Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman
Jun 29, 2026 · 1 hr 7 min · 24 segments
re you the author of your thoughts or just their witness? Do we simply watch our thoughts like we watch unfolding dream plots? What if the most familiar thing you experience — yourself — isn’t really…
Sam HarrisGuest
David EaglemanHost
What is the self? Are you the author of your thoughts or are you just the witness, in the same way that dreams just happen to you? What if the most familiar thing that you experience, yourself, is not really there? If that's the case, why does the experience of self feel so solid that it often takes a lifetime to notice something strange? Why would evolution invent the feeling of a self at all? Today, we'll talk with philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris about the self and what this has to do with meditation, dreams, movies, and so much more.
I'm a neuroscientist and author at Stanford, and in these episodes, we sail deeply into our three-pound universe to understand how we see the world, and importantly today, how we see ourselves.
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What is the self? Are you the author of your thoughts or are you just the witness, in the same way that dreams just happen to you? What if the most familiar thing that you experience, yourself, is not really there? If that's the case, why does the experience of self feel so solid that it often takes a lifetime to notice something strange? Why would evolution invent the feeling of a self at all? Today, we'll talk with philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris about the self and what this has to do with meditation, dreams, movies, and so much more.
I'm a neuroscientist and author at Stanford, and in these episodes, we sail deeply into our three-pound universe to understand how we see the world, and importantly today, how we see ourselves.