Culturally Determined

New York Magazine technology columnist John Herrman analyzes recent discourse around artificial intelligence, including high-profile AI hacking incidents. How has the cultural and political discourse around AI changed? Is an AI financial bubble about to burst? And what do Meta's new Muse agents show how Silicon Valley views the world?

Recorded October 21, 2026

LINKS

New York Magazine on AI whistleblowers

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ai-researchers-quit-openai-anthropic.html

John on AI apocalypse narratives

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/why-everyones-talking-about-the-ai-apocalypse.html

John on OpenAI's rogue agents

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/are-openai-agents-going-rogue-or-is-openai.html

John on Muse agents

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ai-agent-flood-muse.html

Zeynep Tufekci's piece, "The Unstoppable Force of A.I. Hype Is Meeting One Immovable Fact"

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/opinion/ai-agents-steal-jobs-employment.html

Aryeh on using Bluesky to quit Twitter

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2026/08/28/how-delete-x-twitter-sign-up-bluesky/91447669007/

Aryeh's Substack newsletter, "Links I Like"

https://aryehcw.substack.com/

Follow John on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jwherrman.bsky.social

Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Timothy Noah of The New Republic discusses his recent essay, "Why Trump May Not Serve Out His Presidency" arguing that Trump has become so politically toxic that Republican politicians will turn on him after the midterm elections.

Recorded September 29, 2026

LINKS

Tim's piece, "Why Trump May Not Serve Out His Presidency"

https://newrepublic.com/article/215634/trump-may-not-finish-presidency

Tim's accompanying Substack piece

https://timothynoah.substack.com/p/why-trump-wont-finish-his-term

New Yorker on the man who drafted the 25th Amendment

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/05/11/is-the-twenty-fifth-amendment-really-an-option

NYT on Trump administration extracting gold from Venezuela

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/world/americas/venezuela-gold-trump.html

Jacob Weisberg's new book, "Profiles in Cowardice"

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/818503/profiles-in-cowardice-by-jacob-weisberg/

Tim on political bravery

https://newrepublic.com/article/193118/political-courage-cowardice-trump-resistance

Tim on a Whig revival

https://newrepublic.com/article/178041/gop-dying-time-whig-revival

Aryeh's new professional website

https://www.aryehcohenwade.com/

Tim's Substack, Backbencher

https://timothynoah.substack.com/

Aryeh's Substack, Links I Like

https://aryehcw.substack.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Phoebe discusses her recent essay, "Woke 2, antisemitism by another name." Did Oct. 7 and the Gaza war create a common foe for the broad left to unify against—namely, the Jews? Or has the second Trump administration supplanted Israel as the American left's enemy number one? What does the John Galliano Met Gala disaster reveal about the acceptability of antisemitism? Aryeh also discusses his recent essay on how to quit Twitter/X in three easy steps.

Recorded August 31, 2026

LINKS

Phoebe's piece, "Woke 2, antisemitism by another name"

https://thecjn.ca/opinion/woke-2-antisemitism-by-another-name/

Phoebe and Aryeh's previous podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-last-straight-woman-with-phoebe-maltz-bovy/id981282353?i=1000771840036

New York Magazine's "Habibi City" package

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/swana-new-york.html

David Polansky's piece, "‘New York Magazine’ food feature leaves a bad taste"

https://thecjn.ca/opinion/new-york-magazine-food-feature-leaves-a-bad-taste/

NYT on Galliano's spa faux pas

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/style/galliano-met-gala-critics.html

Phoebe on the Cornell antisemitic student

https://thecjn.ca/opinion/why-calling-antisemites-weird-doesnt-cut-it-anymore/

Aryeh on quitting Twitter

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2026/08/28/how-delete-x-twitter-sign-up-bluesky/91447669007/

Phoebe's new book, "The Last Straight Woman: On Desiring Men"

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Straight-Woman-Desiring-Men/dp/0771013027

Phoebe's Substack, Close-reading the reruns

https://phoebemaltzbovy.substack.com/

Aryeh's Substack, Culturally Determined: Links I Like

https://aryehcw.substack.com/

Follow Phoebe on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/phoebebovy.bsky.social

Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bob talks about his new book, "The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning." He describes how using AI to research treatment options when he had cancer convinced him of the technology's power. How seriously should we take "doomer" predictions that AI could lead to global catastrophe? Aryeh thinks average people are revolting against the technology, while Bob believes there are ways to use AI to overcome the cognitive biases that plague humanity.

Recorded August 4, 2026

LINKS

Bob's new book, "The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning"

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-God-Test/Robert-Wright/9781668061657

Aryeh's new Substack newsletter, "Culturally Determined: Links I Like"

https://aryehcw.substack.com/

Aryeh and Bob discuss the legacy of Bloggingheads

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/20-years-ago-bloggingheads-was-a-trailblazer-with/id981282353?i=1000735793526

"Pacing the Frontier" letter

https://www.pacingthefrontier.com/

New Yorker profile of Sam Altman

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/13/sam-altman-may-control-our-future-can-he-be-trusted

The NonZero Newsletter

https://www.nonzero.org/

Nonzero podcast

https://www.nonzero.org/podcast

Follow Bob on Twitter: https://x.com/robertwrighter

Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Claire Carusillo discusses her debut novel, "The Responsible Party," which just received a rave review in the New York Times. Claire uses bizarre real events from her family history to tell a comic multigenerational story of shipwrecks, the Chicago suburbs, humidity, and murder. She also discusses Storyboard, her new bookstore/skate shop/coffee shop in Midway, Utah — and the famous "tradwife" influencer who opened a store in the same town.

