Aspen Ideas To Go

During the Ebola crisis, strong grassroots relationships and homegrown leadership made the difference between life and death. Drawing on that learning, movers and shakers from the Aspen New Voices Fellowship will share their stories about the silo-busting connections that can be forged under stress. From Sierra Leone to Nepal, these kinds of bonds keep our most vulnerable communities healthier and safer in perilous times. Aspen New Voices Fellows: Rubayat Khan, Relebohile Moletsane, Serufusa Sekidde, David Kuria, Kopano Mabaso, Abraham Leno, Samuel Kargbo, ElsaMarie D'Silva, Esther Ngumbi www.AspenNewVoices.org

In many ways, artificial intelligence has become the norm. From autopilot on airplanes to language translation, we've come to accept once novel concepts as just something thinking machines do. What we have ultimately learned is that human thinking is just one way of thinking. So, how far will artificial intelligence go? This episode features a conversation between Danny Hillis and Alexis Madrigal. Hillis is an inventor, scientist, author and engineer. He is co-founder of Applied Minds, a research and development company that creates a range of new products and services in software, entertainment, electronics, biotechnology, and mechanical design. Madrigal is the Silicon Valley bureau chief for Fusion, where he hosts and produces a television show about the future. He is the tech critic for NPR's "FreshAir," a contributing editor at The Atlantic, and a former staff writer at Wired.

The discussion of "designer babies" often revolves around gender or hair color, but as Nita Farahany and Marcy Darnovsky explore, the medical debate is far more complicated. Farahany is Professor of Law and Philosophy, Director of Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, Duke University; Member, Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Should we screen embryos for disease? Should we make genetic modifications? These considerations raise ethical concerns and call into question the validity of surrounding research. The lack of regulation and oversight make this particular biotechnology frightening to some, while the potential for disease eradicating techniques excites others. But how far is too far? What are the major scientific and ethical hurdles to assuage the skeptics? Marcy Darnovsky is the executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society. Nita Farahany is professor of Law and Philosophy and director of the Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy at Duke University.

From co-founding Artists for a Free South Africa, to working in failing schools to turn them around, actor and 2014 Harman-Eisner Artist in Residence Alfre Woodard has played a role in making change as an activist artist. Woodard joins the Aspen Institute's Damian Woetzel in a conversation about her career and work as an artist on the front lines.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu says that nowhere is America's crisis of violence more evident than in the African-American community.  In this talk, he asks: What’s the real cost of violence? And how do we change it? Since taking office in 2010, Landrieu has reformed the city’s police department and launched NOLA for Life, an initiative to reduce murders. And it seems to be working, at least incrementally: The murder rate in New Orleans has dropped for the third straight year. So what can the rest of the country learn from New Orleans? The Aspen Institute found this talk to be so compelling, that we’ll be taking a deeper look at Violence in America at the Aspen Ideas Festival this summer.

What is new about how teenagers communicate through services such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram? Do social media affect the quality of teens’ lives? Youth culture and technology expert Danah Boyd talks with The Atlantic’s Hanna Rosin about what Boyd sees as the major myths regarding teens’ use of social media, exploring tropes about identity, privacy, safety, danger, and bullying. Boyd argues that society fails kids when paternalism and protectionism hinder their ability to become informed, thoughtful, and engaged citizens through their online interactions. How will emerging technologies continue to impact a new generation of Americans?

This episode features Nicholas Burns and Strobe Talbott discussing Russia and Putinism. Burns is director of the Aspen Strategy Group and Talbott is an ASG member and president of the Brookings Institution. In this discussion, they follow up on a lecture Talbott gave at the Aspen Institute back in August. That lecture, entitled "Putinism: The Back Story", focused on Russia’s current policies, turning a lens on what Talbott asserts are the undoing of recent reforms. (Watch the full lecture: https://goo.gl/obtm3Y) Here, Burns asks Talbott to reflect on what has changed, and what hasn’t, over the last eight months.

Winner of the 2014 National Book Award, "Redeployment" takes readers to the front lines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Author Phil Klay reads from and discusses this collection of short stories which asks readers to understand what happened there, and what happened to the soldiers who returned. Interwoven are themes of brutality and faith, guilt and fear, helplessness and survival. the characters in these stories struggle to make meaning out of the chaos. NOTE: Contains graphic scenes that may not be suitable for everyone.

