Interesting Times

Why Are We Having Less Sex? Ask a Pornographer.

interestingtimes@nytimes.com (New York Times Opinion) — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Pornography gets the blame for a lot of societal problems, including the so-called “sex recession.” Can porn ever really be ethical? Erika Lust thinks so. The adult filmmaker sees porn as an art form. She’s a self-described feminist who centers women’s desires and fantasies in her work. But how different is the product she’s making?

Lust sits down with Julia Yost, senior editor at “First Things,” to make the case for porn. Together, they discuss the adult film industry, stigmas around sex and translating fantasy into reality.

Note: As we work on relaunching “Interesting Times,” the show will feature a series of guest hosts in the coming months.

00:00 - Intro
01:22 - How Erika Became a Pornographer
03:51 - Behind the Scenes of an Adult Film
08:07 - The Relationship With Performers
08:55 - Porn vs. “Euphoria”
10:16 - Ethical Porn
13:00 - Accurately Depicting Female Pleasure
14:22 - Making Porn as a Feminist
16:03 - Andrea Dworkin and the Anti-Porn Feminist Movement
19:06 - “The Golden Era of Porn”
20:55 - Fantasizing Under The Patriarchy
24:01 - Sexuality In Ancient Rome
26:15 - The Cornell Seven and Sexual Risk
34:30 - Why We Need Stigmas
40:55 - Is Porn Causing the Sex Recession?
42:23 - “The Most Vanilla People Have the Hottest Sex Lives”
43:23 - Porn Addiction and Compulsive Behavior
46:44 - Religious Conservatives Aren’t Ashamed of Sex

(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.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here 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.

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‘A Golden Age of Science’ Brought to You by the White House

interestingtimes@nytimes.com (New York Times Opinion) — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000

The Trump administration wants to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence for scientific discovery. But can its plan succeed without prioritizing universities?

Guest host Tyler Cowen speaks with Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s top science and technology adviser, about the White House’s new blueprint for American innovation and what it means for the next generation of scientists.

00:00 Intro
00:54 The model for scientific research today
02:49 What's the scientific evidence that science has been broken?
04:38 What are the administration’s science funding priorities?
10:55 What's the role of universities in training scientists?
16:31 Science and immigration policy: are we getting it wrong?
18:55 Who has the final say over what gets funded?
24:43 Should political appointees have the ability to block particular grants?
28:29 Longevity science vs. a man on the moon
29:16 Why is Trump calling it superintelligence vs. artificial intelligence?
30:46 Does the White House think AI safety concerns are a "hoax"?
34:50 Should the federal government fund a lot more AI safety research?
39:07 How much could scientific discovery be turbocharged in the next five years?
41:00 A.I. regulation & preventing backlash

Note: As we work on relaunching “Interesting Times,” the show will feature a series of guest hosts in the coming months.

(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.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here 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.

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What the Frontier Labs Know That We Don’t

interestingtimes@nytimes.com (New York Times Opinion) — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Dwarkesh Patel is one of the most important voices in the artificial intelligence world. Deeply embedded in San Francisco’s tech community, he has interviewed nearly every tech chief executive at length.

This week’s guest host, Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University, sits down with Mr. Patel to discuss why researchers are resigning, whether A.I. could become conscious and if he’ll ever get an A.I. girlfriend.

Note: As we work on relaunching “Interesting Times,” the show will feature a series of guest hosts in the coming months.

00:00 Intro
01:31 What Inspired the “Dwarkesh Podcast”
02:47 Documenting Wild Human History
04:18 What The Public Doesn’t Understand About A.I.
06:25 The Mood in San Francisco
06:51 Dwarkesh Didn’t See This Coming
09:08 Should More A.I. Researchers Resign?
11:09 Unreleased Frontier Models
13:26 Pausing A.I.
15:45 A.I. Psychosis & Consciousness
21:14 What Tech Bros Do for Fun
23:50 Bay Area Culture
24:06 A.I. Boyfriends v. Girlfriends
26:02 Are A.I. Therapists Good?
26:54 What Dwarkesh Got Wrong
27:44 What’s The Next Big Thing?
29:13 Robot Predictions
30:26 What Jobs Are Safe?
35:21 The Speed of A.I. Adoption
37:12 Milestones To Watch
42:58 What If 2035 Looks Normal?
44:39 Dwarkesh In 2045
46:27 Skepticism On A.I. Revenue
48:01 How Podcasting Has Changed Dwarkesh

(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.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here 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.

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Introducing ‘Interesting Times’

interestingtimes@nytimes.com (New York Times Opinion) — Sun, 6 Apr 2025 17:55:00 +0000

There’s a saying that comes to mind these days: May you live in interesting times. It’s understood to be a curse, even though it sounds like a blessing.

“Interesting Times With Ross Douthat” is a new weekly podcast from New York Times Opinion. Every Thursday, he will map the new world order through interviews and conversations. Answering questions like: What does our new political era really look like? What is the future of democracy around the world, with American empire in retreat? What happens to movies and books — all of culture — in our digital and A.I.-dominated age?

Thoughts? Email us at interestingtimes@nytimes.com.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here 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.

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