Interesting Times: A Mind-Bending Conversation with Peter Thiel

Listen to and follow ‘Hard Fork’Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTube | iHeartRadioThis week, we’re bringing you a recent interview from “Interesting Times with Ross Douthat,” one of The New York Times’s newest podcasts. In this episode, Ross sits down with Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir and one of the most contrarian thinkers in tech. Together, they unpack Thiel’s theory that we’re living through an era of technological stagnation, and debate whether President Trump’s populism and the development of artificial intelligence will help us unlock new progress.Guest:Peter Thiel, co-founder of Paypal and Palantir.Additional Reading:Peter Thiel and the AntichristThe New York TimesCredits“Hard Fork” is hosted by

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/06/26/opinion/26rosspod-thiel/26rosspod-thiel-mediumSquareAt3X.jpg

Listen to and follow ‘Hard Fork’
Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTube | iHeartRadio

This week, we’re bringing you a recent interview from “Interesting Times with Ross Douthat,” one of The New York Times’s newest podcasts. In this episode, Ross sits down with Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir and one of the most contrarian thinkers in tech. Together, they unpack Thiel’s theory that we’re living through an era of technological stagnation, and debate whether President Trump’s populism and the development of artificial intelligence will help us unlock new progress.

Guest:

Peter Thiel, co-founder of Paypal and Palantir.

Additional Reading:

Peter Thiel and the Antichrist

A photo of the podcast guest, Peter Thiel — a man with short dark hair and wearing a T-shirt — reproduced in only the colors white and dark blue. — The New York Times

Credits

“Hard Fork” is hosted by Kevin Roose and Casey Newton and produced by Whitney Jones and Rachel Cohn. The show is edited by Jen Poyant. Engineering by Alyssa Moxley and original music by Dan Powell, Elisheba Ittoop, Marion Lozano, Sophia Lanman and Rowan Niemisto.