Great. I hardly knew anything about him, but I had this feeling I should try to interview him. You’re confirming it.
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Thursday, May 1, 2014 3:32 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis - Sam Harris I think you have to start with his first, The End of Faith. There are also some great debates with him on Youtube that will help you orient to his approach. He has had so many contentions discussions that you will be a breath of fresh air for him, able to disagree without being disagreeable. One great quality about Sam is that he is not afraid to piss off atheists with his POV. He is a sincere thinker and goes where he feels he is being the most reasonable. His philosophy training allows him to actually consider POVs that would disrupt his current perspective. Obviously from his long Buddhist retreats he seeks out other perspectives. ---In [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> , <rick@... <mailto:rick@...> > wrote : From: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of curtisdeltablues@... Sent: Thursday, May 1, 2014 3:03 PM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis - Sam Harris I think it would be a fantastic discussion and I would love to help you prep for an interview. He is an especially good choice because he is an experienced Buddhist meditator and is interested in connecting his own field, neuro science with the experiences we have in meditation. But in a more philosophical than TM brain studies way. He is coming out with a course this Fall to coincide with his new book about an alternative perspective to subjective experiences from traditional spirituality. He thinks both materialist scientists and spiritual people are jumping to conclusions. He might be especially interested in this dialogue with you at this time because of this direction he is taking. It is a direction he is taking some shit from hard core atheists for which makes him all the better as a bridge for a rich discussion with you. So although he probably does believe that consciousness is an emergent property of brain functions, he is more open to discussing the philosophical implications of our sense of self from meditation experience. He is more aware of things we don't know about human consciousness than most people, atheist or not, and would not be afraid wherever the discussion leads. I am reading his book on free will right now. Very thought provoking. Excellent idea Rick. If anyone can bridge these disparate perspective in a non judgmental way so the discussion can really breath, it is YOU! And if anyone can help me prep for it, it is YOU! Which of his books would you suggest I read first? I think the local library has several. ---In [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> , <rick@... <mailto:rick@...> > wrote : I have this idea kicking around in my head to try to interview Sam Harris, or someone like him. An intelligent atheist, as I understand him. I’d want to read all his books first, and then hash out the likely points of discussion with you beforehand. We could do it on FFL. My perspective is very SCI-like – that intelligence is omnipresent, all-pervading, and obvious if one looks closely enough. I’m interviewing a guy named Bernardo Kastrup in a couple of months who has written a book called “Why Materialism is Baloney”, but it would be fun to interview an intelligent materialist, if that’s what Harris is, and see if we could find any common ground. What do you think?