Recorded August 5, 2026

LINKS

Claire's novel, "The Responsible Party"

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250408631/theresponsibleparty/

Claire's new store, Storyboard

https://www.storyboardmidway.com/

NYT on tourists in Midway, Utah

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/09/us/tradwife-ballerina-farm-utah.html

Storyboard on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/storyboardmidway/

Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Phoebe discusses her new nonfiction book, "The Last Straight Woman: On Desiring Men," which critiques the contemporary discourse about female heterosexuality.

Recorded June 4, 2026

LINKS

Phoebe's new book, "The Last Straight Woman: On Desiring Men"

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Straight-Woman-Desiring-Men/dp/0771013027

Phoebe on what she didn't want the cover to be

https://phoebemaltzbovy.substack.com/p/everything-i-learned-and-didnt-learn

The audiobook

https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Last-Straight-Woman-Audiobook/B0G24L7BV4?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp

Phoebe's post, "Men and women are exactly the same"

https://phoebemaltzbovy.substack.com/p/men-and-women-are-exactly-the-same

Kristen Roupenian's 2017 short story, "Cat Person"

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/11/cat-person

Phoebe's Substack, Close-reading the reruns

https://phoebemaltzbovy.substack.com/

Follow Phoebe on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phoebe.maltz.bovy

Follow Phoebe on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/phoebebovy.bsky.social

Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah Wang discusses her debut novel, "New Skin," a dark comedy about a young woman whose mother is addicted to plastic surgery. After a bad nose job ruins the mother's face, she becomes a contestant on a reality show where people with botched plastic surgery compete to win reconstructive surgery. The novel explores class, immigrant lives, the labor of marginalized women, Los Angeles — and is also very funny.

Recorded May 8, 2026

LINKS

Sarah's new book, "New Skin"

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/sarah-wang/new-skin/9780316594523/

Sarah's Instagram account, @daikonoclast

https://www.instagram.com/daikonoclast/

Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adrian Bonenberger, a writer and Army veteran, is running for governor of Connecticut on a platform of establishing a voluntary state guard. He explains how a state guard would decentralize power to the local level, and how his experience training military volunteers during the Ukraine War informed his view on threats to America and possibilities for a different kind of civic engagement.

Recorded March 24, 2026

LINKS

Adrian's campaign site

https://www.bonenbergerforgovernor.com/

Adrian's 2023 piece on "Civil War"

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4374348-a-second-american-civil-war-wouldnt-look-like-a-movie/

Follow Adrian on Twitter: https://x.com/AdrianBonenber1

Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On an episode that surely will not make anyone mad, Dave discusses his recent essay on how Jeffrey Epstein used his Jewishness to further his crimes. Aryeh and Dave then debate the merits of staying on Musk's Twitter/X vs. fleeing to cringey Bluesky.

Recorded March 6, 2026

LINKS

Dave's piece, "The Line Between Affinity and Conspiracy"

https://jewishcurrents.org/the-line-between-affinity-and-conspiracy

NYT: "Scams, Schemes, Ruthless Cons: The Untold Story of How Jeffrey Epstein Got Rich"

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/magazine/jeffrey-epstein-money-scams-investigation.html

Times of Israel on antisemitic heckler in California

https://www.timesofisrael.com/san-francisco-mayor-daniel-lurie-denounces-tax-the-jews-chant-heard-during-protest/

Dave's 2108 piece on Woody Allen

https://jewishcurrents.org/unlearning-woody-allen

Aryeh and Dave's 2018 conversation about the NYT

https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/51348

Follow Dave on Twitter: https://x.com/DavidKlion

Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Magdalene Taylor, a senior editor at Playboy Magazine who writes about sexuality and culture, talks about whether we are finally sick of dating apps, whether AI will change social interactions, the forces encouraging men and women to hate each other, the decline of the manosphere, and Trump's strange performance of masculinity.

Recorded January 20, 2026

LINKS

Magdalene's newsletter, "Many Such Cases"

https://www.sexual-culture.com/

Aryeh and Magdalene's 2021 conversation

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/juggalos-simps-and-cat-guys-with-magdalene-taylor/id981282353?i=1000517814150

NYT on a woman who fell in love with a chatbot

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/technology/ai-boyfriend-chatgpt.html

Magdalene's piece, "Do Men Even Like Women Anymore?"

https://www.sexual-culture.com/p/do-men-even-like-women-anymore

Magdalene's piece, "Do Women Even Like Men Anymore?"

https://www.sexual-culture.com/p/do-women-even-like-men-anymore

Puck on young men and Trump

https://puck.news/why-young-men-are-souring-on-trump/

Follow @magdajtaylor

Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.