Sam Harris and the the Great Problem of Our Time The choice between conversation and violence

I’ve been thinking a lot about something Sam Harris said in a recent Big Think talk:

“We live in perpetual choice between conversation and violence.”

If you’re not familiar with Sam Harris, he’s a neuroscientist, writer, and podcaster who’s spent years exploring the intersections of reason, belief, and human behavior. In this talk, The Great Problem of Our Time, he lays out what he sees as a growing crisis of meaning.

According to Harris, technology has shattered our shared cultural space, leaving us isolated in digital bubbles. This fragmentation is making it harder to have genuine conversations—ones that encourage understanding rather than conflict.

This is where I think Conversational Leadership has something important to offer. It’s not a grand solution, but it’s a grounded, everyday approach. It’s about how we speak to one another, with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to withhold judgment, allowing the conversation to unfold.

This post from my blook highlights some of the key points from Harris’s talk and connects them to the practice of Conversational Leadership. I hope you’ll give it a listen or a read. If we want to avoid the more destructive paths ahead, it begins with how we talk to each other today.