Aspen Ideas to Go

Our brains are getting older, but there's still much to be optimistic about. Neuroscientists Susan Greenfield and Gary Small discuss the aging brain with journalist Sam Kean.

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David Brooks writes about character. Aaron Sorkin writes about characters. The opinionator and consummate storyteller join in a conversation about how Sorkin's connection to and love of character distinguishes his writing and his craft. They discuss Sorkin's new movie Steve Jobs. Aaron Sorkin is a screenwriter, playwright, and film and television producer. His screenplays include the 2012 film adaption of Moneyball, The Social Network, A Few Good Men, Malice, The American President, and Charlie Wilson's War. David Brooks is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times. He also writes frequently about culture and social sciences. Brooks is the bestselling author of four books, most recently The Road to Character.

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Anne-Marie Slaughter provides a sneak peek of her new book, 'Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family'. Inspired by her 2012 article "Why Women Still Can't Have it All," one of the most-read pieces in the history of 'The Atlantic' magazine, Slaughter has refined her vision for what true equality between men and women really means and how we can get there. Anne-Marie Slaughter is president and CEO of New America and Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. Hanna Rosin is a senior editor at 'The Atlantic'; founder of DoubleX, the women's section of 'Slate'; and the author of the books 'The End of Men' and 'God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America'.

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How can our medical and social systems support or hinder dying? Do we have the right to bend the arc of our own death, or that of a loved one? How can we approach the final passage with grace? Dan Diaz (the husband of Brittany Maynard, who died in November 2014 from a brain tumor) discusses the matter with BJ Miller (executive director of Zen Hospice Project and an assistant clinical professor of medicine at UC San Francisco), Samuel Kargbo (director of policy and planning at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in Sierra Leone) and journalist and author Courtney E. Martin.

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Nancy Gibbs, editor of TIME magazine, leads a conversation with: Michael Gerson, a nationally syndicated columnist whose writing appears twice weekly in 'The Washington Post'; Matt Malone, president and editor in chief of America Media, which publishes 'America: The National Catholic Review'; and Garry Wills, professor, historian, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author ("Why I Am a Catholic" and "The Future of the Catholic Church with Pope Francis"). This conversation took place in July at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

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Internet TV is growing globally in ways that traditional TV just isn’t. Netflix is a change-maker that is dramatically influencing our consumption of story-telling. This episode features Katie Couric in conversation with Ted Sarandos, the gutsy program chief of Netflix, whose platinum successes include 'House of Cards', 'Orange is the New Black', and now 'Grace and Frankie'.

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Featuring William Deresiewicz, author of 'Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life' and New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks. At a time when traditional notions of college are under attack — in the shift to online instruction, in the emphasis on STEM fields and the denigration of the liberal arts, in the continued privatization of public higher education — it is urgent that we ask what college is supposed to be about in the first place. What happens when education is understood in purely vocational terms? What happens to schools, to teachers, to society — to students themselves? Why are students learning so little in college? Why are courses so much less important to them than extracurriculars? Why do so many young people today have trouble finding a sense of purpose? What are we doing to our children, and why are we doing it?

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Former US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has had unprecedented access to modern China’s political and business elite. As head of Goldman Sachs, he had a pivotal role in opening up China to private enterprise. Then, as treasury secretary, he created the Strategic Economic Dialogue with what is now the world’s second-largest economy. Paulson and the Aspen Institute's Walter Isaacson recently spoke about Paulson's new book, 'Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower,' as part of the McCloskey Speaker Series in Aspen, CO. Paulson outlined the steps needed to build a bright economic future for the US.

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Aspen Lecture featuring Laura Carstensen, Fairleigh Dickinson Professor in Public Policy, Department of Psychology, Stanford University; Director, Stanford Center on Longevity. We are approaching a watershed moment in human history; a time when old people outnumber children and living to 100 is commonplace. There are major challenges associated with this dramatic and sudden increase in life expectancy, yet, Carstensen says we must not lose sight of the fact that long life presents unprecedented opportunities. If we use science and technology to solve problems associated with aging and we develop new social norms and lifestyles, she asserts that the entire life course can be redesigned in ways that dramatically improve quality of life at all ages. The Aspen Lecture convene some of the world's greatest minds in an interdisciplinary series that explores topics ranging from the Big Bang to representative democracy to Shakespeare.

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Homicide remains an endemic, seemingly unsolvable problem in America. And violent crime afflicts African-American communities to a much greater degree than others, as does mass incarceration — and police violence. What is the cause of this crisis? What is the role of culture? Are there any solutions? This episode features New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu who has been confronting this crisis head-on in conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates, national correspondent for The Atlantic, who has written widely on matters of race, policing, and American history. His memoir Between the World and Me was published last month and is currently #1 on The New York Times Bestseller list. Jeffrey Goldberg, national correspondent for The Atlantic, moderates the discussion.

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