarding police actions?
That's what you're dealing with there.
She never understood much about climate. I remember going round and round with her around climate change. And there's a famous clip where she was on Joe Rogan's podcast many years ago, pretending to be a climatologist. So for that week, I guess the weather is also mystifying.
Yeah, well, while we're on the topic of climate concerns, is there anything you want to update here? I feel like there are so many things to worry about these days that existential climate risk has fallen out of the top 10.
Oh yeah, nobody's got time to worry about that. It's just, it's too slow moving and it's too hypothetical. You know, it would be great if we lived in a world where we could look at things that subtle, but we're, you know, we've got, it's like the house is on fire and worrying about the climate is, I can't even imagine the climatologists have got all their bandwidth for the climate these days.
We can't worry about emergencies six months away. Forget about anything beyond that. I do want to add some good news here. I saw that we've had over 150 hurricanes on record make landfall in the Gulf of Mexico through 2024 since they've been keeping track. But last year, after Trump changed the name to Gulf of America, ask me how many hurricanes we've had since then. Yeah, how many have we had?
None. Let's give credit where credit's due. Got to celebrate those victories.
He and his Sharpie. I mean, if push comes to shove, he can just draw a different path to the hurricane and save many, many lives that way.
Well, and while we're on the funny things, I saw a clip this morning of Nicki Minaj walking out on stage with President Trump at some event. I don't know if you saw it. No, really? Yeah. Let's play a bit of that clip for a few seconds.
I am probably the president's number one fan. And that's not going to change.
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