A.I., Mars and Immortality: Are We Dreaming Big Enough? | Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

The billionaire Peter Thiel is unimpressed with our pace of innovation. In this episode, he critiques artificial intelligence, longevity science and space travel — and warns that our lack of progress could lead to catastrophic outcomes, including the emergence of the Antichrist. 01:02 What does stagnation mean in 2025? 06:44 Peter Thiel's case for more progress and innovation 12:06 Does taking more scientific risk include life extension? 16:05 Peter Thiel's political history 19:47 Did Trump live up to Thiel's expectations? 26:58 Does Elon Musk even want to go to Mars? 29:32 How Thiel defines A.I. 35:09 Is A.I. too modest an ambition? 37:14 How will the human race evolve? Should it? 44:10 Thiel's critique of Silicon Valley 45:37 Who is the real Antichrist? Read the full transcript here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/op... This episode of “Interesting Times” was produced by Sophia Alvarez Boyd, Andrea Betanzos, Elisa Gutierrez and Katherine Sullivan. It was edited by Jordana Hochman. Mixing and engineering by Isaac Jones, Sophia Lanham and Tim Brow. Cinematography by Marina King, Brian Dawson, Daniel Hollis Diamond and Tam Lam. Video editing by Arpita Aneja and Steph Khoury. Original music by Isaac Jones, Sonia Herrero, Pat McCusker and Aman Sahota. Fact-checking by Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Video directed by Jonah M. Kessel. The director of Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Watch more on @InterestingTimesNYT.