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  • Episode 22: James Romm on Plato and Tyranny

    “It becomes a terrible, terrible story of a war of all against all,” says James Romm on this week’s episode of The World in Time. “There are three or four different factions, each with their own military wing, competing for control of Syracuse. Plato is watching all this from Athens in what must have been a state of horror, because he understands he was partly to blame, or at least that some people were blaming him for what was taking place. And the Seventh Letter—by far the longest, most detailed, the richest source of evidence for my story—is extremely defensive in an effort to extricate Plato from this morass.”

    This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with James Romm, historian and classicist, about his new book, Plato and the Tyrant: The Fall of Greece’s Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece. The conversation follows Plato on three journeys the philosopher made to Syracuse, the Greek city on the island of Sicily. There, during the reign of Dionysius I and then again during the reign of Dionysius II, Plato attempted to put philosophy into practice. Although his efforts to turn tyrants into philosopher kings ultimately failed, although Syracuse fell catastrophically into political terror and civil war, the history of Plato’s involvement in the city’s politics can, Romm argues, complicate and deepen our understanding of The Republic.


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    0 min
  • How the World Sees America, With Adam Tooze

    The old world order is dying. What new world order — if any — is struggling to be born?

    I can’t think of a week when it felt clearer that an era was coming to an end. Whatever people thought America was, at least for a couple of decades, it’s something else now. The killing of Alex Pretti and the fact that it was recorded on video that plainly contradicted the Trump administration’s initial narrative made that clear. Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada, also drove home that point when he declared at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the world was in the midst of a “rupture.”

    What do people think of America now in Europe? In China? And if American hegemony is coming to an end, what comes after that?

    Adam Tooze is a historian at Columbia University and a chronicler of crises. The Guardian recently called him “the crisis whisperer.” He’s written a number of books about the times when systems fall apart and new orders emerge, including “Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World.” And on his Substack, Chartbook, he tracks the unfolding crises and power shifts, in particular the rise of China. He also had a front-row seat to the chaos of Davos last week, moderating a panel that included Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary.

    I wanted to talk to Tooze about what he saw at the World Economic Forum, how the world’s understanding of the U.S. is changing and how he’s making sense of this moment.

    Mentioned:

    Crashed by Adam Tooze

    “Chartbook” Substack by Adam Tooze

    “The Empty Chamber” by George Packer

    “The growing challenges for monetary policy in the current international monetary and financial system", speech by Mark Carney

    Book Recommendations:

    Diary of a Madman and Other Stories by Lu Xun

    The Southern Tour by Jonathan Chatwin

    Context Collapse by Ryan Ruby

    Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at [email protected].

    You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

    This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

    Subscribe today at 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. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


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    0 min
  • On Aging with Adrienne Corn

    In this show Robert Harrison and Adrienne Corn discuss the biology, psychology, and sociology of aging. Adrienne Corn earned a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in Leadership, Policy and Organizational Behavior. She is the founder of HumanTalented, a software and services company located in Nashville. Songs in this episode: “From the Beginning” by Emerson, Lake & […]

    0 min
  • Aphorisms: Sayings to Live By

    Michael Rosen talks to James Geary about his lifetime obsession, aphorisms. These short, witty philosophical sayings have been coined by everyone from Emily Dickinson and James Baldwin to Hallmark, and even Michael's mum.

    Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven, in partnership with the Open University.

    Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz

    30 min
  • Testosterone Replacement Therapy

    Can taking testosterone help with low libido and energy?

    It's all over social media and is often touted by celebs - both male and female - but is testosterone replacement therapy the answer to listener Clive's low energy levels?

    Clive got in touch after sending off for a blood test with an online health firm which showed he might have low testosterone and could be a candidate for therapy. But to buy it privately isn't cheap and once started, is a lifelong commitment. So is it worth the money?

    Presenter Greg Foot is joined by President of the British Society of Sexual Medicine, Mike Kirby, as well as NHS GP and Director of Men's Health at Manual, Dr Jeff Foster.

    If you’ve seen an ad, trend or wonder product promising to make you happier, healthier or greener, email us at [email protected] or send a voice note to our WhatsApp number, 07543 306807.

    RESEARCHER: PHIL SANSOM

    PRODUCERS: SIMON HOBAN AND GREG FOOT

    0 min
  • Geoff Dyer & Gareth Evans: Homework

    Geoff Dyer has written books on every subject under the sun; now, at last, he turns his hand to memoir. Homework is his account of his childhood and adolescence in provincial England, as the only child of a dinner lady and a sheet-metal worker, and the opportunities afforded by the postwar settlement in the 1960s and 1970s. Merve Emre describes it as being like ‘going for a long walk with a close friend, whose singular voice — inventive, absorbing, a little rakish, and wonderfully dry — will hold your interest for hours on end.’ Dyer was in conversation with curator, editor and writer Gareth Evans.

