Right. I certainly don’t follow him all the way there, and I agree that he hasn’t done a ton to clear up what could be the major shortfalls of this idea, that many others have you pointed out. I hope no one thinks that I’m a zealous disciple of him or his ideas on morality, but he definitely made me think differently about the role of science in this discussion and I’m glad he did.
Also, someone in the thread maligned him for his work on psychidelics and meditation, but I would say that he is helping to bring some important ideas into the mainstream. Both psychedelic drugs and meditation (and other ego-quieting techniques) are showing great promise in the treatment of certain mental illness and the general maintenance of mental health. In general, I think very few of us engage methods to “quiet our minds” often enough. Some religious practices generally do this well (meditation, certain forms of prayer, contemplative worship, etc.) and so I think it’s very important that there are secular alternatives for those that aren’t interested in religion. I wish I could carve out time to meditate and I keep saying I will. But I do get this effect a little bit when I run. When I really work at it (and when I run in a peaceful place where I don’t have to be alert or make decisions), I can really quiet my mind so that I really “veg out” and I’m not actually thinking about anything. I can get to that point for 10-15 minutes at a time sometimes and it’s extremely satisfying and rejuvenating when I do. I’m sure the endorphins and endocannabinoids help with that euphoric feeling, too. Anyway, there are plenty of things that Sam does and says that make me cringe, but he has some merit as a public intellectual as well.