I'd wave a wand and give everyone the First Amendment

Philosopher Sam Harris talks free speech, Islam and the future of the media with Evening Standard proprietor Evgeny Lebedev

- Evgeny Lebedev

THE philosopher Sam Harris and I meet six weeks after the terror attacks of October 7 — just one day before Israel and Gaza agree to a truce. That period has seen the deadliest eruption of violence since the Yom Kippur War, with the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust and the casualties in Gaza surpassing those of the Nakba. In London, thousands have marched each weekend in support of Palestine, with many applauding our great city as a symbol of peace and free expression. We should not be so naïve, says Harris: “Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice.”

Harris is one of the most intelligent people alive today. He is a neuroscientist, best-selling author, host of the Making Sense podcast and founder of the meditation app Waking Up. He supports free speech — but more importantly, he supports reason.

Born to a Jewish mother, for him the recent protests are a step too far. Watching footage of them, he says, is akin to watching “hundreds of thousands of people coming into the streets in support of Hamas”. An avowed atheist, Harris rose to prominence as one of the “four horsemen” of the movement’s nouvelle vague (his peers are well known: Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens). He has made no secret of his disdain of the extremes of Islam. While hostages return to their families this week, the real crisis, he tells me, is far from over.

“The entire world is being held hostage by the religious fanaticism of one community.”