Perform Ep 26: How to Think Clearly in an Age of Distraction | Sam Harris

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Sam Harris to discuss how attention, mindfulness, and clear thinking shape performance. We start by separating intelligence from wisdom, then look at how modern technology is rewiring our attentional capacity — including which tools enhance cognition and which compete with it. Sam walks through three approaches to working with the mind: training concentration, practicing mindfulness, and using cognitive reframing. We also get into how to receive criticism without ego, why institutions and the Scientific Process still matter in an era of independent media, and what AI means for our future. This episode is for anyone who wants to think more clearly, feel less hijacked by their own thoughts, and build a more durable relationship to attention.

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People mentioned

• David Krakauer: president of the Santa Fe Institute; framed the distinction between cognitively competitive and cognitively enhancing technology
• Karl Popper: philosopher of science behind the error-correction model of knowledge
• David Chalmers: philosopher who formulated the hard problem of consciousness
• Derek Parfit: Oxford philosopher; originator of the teletransporter thought experiment
• Francis Bacon: early figure in the scientific revolution
• Aristotle: referenced in the history of logic and reason
• Alan Turing: referenced for the Turing test and as a benchmark of mathematical intelligence
• Joe Rogan: comedian and host of The Joe Rogan Experience
• Alex Jones: conspiracy theorist and founder of Infowars

Books

• Waking Up by Sam Harris
• Reasons and Persons by Derek Parfit

Other Resources

• Westworld (TV series)
• Pluribus (TV series)
• Buddhist and Tibetan Buddhist traditions
• Stoic philosophy
• Cognitive behavioral therapy
• Teletransporter thought experiment

Tools & Technologies

• Waking Up app
• ChatGPT and large language models
• Turing test