Aspen Ideas Festival

News and Public Affairs Series / 2 Seasons

The Aspen Ideas Festival is the nation's premier, public gathering place for leaders from around the globe and across many disciplines to engage in deep and inquisitive discussion of the ideas and issues that both shape our lives and challenge our times.

Watch Latest: S2 E148

1h 5m

Art, Architecture, and Justice

S2 E94 / 1h 7m

Art historian Sarah Lewis (Vision and Justice) and architect Michael Murphy (MASS Design Group) discuss the art and architecture of social justice in America. How do our artistic works create the fabric of national memory both cherished and shameful? How do our structures provide the framework of collective conscience? How does culture help us learn from history and inform today’s struggles?

Who’s Generating the New Jobs, and What Skills Will Workers

S2 E93 / 1h 4m

Long-range forces are changing the nature of work and how jobs will be created; they are also changing what kinds of jobs will be created. With tech and automation coming so quickly, which jobs will be replaced by machines? For those of us who will be hired, what skills should we possess?

Muslims and Jews in America

S2 E88 / 1h 2m

What’s the state of this historically fraught relationship? Do today’s politics and rhetoric around the Middle East, immigration, and national security constitute a unifying force, or a divisive one? Are we entering a time of particular challenge, or one of opportunity?

Might the Past Inform Our Future?

S2 E87 / 1h 1m

Historian Jon Meacham has written extensively about the presidency, with acclaimed books on Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Franklin Roosevelt, and most recently, George H. W. Bush. He is currently working on a book on James and Dolly Madison. What does his research into these presidents suggest about the nature of the office?

The Future of News: Is There a War on Truth?

S2 E86 / 1h 3m

Is the internet loosening our collective grasp on the truth, and if so, how do we solve it? Pioneers of digital news once argued that new online sources and lower barriers to entry would bring us new perspectives about the world.

Philanthropy and Democracy: Dangerous Liaisons

S2 E85 / 1h 1m

Big philanthropy can contribute to a democratic society by addressing problems that neither government nor the private sector will take on. Yet philanthropic institutions and foundations are institutional oddities within a democracy: exercises of power by the wealthy with little accountability, donor-directed preferences in perpetuity, and generous tax subsidies.

Is the Internet Broken?

S2 E83 / 1h 3m

After 40 years, the internet has begun to corrode, both itself and us. It is still a marvelous and miraculous invention, but now there are bugs in the foundation, bats in the belfry, and trolls in the basement. Nowadays, nobody can tell if you’re a troll. Or a hacker. Or a bot. Or a Macedonian teenager publishing a story that the Pope has endorsed Trump.

Manufacturing in America: The Millennial Way

S2 E82 / 58m 12s

Time to start listening to the growing set of young entrepreneurs who are actually making things in America — they might be driving a renaissance in manufacturing right here at home. How is this possible? Technology makes design and production more efficient now, labor is available, and yes, governing principles stand for a lot. For many young leaders, “making it in the USA” — making it loca

Stopping the Violence in Chicago: Lessons for America’s Citi

S2 E81 / 56m 44s

Like cities around the country, Chicago has been plagued by an epidemic of nearly constant bloodletting. What strategies have been most promising? What insights can we take from the local leaders who are losing friends, students, and community members with horrifying regularity? What do they think it will take for meaningful change to happen?

Trump + Brexit and a New World Order

S2 E77 / 1h 28m

Against a backdrop of rising populism, weakening of traditional political parties, and a rejection of establishment politics in the United States and Europe, how are the twin political earthquakes of Trump’s election and Brexit remaking the world?

Whom Can We Trust?

S2 E74 / 1h

It is no surprise that trust in institutions, be they private, government, nonprofit, or media, has suffered huge declines globally and throughout the United States. According to the 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer, we are suffering a crisis of trust not seen in recent memory. How do we reverse the trends? What can leaders of institutions do to restore faith in institutions?

Creative Genius, Derived from Nature

S2 E73 / 54m 30s

Perhaps it is because of her exceptional, inspiring approach to linking geography, environment, and community in her work that Chicago architect Jeanne Gang is one of the most celebrated architects in her adopted city of Chicago. Touted as being bold, ingenious, and courageous in her work, Gang employs the best of nature and sustainable practice throughout the structures she creates

Mother Nature Is Cruel. Should Humans Intervene?

S2 E72 / 1h

Should we ever intentionally drive a species extinct? Most people probably agree on smallpox and malaria, but what about the New World screwworm? Its very existence in the wild causes horrific suffering. Humans didn’t create the unrelenting drumbeat of suffering that occurs in nature every single day. Nature is amoral, because evolution doesn’t care.

The Privacy Paradox

S2 E71 / 57m 24s

We love the convenience of living online. But we want more control over where our personal information goes and who can see it. Manoush Zomorodi, creator of the Privacy Paradox experiment on WNYC’s “Note to Self,” along with ProPublica senior reporter Julia Angwin and tech entrepreneur and writer Anil Dash, illuminate practical ways to reign in control of your personal data.

Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White

S2 E69 / 58m 55s

The Rev. Adam Hamilton, who ministers to nearly 20,000 Methodists in and around Kansas City, is determined to mollify the deep divisions that he observes in his congregation and, he thinks, are tearing at our social fabric. His plan: to get people to think differently by focusing on influencing, not irritating, and seeing the humanity in others — even those they strongly disagree with.

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