# [Sam Harris](https://samharris.substack.com/)

## The Bittersweet Age (Ep. 476)

A Conversation with Susan Cain

[Sam Harris](https://substack.com/@samharris)

May 20, 2026

Sam Harris speaks with Susan Cain about writing, creativity, and what AI means for human culture. They discuss the future of books and reading, the tells AI inherits from good writers, why the advent of AI may spark a revival of the humanities, following your bliss, the ethics of curing sadness, the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, and other topics.

**Susan Cain** is the author of the global sensation and #1 _New York Times_ bestseller _[Quiet](https://amzn.to/49fxvb3),_ and the instant #1 _New York Times_ bestseller _[Bittersweet](https://amzn.to/4eZ2dZO),_ an Oprah Book Club selection. Susan’s new children’s book _[Lucky & Norman](https://amzn.to/49ejs5B)_ will be published on June 2, 2026. She has spent the last twenty years exploring a particular realm of human nature: the quiet, the sensitive, the thoughtful, the bittersweet. It has always seemed clear to her—and to her millions of readers—that this way of being can lead to a richer, deeper form of happiness. Susan is the host of _The Quiet Life_ Substack community, and her newsletter is read by people in all 193 countries and all 50 American states. Join her at [TheQuietLife.net](http://thequietlife.net/)!

Website: [https://thequietlife.net/welcome](https://thequietlife.net/welcome)

X: [@susancain](https://x.com/susancain)

## This post is for paid subscribers

Making Sense Podcast

Join neuroscientist, philosopher, and five-time New York Times best-selling author Sam Harris as he explores important and controversial questions about the mind, society, current events, moral philosophy, religion, and rationality—with an overarching focus on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live.

Sam is also the creator of the Waking Up app. Combining Sam’s decades of mindfulness practice, profound wisdom from varied philosophical and contemplative traditions, and a commitment to a secular, scientific worldview, Waking Up is a resource for anyone interested in living a more examined, fulfilling life—and a new operating system for the mind.

Waking Up offers free subscriptions to anyone who can’t afford one, and donates a minimum of 10% of profits to the most effective charities around the world. To learn more, please go to WakingUp.com.

Sam Harris received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA.