Aspen Ideas to Go

How is social justice best pursued in a time when America is facing a reckoning on race? In today's cancel culture, many believe making the world a better place means banishing some opinions from the public sphere. John McWhorter, associate professor of English at Columbia University, says this censorious mindset threatens the value of free speech. McWhorter, a linguist and author of over 20 books, speaks with Jane Coaston, host of The New York Times podcast "The Argument," about pop culture, the philosophy behind free speech, and how college campuses are often where today’s cancel culture frame of mind begins. They also discuss McWhorter's latest book, Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter—Then, Now, and Forever.

From the break: Learn more about and register for Unfinished Live https://live.unfinished.com/#Home

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Before Covid-19 began spreading across the globe last year, virologist Nathan Wolfe already knew what was becoming abundantly clear: The world was woefully unprepared to prevent the spread of novel viral threats. To prevent similar devastation, he challenges people to imagine a different future where viruses are regularly tracked in groups of individuals—providing a sort of weather map of viruses. "We should have always-on systems that are capable of monitoring for all of the viruses present, all of the microbes present within a society, and that’s within reach." He speaks with Sarah Zhang, staff writer for The Atlantic, about where viruses come from, how to eliminate future pandemics, and why he doesn't think Covid-19 was deliberately released into the world. Wolfe is the founder and chairman of Metabiota and was a professor of epidemiology at UCLA.

From the break: Listen to the episode "How One Woman's Detective Work Uncovered a Racist Tax System" https://www.aspenideas.org/podcasts/how-one-womans-detective-work-uncovered-a-racist-tax-system

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A person with grit, says psychologist Angela Duckworth, uses passion and long-term perseverance to reach goals. Reaching success, she says, is about stamina over months and years, not talent or a high IQ. In her research, Duckworth studied cadets struggling through their first days at West Point, teachers working in some of the toughest schools, and young finalists in a national spelling bee. She speaks with Aspen Institute President Dan Porterfield about her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, and how parents, mentors, and teachers can instill grit into those they counsel.

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People are in constant conversation with their dogs, says dog scientist Alexandra Horowitz, and dogs pick up on things like our tone of voice. "We think meaning is all in the words but for them, the meaning is in the context, and they’re working very hard to understand it.” Horowitz studies dog cognition and the relationship between dogs and their human owners. She runs the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College and has written widely about dogs. In a wide-ranging discussion with Aspen Ideas Festival Executive Director Kitty Boone, she talks about how dogs may have been domesticated, why some dogs are serious-minded and others easy-going, and the best thing we can do for our dogs (it's easier than you think).

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Representative Liz Cheney is one of nine lawmakers investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol. The Republican is part of a House select committee that held its first hearing last month. It's critical the committee get to the bottom of what happened that day, says Cheney, but equally important is Americans' acknowledgement that change is needed beyond Washington. “We need to have a very serious, sustained national discussion about American history, about civics, about the Constitution, and about the rule of law." She speaks with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt about the investigation, her personal experience at the Capitol January 6th, and why it's important voters demand substance from their elected officials. Their conversation was held August 4.

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Instead of coming together during the pandemic, many Americans have grown farther apart. People are increasingly living in different realities of news, politics, and information, which is putting public health, elections, and democracy at risk. False and misleading information online are partly to blame, says Vivian Schiller, director of Aspen Digital. "Much of this stems from malign actors, some who are driven by profit and others, like foreign intelligence services, strategically weaponize our existing divisions against us." She speaks with Chris Krebs, former head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the Department of Homeland Security, and Yasmin Green, director of research and development for Jigsaw, about the roots of our broken information ecosystem.

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Imagine a new kind of democracy — one that puts governance back in the hands of the people. This is the idea behind political theorist Hélène Landemore's book Open Democracy. Contemporary representative democracies, like in the United States, are broken, she says, so why not reinvent popular rule? In a conversation with Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic, she describes a new paradigm of democracy where a randomly selected assembly of citizens could define an agenda for the polity and make laws. There's much more to it. Learn more from Landemore who's a professor of political science at Yale.

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Cryptocurrency is revolutionizing the global financial system and shaking up our perception of trust. Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum, says the digital currency’s open-source, decentralized system is the opposite of what we’re used to — a bank-led financial system built in backrooms. “It’s a new kind of trust foundation for the planet,” he says. In a conversation with Gillian Tett, US editor at large of the Financial Times, Lubin talks about the difference between Ethereum and Bitcoin, what Ethereum is doing about its carbon footprint, whether the system is vulnerable to cyber criminals, and why people should trust it. The conversation is wide-ranging and meant for for crypto neophytes and seasoned investors alike.

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As many of us know personally, the coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on mental health. As lockdowns were enacted, loneliness, isolation, and depression increased. Concerns of loved ones dying and fear of contracting the virus affected our well-being. Since April of 2020, about 40 percent of US adults have reported symptoms of depression and anxiety. In 2019, that figure was just 11 percent, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. Arthur Brooks, a Harvard business professor and behavioral social scientist, says it's possible to turn post traumatic stress from pandemic into post traumatic growth. He shares how to emerge from the pandemic happier, stronger, and more resilient.

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The American Promise—that all men and women are inherently equal—is not being fulfilled because racism continues to corrode our society. Author and veteran Theodore R. Johnson says what’s need is a more multi-racial national solidarity, and the Black American experience has lessons on how to get there. In his book, When the Stars Begin to Fall: Overcoming Racism and Renewing the Promise of America, Johnson writes that a blueprint for unity can be found in Black Americans’ exceptional citizenship. Even when the Federal Government broke its end of the social contract by returning Black soldiers to slavery after they fought in the Revolutionary War, for example, Black Americans continued to serve their country. Johnson tells Eric Liu, co-founder and CEO of Citizen University, that Black Americans, like other groups that have been oppressed in the nation’s history, have picked up lessons about standing together and fighting back. Liu is also the executive director of the Citizenship and American Identity Program at the Aspen Institute.

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