#294 - Status Games

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Only the first 40 minutes of this episode are available on the paywalled podcast version (the black podcast logo). If you&rsquo;d like to hear the full 1 hour 25 minutes of this episode and gain access to all full-length episodes of the podcast, you&rsquo;ll need to SUBSCRIBE <a href="https://www.samharris.org/subscribe">here</a>. If you&rsquo;re already subscribed and on the private RSS feed, the podcast logo should appear red.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sam Harris speaks with Will Storr about the role that status plays in human life and culture. They talk about the taboo around caring about status, egalitarianism, the perpetual insecurity of status, how we play multiple status games simultaneously, identity, social connection, dominance, virtue, success, status as an evolved mechanism, gossip, status and health, the consequences of humiliation, the role of social media, status and politics, conspiracy thinking, moral panics, status and philanthropy, and other topics.</span></p> <p><strong>Will Storr</strong><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is an award-winning writer. He's the author of six critically acclaimed books, including the </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sunday Times</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> bestseller </span><a href="https://amzn.to/3e3xAop" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Science of Storytelling</span></em></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. His journalism has appeared in titles such as </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Guardian</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Sunday Times</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The New Yorker,</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The New York Times</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">. His work on sexual violence against men earned the Amnesty International Award an