Conversations with History (Audio)

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Professor Paul Butler, Albert Brick Professor Law at Georgetown, for a discussion of the law and blacks. Topics covered include formative experiences including influence of his parents, his upbringing in Chicago, his education, and his work as a prosecutor. Emphasis is on how and why his ideas about reform and activism evolved as he came to understand black confrontation with the law. Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 35257]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Samuel Bowles, Research Professor and Director of the Behavioral Sciences Program at the Santa Fe Institute, for a discussion of his intellectual odyssey and his most recent book The Moral Economy. Topics covered include the influence of parents, his encounters with Nehru and Martin Luther King, and his education. He addresses the necessary changes in the agenda of economics as it grapples with the limits of incentives and the opportunities for bringing in a focus on community and altruism in order to confront global problems. He also offers advice to students entering the discipline of economics. Finally, he discusses his involvement in an online global effort to reform the economics curriculum through the creation of an online textbook, curriculum, and a community of economists from around the globe focusing on the economics of inequality, innovation, environmental sustainability and more. https://www.core-econ.org Series: "Conversations with History" [Business] [Show ID: 34594]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Professor Jennifer Doudna of UC Berkeley for a discussion of her intellectual odyssey that led to the discovery of CRISPR-Cas9, a revolutionary tool for gene editing. In the conversation, they explore the implications of CRISPR-Cas9 for agriculture, biotechnology and biomedicine. They also discuss how education and public advocacy can broaden insight into the ethical and policy dimensions of the biological revolution that is upon us. Doudna received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2022. Series: "Conversations with History" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 34595]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Sherry Turkle, Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT for a discussion of her intellectual odyssey. In the conversation topics covered included her formative experiences, her education, and the evolution of her thinking about the impact of the objects of the cyber world--computers, internet, cell phones, and robots--on the essential elements of identity formation--solitude, conversation, and empathy. Series: "Conversations with History" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 34497]

Harry Kreisler welcomes former Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm for a discussion of lessons learned from her political career. She recalls her formative experiences, analyzes the essential qualities of leadership, and recounts the cascade of crises she confronted as a governor because of the failure of Michigan to recognize and adapt to challenges posed by international economic competitiveness and technological innovation. Leading at a time of structural manufacturing decline, she had to navigate transition to a new economy. Granholm concludes with an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the two parties in meeting these challenges. Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 34345]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Eugenie C. Scott, Founding Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education, for a discussion of the attack on science especially in the debate on teaching evolution in public schools. Reflecting on the trajectory of her career, she discusses the work of the National Center and its role in supporting the teaching of science through mobilizing supporters in local communities and defending scientific curricula in the courts. She then compares the assumptions of scientists and creationists. The conversation includes her reflections on lessons to be learned from the Scopes trial and its aftermath and the importance of myth and social history in understanding public debates on issues affecting science and implicating religion. Series: "Conversations with History" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 34156]

Harvards Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, offers advice to students on choosing a field of study. Series: "Conversations with History" [Show ID: 34038]

Conversations host welcomes Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King's College, London, for a discussion of his new book, The Future of War, A History. Sir Lawrence reflects on the historical perspective he brings to topics such as strategy and war. Emphasizing the importance of understanding patterns and context through the study of history, Sir Lawrence analyzes what we can learn through a focus on ideas that shape thinking about war. What are the origins of these ideas? How do these ideas hold up in the face of the flexibility of adversaries to develop new responses and the uncertain consequences of human decision-making—the unpredictable factors that shape the trajectory of war. Especially important are the lessons learned from previous wars that distort the images of future wars. There is also a focus in the conversation on the limits of technology to address the contingencies of war. Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 33597]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Michael Warner, the Seymour H. Knox Professor of English and American Studies, at Yale University, and the 2018 Tanner Lecturer at Berkeley. The conversation focuses on Professor Warner’s intellectual odyssey from a Pentecostal upbringing to an Ivy League professorship of American literature. The conversation includes discussion of his scholarship on the reciprocal influence of colonial printing and the development and assertion of democratic values; his advocacy on issues surrounding gay marriage; and his theoretical insights on publics and counter public as they apply to contemporary political dialogue. Series: "Conversations with History" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33587]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes David Cole, National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union for a discussion of two of his ten books-- his first book, No Equal Justice, and his most recent, Engines of Liberty. The conversation begins with his reflections on his formative years and the skill set and temperament appropriate for a constitutional lawyer. It then turns to the work of the ACLU and his role as national legal director. On the issue of criminal justice, Cole emphasizes how the structure of the criminal justice system reinforces inequality and sacrifices justice. On the Bill of Rights, Cole analyzes the role of political activism in shaping constitutional law, referencing the establishment of gun rights and gay marriage rights. The conversation concludes with a discussion of the implications of the changing political landscape - with its emphasis on libertarian ideology, nationalism, and the importance of social media - for constitutional law. Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 33467]