Sam Harris Tackles Newsweek’s ‘Heaven Is Real’ Cover Story

Sam Harris (a neuroscientist himself) just ripped apart Dr. Eben Alexander, who wrote the embarrassing cover story for the latest issue of Newsweek:

Here’s the gist of Harris’ argument:

… there is nothing to be said against Alexander’s experience. It sounds perfectly sublime. And such ecstasies do tell us something about how good a human mind can feel. The problem is that the conclusions Alexander has drawn from his experience — he continually reminds us, as a scientist — are based on some very obvious errors in reasoning and gaps in his understanding.

Let me suggest that, whether or not heaven exists, Alexander sounds precisely how a scientist should not sound when he doesn’t know what he is talking about. And his article is not the sort of thing that the editors of a once-important magazine should publish if they hope to reclaim some measure of respect for their battered brand.

You can read my own take on the story here.