KQED's Forum

Los Angeles students began this school year with new limits on screen time, both in-school and for homework. It’s a trend starting to appear statewide, with even parents in Silicon Valley fighting for similar restrictions on laptops and tablets – especially in younger grades. This comes a year into the statewide ban on cell phones in classrooms, and as teachers across California are evaluating the broader role of technology and generative AI in the classroom. New York Times reporter Natasha Singer interviewed parents, educators and students across California. She joins us to talk about what’s inspiring the movement and how the tech industry came to have such an outsized presence in the classroom. Her new book is “Coding Kids: Big Tech’s Battle to Remake Public Schools.”

Guests:

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The federal government has been scrambling to find places to send immigrants that have been arrested at record levels – close to 50,000 in July alone. Trump’s rush to detain immigrants has led to inadequate and overcrowded facilities and  out-of-state transfers. Some immigrants have been held for days in unsanitary conditions at San Francisco International Airport. Meanwhile, Gilroy residents have been fighting a proposed field office for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But those are just blips in the broader landscape of immigration detention. As the Trump administration plans to pour up to $45 billion in the next few years into locking up immigrants, we’ll dive into the immigration detention ecosystem in the Bay Area and nationwide.

Guests:

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When investigative journalist Stephen Witt visited Silicon Valley’s 1X Technologies to meet a new home robot named Neo, he discovered a device full of contradictions: It was elegantly designed, but often struggled to complete even the simplest of tasks, taking longer than a minute to retrieve a bottle of water. Despite its limitations, more than 10,000 people have placed deposits for the $20,000 android, and Neo is just one of a dozen humanoid robots scheduled for release in the next year. We talk to Witt about the appeal – and challenges – of home robots and how quickly the technology is actually advancing.

Guest:

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“Gold is having a moment,” writes New Yorker staff writer Jennifer Wilson. Earlier this year, it traded as high as $5,500 an ounce as an unstable economic outlook has central banks and investors buying gold to hedge their bets. Gold has been embraced by the far right, reality TV, and hobbyists and full-time prospectors headed up to the foothills where the California Gold Rush began. Wilson explores all these angles in her latest piece “How Americans Caught Gold Fever Again.” We talk to Wilson and experts – and a gold prospector –  about the legacy and future of this precious metal.

Guests:

Jennifer Wilson, staff writer, The New Yorker - her recent article is "How Americans Caught Gold Fever Again"

Albert Fausel, owner, Placerville Hardware; part-time gold prospector

Quinn Slobodian, professor of international history, Boston University

Brian Wallace, executive officer, Indigenous Futures Society

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“The Idiot,” a podcast from Serial and New York Times opinion columnist M. Gessen, shares the story of Gessen’s own cousin, Allen, who went to prison for trying to have his ex-wife killed. The podcast asks how we reckon with personal beliefs about justice and punishment when applied to our own family: Gessen, a critic of the prison system, was shocked to find themself rooting for the prosecution during Allen’s trial. It also explores Gessen’s own complicated feelings about maintaining a relationship with Allen and their family’s range of responses to his crime. Gessen joins us, and we hear from you: Has a relative’s actions made you confront hard truths about yourself, your family and your strongest beliefs?

Guests:

M. Gessen, opinion columnist, New York Times; host, reporter and writer, “The Idiot,” from The New York Times and Serial Productions; they are the author of 11 books, including "The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia," which won the National Book Award in 2017

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Fall is one of the most exciting times of year for arts and culture. To celebrate the start of the season, we’ve invited KQED’s Arts & Culture team to share their picks for the Bay Area’s best concerts, theater, exhibitions and local festivals. From major headliners and Broadway hits to neighborhood gatherings, local artists and up-and-coming gems, we’ll talk about what stands out on this fall’s calendar. We’ll also take the temperature of the Bay Area arts scene – what’s changing, what’s challenging and what’s giving our critics plenty to look forward to.

Guests:

Gabe Meline, senior editor, KQED Arts & Culture

Sarah Hotchkiss, senior editor, KQED Arts & Culture

Nastia Voynovskaya, editor and reporter, KQED Arts

David John Chávez, theatre critic, KQED

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At this week’s G20 summit in Asheville, N.C., global finance leaders met amid a bond sell-off that threatened to raise the cost of long-term borrowing and upend global economic stability. That comes as the US national debt officially topped $40 trillion — a record high that’s double what it was a decade ago, raising serious concerns for some economists. With the nation’s spiraling debt showing no signs of slowing, is it too late to avoid a U.S. fiscal cliff catastrophe? We talk to economic experts about the current and future impacts, and whether there’s a solution.

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Acclaimed novelist Daniel Mason’s latest book, “Country People,” centers on Miles, a stalled PhD student of Russian folklore, who is married to a brilliant academic. A visiting stint at a prestigious liberal arts college in rural Vermont sends their family of four, plus the perfect dog, careening through a different America of Slim Jims, forests, and local legends. It’s both a sendup of academia—Mason’s a Stanford professor of psychiatry, after all— and those intrepid Californians, like himself, who head to New England in the summer.

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After the Sept. 11 attacks, assaults against Muslims in the U.S. surged. At the same time the U.S. government launched a sweeping War on Terror that brought arrests, deportations and surveillance into Muslim communities. Journalist Rozina Ali was a teenager at the time and remembers her father warning her, “Don’t tell anyone you’re Muslim.” In her new book, “Seasons of Fury,” Ali traces the rise and persistence of Islamophobia through the lives of four Muslim American families. We talk to her about how the War on Terror reshaped Muslim life in America and what it will take to counter Islamophobia now.

Guests:

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The Trump Administration is reportedly considering letting a private Nevada developer take control of a parcel of land in Yosemite National Park. Conservationists and elected officials have pushed back hard, though the Interior Department disputes parts of the reporting. We’ll talk about the consequences of privatizing a cherished landmark and the efforts to stop it.

Guests:

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