Zócalo Public Square

Moderated by Jon Healey of the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board

Dan Glickman, the Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), joins us to discuss the state of the film industry at a pivotal moment in its history. As Hollywood’s point man in global capitals from Washington to Beijing, Glickman works to open markets to the studios’ goods, battle piracy and promote the movie industry. In a wide-ranging interview, he will discuss everything from box office trends and the advent of high-definition home video to the challenge posed by bootlegged DVDs. He will also talk about the opportunities presented by the industry’s experiments with digital cinema as well as Hollywood’s ongoing battle to access movie screens around the world.

Is the Age of Gutenberg finished?  Has the Internet now become so widespread as to render books obsolete?  Are publishers dinosaur institutions? Is the crisis of American literacy also a crisis of American democracy? Does it matter? Steve Wasserman, former editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review, will argue that books will survive as long as the human species is defined by its opposable thumb and its obsessive need to tell each other stories.

Moderated by Andrés Martinez, Los Angele Times Editorial Page Editor

Immigration may be a national issue, but its economic implications are felt locally. Is it true that immigrants are taking jobs away from U.S.-born Angelenos? Or do those who come across the border take the work that Americans just won’t do? Join Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, civil rights attorney Connie Rice, Fernando J. Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles, and Times op-ed columnist Erin Aubry Kaplan as they discuss the economics of immigration and how they affect local politics and race relations.

Greg Critser, “Generation Rx: How Prescription Drugs Are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies” by Zócalo Public Square

An Evening with Jorge Castañeda by Zócalo Public Square

Scientists have demonstrated that climate change is real, but polls show that 30 percent of Americans disagree. Scientists have shown that genetically modified foods pose no threat, but, according to one survey, half the country sees such foods as dangerous. And despite scientific assurances about vaccine safety, the number of very young children who don’t get vaccinated has quadrupled in the past two decades. Why are so many Americans ignoring—or rejecting—broad scientific consensus on these and other questions? Can skepticism about scientists be blamed entirely on the internet, the media, or ideological polarization among both conservatives and liberals—or do scientific institutions themselves bear some responsibility? And what are the broader consequences of this decline in belief in science as our society becomes ever more dependent on technology and discovery? Caltech historian of science and co-author of Merchants of Doubt Erik Conway, UCLA sociologist Jeffrey Guhin, and Cary Funk, director of science and society research at Pew Research Center, visited Zócalo to explore Americans’ changing attitudes towards science. Moderated by Usha Lee McFarling, Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist, the Zócalo/Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County event took at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

If state projections prove right, the sea level along California’s coast will rise 55 inches by the end of this century. That increase, which will be even higher during tidal floods and Pacific storms, would threaten the economies of the coastal counties that 85 percent of Californians call home. And it could spell doom for water sources, major roadways, hazardous waste facilities, military installations, power plants, airports, and seaports. How will this sea level rise change coastal communities, coastal industries from fish to oil, and postcard settings from Big Sur to San Diego? What can be done to mitigate the effects of rising seas and save California treasures? Or will California have to abandon many of its coastal and low-lying areas? Atmospheric physicist and director of the UCLA Center for Climate Science Alex Hall, California Coastal Commission member Effie Turnbull Sanders, and Sean B. Hecht, co-executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA Law School, visited Zócalo to detail the extent to which California could lose its signature coastline. Moderated by Rosanna Xia, environment reporter for the Los Angeles Times, the Zócalo/UCLA Downtown event took at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy.

Twenty-first century visions of the future now seem drawn from Hollywood horror films. Runaway climate change portends the wholesale destruction of economies and species. Scientists fear new mass epidemics. Old technologies are breaking down and new technologies are used for oppression and social control. The deluge of digital information makes it hard to separate truth from fiction. What are the risks of human society of entering a darker, less civilized age? Do the rise of authoritarians and political extremists portend greater barbarity in how our societies are governed? Even if we all agreed that we’re close to the apocalypse, do humans have the capacity to save themselves? University of New South Wales global biosecurity scholar Raina MacIntyre, SCI-Arc speculative architect and futurist Liam Young, and RAND Corporation defense policy researcher and former U.S. Marine Jonathan P. Wong visited Zócalo to examine whether the future will take us backwards. Moderated by Edan Lepucki, novelist and author of California, this Zócalo/Getty event took place in Los Angeles at the Getty Center.

Is Propaganda Keeping Americans From Thinking for Themselves?

We tend to think of women’s liberation as starting in the 19th century and of feminism as originating in the 20th century. But women throughout the ages have found ways to advance themselves and protect their rights even under the most oppressive circumstances. How did women in ancient societies, from Greece to China to the Yucatán Peninsula, carve out roles for themselves, resist misogyny, and defend themselves against discrimination? Which societies, if any, were open to the participation or even the leadership of women in matters of ritual and law, and which societies were the most exclusionary? And what thinkers and leaders from the ancient world proved to be ahead of their time when it came to women’s rights? UC Santa Barbara classicist and scholar of ancient Greek literature Helen Morales, University of Miami archaeologist and editor of Ancient Maya Women Traci Ardren, and Cal State LA historian of premodern China Ping Yao visited Zócalo to consider how ancient women empowered themselves long before contemporary movements. The Zócalo/Getty Villa event, moderated by Madeleine Brand, host of KCRW’s “Press Play,” took place at the Getty Villa in the Pacific Palisades, California.