Despite medical advances and the application of scientific principles to modern medicine, there seems to be increasing controversy about the "right" diagnostic and treatment choices, even for very common medical issues – such as how best to treat high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol; whether to take vitamins, and who should be screened for cancer with mammograms and PSA. Doctors Jerome Groopman, chair of Harvard Medical School, and Pamela Hartzband, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, discuss why experts disagree, why there isn't a clear "right" answer, and what patients need to know to make decisions in the face of conflicting information.

Description Some people seem to lead inner lives that are richer and more substantive than the rest of us. How do they do it? In this talk, author and commentator David Brooks explores some of history's leaders in terms of personal character. He asks how love, suffering, struggle, surrender and obedience lead them to their depth. His latest book, "The Road to Character" was released on April 14, 2015. This talk, recorded last summer at the Aspen Ideas Festival, serves as a preview to many of the themes Brooks explores in the book.

In this lecture, philosopher, cultural theorist, and author Kwame Anthony Appiah rejects the idea that cross-cultural conversations often lead to the discovery of irreconcilable differences. The argument holds that conversations across groups about ethical questions breakdown because each culture has different and incompatible ethical starting points. Appiah maintains such an argument is mistaken. Because he says, many people have found cross-cultural encounters to be among the most rewarding experiences in their lives and without them, we have little chance of solving the global problems that we face.

A professor of public policy at Harvard, Robert D. Putnam has consulted for the last three American presidents and many other leaders around the globe. His newest book, "Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis" is a groundbreaking examination of the growing inequality gap and explores why fewer Americans today have the opportunity for upward mobility. He has written fourteen books and been translated into more than twenty languages. His books "Bowling Alone" and "Making Democracy Work", are among the most cited publications in the social sciences in the last half century. This conversation between Putnam and Walter Isaacson, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, was recorded live at the Institute's Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn Book Series.

At 28, musician Jon Batiste is considered by many to be one of the most exciting and progressive new crossover talents on the scene today. His modern take on the American songbook — equally influenced by his passion for jazz and classical styles, which he calls "Social Music"  — attracts critical acclaim as well as audiences across all demographics. These two New Orleans natives will discuss Batiste's music, their hometown, the importance of music education, and the state and future of American musical traditions more broadly. Batiste demonstrates much of the music they discuss on his melodica.

Astrophysicist and writer Janna Levin offers an epic tour through time from the beginning of the universe in a big bang, through black holes, past the emergence of life on at least one little planet spinning in a conceivably infinite cosmic ocean, to the possible end of time.

Michael Lewis is the author of the bestsellers "Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt", "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game", and "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game", among other books. After graduating from Princeton University and the London School of Economics, Lewis worked on the bond desk at Salomon Brothers, an experience he recounted in "Liar's Poker", his first book. He left the financial world to become a journalist, writing on politics, finance and more for the New Republic, the New York Times Magazine, Slate and other publications. He is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and columnist at Bloomberg View. Recorded live at Aspen Words. NOTE: This episode contains explicit language.

Lawrence Lessig (professor at Harvard Law School) says there's a profound loss of confidence by Americans in their government. In this Aspen Lecture, Lessig shows exactly why Americans are right, and just how we could restore the rightful sense that we have a government that represents us.

Congressman John R. Lewis (D-GA), civil rights leader, and co-author of the bestselling graphic memoir March: Book One, is the recipient of numerous awards including the United States' highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His new graphic memoir trilogy, March, is a vivid first-hand account of Lewis' lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Recorded live for the McCloskey Speaker Series.

Our interconnected world is susceptible to sudden and dramatic shocks and stresses: a cyber-attack, a new strain of virus, a structural failure, a violent storm, a civil disturbance, an economic blow. Through an astonishing range of stories, Judith Rodin, president of The Rockefeller Foundation and author of The Resilience Dividend: Being Strong in a World Where Things Go Wrong, shows how people, organizations, businesses, communities, and cities have developed resilience in the face of otherwise catastrophic challenges. This conversation between Rodin and Walter Isaacson, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, was recorded live at the Institute's Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn Book Series.

Want to be happy? Arthur C. Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, has read all of the books and studies about what makes us happy — so you don't have to. By marrying ancient wisdom and new data, he says we can identify what brings the most happiness, and the most unhappiness, to the most people. In short, love people, not pleasure. This Aspen Lecture was recorded live at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Check out the Aspen Lectures Compendium on iTunes U.

Journalist Katie Couric interviews "House of Cards" creator and producer Beau Willimon. Recorded live at the Aspen Ideas Festival, the two have a lively conversation about Willimon's career (he studied painting in college and later worked on political campaigns) and the turbulent lives of the show's characters. The third season of the political drama hits Netflix on Feb. 27, 2015. NOTE: This episode contains explicit language.