    57 min
  • Steve Lillywhite produced the Stones, U2, Siouxsie, XTC - ‘the last leg of the relay’

    Steve Lillywhite first got a foot in the studio door aged 17 making demos for Ultravox and became a producer with credits on over 500 records. He doesn’t have a copy of any of them but kept his Grammys and his CBE. The job involves being a lightning-rod, cheer-leader, editor, finisher and “as diplomatic as Henry Kissinger”. He looks back here from his ‘Lillypad’ in Bali at the milestones along the way, among them …

     

    … “I’d done my 10,000 hours by the age of 22”

     

    ... “If it ain’t broke, break it!”

     

    … when he screwed up as a tape-op: “you only do it once”

     

    … why bands never want to leave the studio

     

    … breakthrough hits with Johnny Thunders, Siouxsie and the Psychedelic Furs

     

    … “there’s been no new technology in the last ten years”

     

    … the radio plugger who heard Sunday Bloody Sunday and said “sounds like a hit but you’ll have to lose the word Bloody”

     

    … “when Mick and Keith weren’t talking they communicated through me”

     

    … why Muff Winwood wanted to fire Larry Mullen

     

    … why producers can’t hear a hit  

     

    … Adam Clayton and Nick Rhodes “aren’t musicians”

     

    … “make the drums less Huntley & Palmers!”

     

    … the Wrecking Crew versus the “One-Man Show" production of today 

     

    … and memories of making Vertigo, Fairytale of New York and Making Plans for Nigel.


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    1 hr 1 min
  • Freedom and Fate

    An individual "is responsible for everything he does," claimed Sartre. And from criminal justice to creative expression, free will and responsibility are central to our culture and our personal lives. Yet neuroscientists and materialist thinkers commonly maintain that freedom is an illusion. And it remains unknown how the core principles of freedom and responsibility can be reconciled with this outlook. Many attempts have been made to argue that the two seemingly contradictory frameworks can be made compatible. But critics say these "compatibilist" arguments are unconvincing and are driven merely by the attempt to make scientific materialism acceptable. Furthermore, whilst surveys suggest most materialist philosophers believe we can reconcile the two, the majority of us reject the idea that an action can be both determined and free.


    Paul Bloom is a Canadian-American psychologist, bestselling author, and celebrated speaker. He is Professor Emeritus at Yale and a professor at the University of Toronto. Bloom’s work explores human nature, morality, and pleasure.

    Joining us from California is Robert Sapolsky. Sapolsky is a distinguished neuroscientist, primatologist, and author, best known for his research on stress and its impact on behaviour and health. He is also a professor at Stanford University.

    Lucy Allais is a philosopher at Johns Hopkins University and the University of the Witwatersrand, renowned for her work on Immanuel Kant. Her writing spans ethics, metaphysics, and political philosophy.


    Please do email us at [email protected] with any of your thoughts or questions on the episode!

    To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/

    And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/

    You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    0 min
  • The Most Important Foreign Policy Speech in Years

    “We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada announced last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

    It was one of the most significant foreign policy speeches in years, sending shockwaves through the international community. He was describing a dynamic that’s been building for decades — what the scholars Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman call “weaponized interdependence” — that has now reached a tipping point.

    I asked Farrell on the show to explain this dynamic, why this is a “rupture” moment and how other countries are responding. He is an international-affairs professor at Johns Hopkins University, is an author of the book “Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy” and writes an excellent Substack, Programmable Mutter.

    Note: This episode touches on the clashes over immigration enforcement in Minneapolis and the killing of Renee Good, but it was recorded on Friday, before the killing of Alex Pretti.

    Mentioned:

    “Davos 2026: Special address by Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada”

    Underground Empire by Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman

    “Programmable Mutter” by Henry Farrell

    “The nature and sources of liberal international order” by Daniel Deudney and G. John Ikenberry

    “The Enshittification of American Power” by Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman

    “Too big to care” by Cory Doctorow

    Weapons of the Weak by James C. Scott

    Private Truths, Public Lies by Timur Kuran

    “Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System” by Stacie E. Goddard and Abraham Newman

    “The Dynamics of Informational Cascades: The Monday Demonstrations in Leipzig, East Germany, 1989–91” by Susanne Lohmann

    Book Recommendations:

    Dollars and Dominion by Mary Bridges

    Nonesuch by Francis Spufford

    The Score by C. Thi Nguyen

    Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at [email protected].

    You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

    This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Jack McCordick. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Mary Marge Locker, Kate Sinclair Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota and Isaac Jones. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker and Carole Sabouraud. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

    Subscribe today at 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. 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 for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    1 hr 18 min