Why Are We Still Driving?

China's Not the Problem. We Are.

The United States and China are really the only two countries that matter right now in shaping the A.I. future. As President Trump and President Xi Jinping meet in Beijing, there’s a kind of Cold War atmosphere, with people talking about an A.I. arms race. But who is winning? Are we even in a race at all? Kyle Chan, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, says it’s hard to call it a race because the U.S. and China have very different A.I. goals. * 00:00:25 U.S. vs. China in A.I. * 00:03:07 Everyday A.I. in China * 00:07:41 China's A.I. chip limitations * 00:12:14 China's A.I. advantage: energy & deployment * 00:16:10 China's public mood on A.I. * 00:19:44 AI, job displacement and social concerns * 00:23:53 Robots for China's labor shortage * 00:26:55 China's view on America's AGI fixation * 00:31:16 Distilling A.I. models * 00:38:39 U.S. needs more A.I. deployment * 00:41:48 U.S. chip policy and the hawk's argument (A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.) Thoughts? Email us at interestingtimes@nytimes.com. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel,  Interesting Times with Ross Douthat [https://www.youtube.com/@InterestingTimesNYT] . > Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://nytimes.com/podcasts] or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher [https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher]. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A Legendary Investor on How to Prevent America’s Coming ‘Heart Attack’

A stalemated war. Fractured alliances. A rival waiting in the wings. It feels to me that we’re having an “end of the American empire” moment. My guest this week, Ray Dalio, is an unlikely prophet of doom — the billionaire Bridgewater investor conquered Wall Street by studying history and mastering global trends. He foresaw the 2008 financial crisis,and these days he’s warning that the U.S. is repeating the patterns that ended great empires of the past. * 0:00 - Intro * 01:24 - The rise and fall of empires through big cycles * 08:35 - Geopolitical tensions: China, Iran and the Suez Canal * 14:27 - Fiat currency or gold? * 24:19 - America’s coming ‘heart attack’ * 30:37 - Acts of nature, A.I. and technology * 43:37 - ‘Could we have a Japanese future?’ (A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.) Thoughts? Email us at interestingtimes@nytimes.com. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat [https://www.youtube.com/@InterestingTimesNYT]. > Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://nytimes.com/podcasts] or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher [https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher]. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why Are We Still Driving?

Self-driving cars are here. But what kind of future will they bring: safe roads and extra time or dystopian traffic jams? My guest this week is Andrew Miller, who writes about self-driving cars and transportation policy. I love the open road, so I press him on what’s lost when we give away driving to the robots. * 0:00 - Intro * 01:27 - The sales pitch for Waymo, Tesla, and Zoox  * 12:24 - How autonomous are autonomous cars?  * 20:14 - Liability: Who is responsible for an accident? * 31:56 - Political obstacles: Spying, data, labor * 38:53 - 20:35: The good and bad scenarios * 48:25 - Are we losing the “romance of the road”? (A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.) Thoughts? Email us at interestingtimes@nytimes.com. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat [https://www.youtube.com/@InterestingTimesNYT]. > Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://nytimes.com/podcasts] or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher [https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher]. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A Bitcoin Evangelist Tries to Convert Me

One question has haunted my investment strategy for years: What is cryptocurrency actually for? It feels as though the vibes are constantly shifting — one day it’s the dollar’s successor, and the next it’s little more than a meme. My guest this week is bitcoin evangelist Anthony Pompliano, the chief executive of ProCap Financial. We get into whether crypto is a bet against the American empire and whether its volatility is actually a strength. * 0:00 - Intro * 01:27 - Physical to digital: The evolution of financial assets * 05:00 - The wealth inequality gap * 09:58 - The global adoption of crypto * 14:51 - Bitcoin vs. Ethereum * 20:26 - Why "stability" is a financial lie * 29:30 - A “digital savings account” * 41:57 - The role of Bitcoin in political dynamics * 56:05 - “A bet against America” (A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.) Thoughts? Email us at interestingtimes@nytimes.com. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat [https://www.youtube.com/@InterestingTimesNYT]. > Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://nytimes.com/podcasts] or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher [https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher]. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Trump Is the End of a 100-Year Experiment

President Trump has tested the limits of presidential power since he returned to office — from his assertion of total control over federal agencies to his war in Iran. But so far, many of Trump’s most aggressive moves have been stopped by the Supreme Court.  My guest this week is Sarah Isgur, a conservative court watcher, who argues that the Supreme Court isn’t just a firewall against Donald Trump, but the real power center in American politics today. * 0:00 - Intro * 01:28 - Remaking the presidency: The hundred-year experiment * 04:26 - Trump’s legal retribution campaign * 09:15 - The Supreme Court’s strategy in the face of Trump * 18:15 - “Looming" cases: Tariffs and birthright citizenship * 28:23 - Supreme Court internal dynamics * 43:32 - The future bench (A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.) Thoughts? Email us at interestingtimes@nytimes.com. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat [https://www.youtube.com/@InterestingTimesNYT]. > Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://nytimes.com/podcasts] or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher [https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher]. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.