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September 4, 2025 65 mins

Is the United States still a worthy opponent for China? In this episode, Ross Douthat talks to Dan Wang, the author of “Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future,” about the alarming speed at which China is able to build and could blow America out of the water.

  • 01:44 - “A life full of ease and beauty”
  • 05:30 - Rule by engineers
  • 11:00 - China’s Technological Mastery
  • 16:04 - Is autocracy driving innovation?
  • 25:00 - What are the real stakes of the competition?
  • 35:47 - How could China fail? 
  • 53:00 - Advice for America

(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.)

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