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Making Sense with Sam Harris · September 23, 2024 · 80m
#384 — Stress Testing Our Democracy
Barton Gellman on election integrity and how democracies fail. The mechanisms that protect elections are more fragile than most people realize. Surveillance, misinformation, and institutional erosion threaten democratic self-governance.
This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.
Canon
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Gellman: election misinformation doesn't need to convince a majority — it only needs to create enough doubt to undermine legitimacy. The asymmetry between creating doubt and establishing truth is the core vulnerability.
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Gellman: his reporting on surveillance required sources who risked everything. Courage in these contexts isn't personality — it's a skill developed through smaller acts of integrity that compound over time.
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