Aspen Ideas to Go

When Duke divinity school professor Kate Bowler wrote her best-selling memoir, “Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved),” she was grappling with the consequences of a shocking cancer diagnosis. Many of the common messages about hardship, tragedy and success that she’d grown up hearing – and even studied as a religious scholar – no longer seemed to make sense. She was told she may likely die from her cancer, and at age 35 with a husband and young son, she wasn’t ready for that. Bowler talks about how being sick changed her relationship to her life, her body and her spirituality with Krista Tippett, the host of the public radio show and podcast On Being. This special On Being episode was taped live with an audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

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For adults, the pressure to drink at social engagements, work events, restaurants or almost anywhere outside the home can feel constant. Recent research has found that “no amount or kind of alcohol is good for your health,” and a wide variety of health problems can be linked to drinking. The growing “sober curious” movement offers people a way to think about cutting down on alcohol consumption at their own pace and in their own way, without the stigma that sometimes comes with sobriety. Quality non-alcoholic alternatives are more available than ever before, and sober bars and gathering spaces have popped up in a few cities. An expert panel from Aspen Ideas: Health breaks down sober curiosity for an audience at the festival. Chris Marshall is a mental health counselor and the founder of Sans Bar, a sober bar in Austin, Texas. Jen Batchelor started Kin Euphorics, a functional non-alcoholic beverage brand. And Katie Witkiewitz directs a substance abuse program at the University of New Mexico. Journalist and founding editor of Healthcare Brew, Amanda Eisenberg, moderates the conversation.

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In today’s world, we tend to switch jobs more frequently than previous generations, and are more likely to have multiple jobs. Side gigs where we express passions or find meaning are also common, and many juggle additional roles as caregivers and community members, as people always have. In short, many of us are focused on a lot more than just climbing a corporate ladder. Our careers and lives aren’t linear, although a lot of the traditional advice about them is. Where do we look for updated guidance? In this panel discussion, three authors with recent books on finding our way in the world come together for a discussion on making life choices in modern times. Writer and speaker Bruce Feiler interviewed hundreds of people across the country for “The Search: Finding Meaningful Work in a Post-Career World.” Wired Magazine co-founder and co-chair of the Long Now Foundation, Kevin Kelly, compiled his lessons and experiences into a book inspired by his children called “Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier.” And journalist Joanne Lipman moderates the conversation and shares what she learned writing “Next! The Power of Reinvention in Life and Work.”

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Most Americans today would agree that the dream of supporting a family and living a good life on one full time salary is not available to vast numbers of people. Wages have not risen at the pace of profits over the last several decades, and work with benefits is far from guaranteed for many. In his 2023 book, “Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream,” New York Times writer David Leonhardt explains how we got here. He points out that corporate culture moved from a communitarian mindset to an individual one, government policies deprioritized workers, and labor unions weakened, all contributing to where we are today. Businessman, economics advisor and co-founder and co-chair of The Carlyle Group investment firm, David Rubenstein, talks with Leonhardt about his book on stage at the festival. The two discuss the drivers of economic progress and consider what would bring the American Dream back.

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Artificial intelligence is making world-changing advances every day. But these powerful tools can be used for malicious and nefarious purposes just as easily as they can be used for good. How can society put guardrails on this technology to ensure that we build the most safe and responsible version of the future, where A.I. is assistive rather than weaponized? Google’s senior vice president of research, technology and society, James Manyika, is trying to help solve this problem. He’s been working in A.I. since the 1990s, and is vice chair of Biden’s National AI Advisory Committee. He talks with New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman about finding the right balance between allowing innovation to flourish and preventing runaway negative outcomes.

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Shakespeare is ubiquitous in literature classes and theater, but the avenues of relating to his work are not always clear to young people and modern audiences. Some, such as Shakespeare scholar and professor Ayanna Thompson, argue that his plays make sense as living, breathing, adaptable instruments that can be shaped to fit the times. Playwright, director and professor James Ijames created a prime example of interpretation with his play “Fat Ham,” an adaptation of Hamlet that won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The two come together on stage at the festival to talk about what makes a good Shakespeare adaptation work, and why people have been inspired to run with his work and messages for centuries. Oskar Eustis, NYU Tisch School of the Arts professor and the artistic director of The Public Theater in New York, where “Fat Ham” premiered, moderates the conversation.

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Climate change catastrophes are already happening with increasing regularity, and it’s clear we need to take action. The Biden administration has set a target of zero carbon emissions in the United States by 2050. Reaching that ambitious goal will require a major transition in many sectors, including energy, agriculture, transportation, manufacturing and construction. John Podesta leads the Office of Domestic Climate Policy in the White House, and is focused on implementing the projects funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in clean energy the country has ever made. As he puts it, we have to get good at building things again, with an eye toward a carbon-free future. Podesta talks with Noticias Telemundo reporter Vanessa Hauc about what it will take to meet our climate goals, and what success looks like.

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A technological future where our brain waves could be monitored and our thoughts decoded and analyzed — sometimes against our will — is not as far away as we think. But our existing legal protections and conception of human rights around cognitive liberty are trailing innovations in neurotechnology. Brain hacking tools and devices could bring massive benefits, for people suffering from dementia or mental health disorders, for instance. If we want to avoid dystopian outcomes, though, we have to be deliberate about how we allow this technology to develop, says Nita Farahany, a bioethics researcher and professor at Duke University. In this talk, Farahany points to what we need to watch out for, and explains how to proceed carefully. With her 2023 book, “The Battle for Your Brain: Defending Your Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology,” as a guide, she explains why several major tech companies are betting big on brain data collection tools. And she urges us to build safeguards to ensure a cognitively healthy society

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Even when the economy is booming and unemployment is low, millions of Americans still face economic hardship. And in the last few years the United States has dealt with supply chain challenges, inflation and financial instability. The economic tools we have to identify, address and talk about those problems aren’t always up to the task, and sometimes the picture we get is hard to match with reality. Gene Ludwig is a longtime financial advisor to Wall Street, and founder of the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity. His organization aims to help middle and low-income families achieve prosperity, in part by developing new headline statistics for economic data that bring us closer to truly understanding Americans’ experiences. Ludwig joins Heather Boushey from Biden’s Council of Economic Advisors on stage at the Aspen Institute, for a conversation about how to truly invest in American industry from the ground up. What principles and policies will help achieve national security and a strong economy that supports workers? Gillian Tett, U.S. editor-at-large of Financial Times, moderates the conversation.

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The United States is a more secular society than many, and the percentage of people who don’t identify with organized religion is rising. Some of the impacts from that shift might be obvious, such as declining membership in congregations or decreased support for religious organizations and institutions. But some of the consequences are less obvious. How do we change as people when we don’t practice religious ritual? When we aren’t part of a community? Three scholars and leaders from different religious traditions come together on stage at the Aspen Ideas Festival to grapple with these questions. They point out how ancient faiths permeate our modern lives even where we don’t notice, and speak about the spiritual gaps religion fills for people and society. Kate Bowler is a podcast host and history professor at Duke Divinity School. Haroon Moghul is an imam and director of The Concordia Forum, a network of Muslim leaders. And Shira Stutman is interim rabbi at the Aspen Jewish Congregation, and the founder of Sixth & I Synagogue in Washington, DC. The executive director of the Religion and Society Program at the Aspen Institute, Simran Jeet Singh, moderates the conversation.

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