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Despite the worthy intentions of government and corporate leaders, the Paris Agreement targets of holding global warming to near 1.5°C may not be met, and many organizations say they don’t have plans and data to actually reach climate goals. This session will discuss strategies needed to design a net-zero future. Presented by Deloitte
The Bauhaus was among the most progressive art schools in Europe in the first half of the 20th century. While it existed for only a brief period of time, from 1919 to 1933, its influence on international art, architecture, and design, as well as on educational theory and practice, is unparalleled. A key figure in the history of the school was Herbert Bayer, a Bauhaus maste...
Acoustics, intimacy, clarity: One could argue that how and where we listen to music is as important to the experience as the music itself. “The orchestra has to feel the audience, the audience has to feel the orchestra,” said architect Frank Gehry on his design of the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, which opened in 2017. “When they do that, the orchestra plays better, and th...
Herbert Bayer, a Bauhaus-trained artist and designer, settled in Aspen in 1946. Invited by Aspen Institute founder Walter Paepcke, Bayer’s legacy, spanning 30 years in Aspen, is palpable across the campus here: architecture to landscape, painting to sculpture, tapestry to wall-scape. A prolific artist and designer, often referred to as a polymath given the breadth of his a...
Esther Perel is recognized as one of the most insightful and provocative voices on personal and romantic relationships and the complex science behind human interaction. The author of the international bestseller Mating in Captivity, Perel believes that the most traditional aspects of a culture and the most progressive and radical changes in a society take place around sexu...
E.O. Wilson said, “We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.” How should technology be designed and controlled so it improves our lives, economy, and culture without losing individuality, privacy, and trust in society and each other? Presented by Allstate
With boundless creativity and irrepressible energy, 306 Hollywood memorializes and honors the life of the filmmakers’ grandmother, Annette Ontell. Housewife, fashion designer, and beloved family member, Ontell lived seven decades in the same house — 306 Hollywood Avenue in Hillside, NJ. Ultimately a profound reflection on how we examine and deal with the past, the film can...
George Soros said social media platforms are the largest threat to democracy. Marc Benioff said we should regulate them like tobacco. Why? Every day, platforms like Facebook and YouTube point their supercomputers at two billion people’s minds to capture their attention, and in the process create social harms that include digital addiction, amplifying genocide, political po...
After decades of urban depopulation, US cities are experiencing a reversing of that trend, led by millennials, 40 percent of whom say they plan to live their lives in urban settings. But families and empty nesters are moving to the city too, and for the first time since the 1920s, population growth in US cities is outpacing the growth of the suburbs. What will this reshapi...
A healthy society is about more than just preventing injuries and reducing the death toll from disease. It is also about having access to safe neighborhoods and affordable housing, broadening job opportunities and reducing income inequality, designing walkable towns and fostering community cohesion. It takes multiple interventions and cross-sector partnerships to do all of...
The United States is suffering through a new age of efforts to control speech, discredit and harass the press, and manipulate public debate — and these attacks are coming via techniques pioneered by the Russian and Chinese governments. Is the First Amendment, which was designed to combat the royal censorship still fresh in the minds of the Founders, now obsolete? What can...
The Founders created a representative republic rather than a direct democracy, designed to slow down deliberation so that majorities could rule based on reason rather than passion. But in the age of Facebook and Twitter, new social media technologies have unleashed populist passions and accelerated public discourse to warp speed, creating the very mobs, demagogues, echo ch...
In the first of a two-part discussion, experts explain the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which is widely misunderstood: What did Roe actually hold? And how does the Court’s much-anticipated Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling alter the current legal landscape with regard to abortion? In the second part, panelists explore a world after Dobbs. What are the co...
If we just do enough yoga, cleanse with the optimal juice fast, and buy products designed to help us meditate or foster positive thinking, we’ll feel better. That, at least, is what the $650 billion wellness industry wants us to believe. But what’s making us ill, argues Kerri Kelly, author of American Detox: The Myth of Wellness and How We Can Truly Heal, can’t be cured by...
US Senator Mitch McConnell has just announced that he will bring health reform legislation to the Senate floor for a vote next week. What is actually proposed in this bill, which is designed to replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and has been crafted largely out of public view? And what does it mean for health care? Three top health reporters - Margot Sanger-Katz (...
It seems paradoxical that the US, which touts itself as the bastion of democracy around the world, has a political system that, at the best of times, seems to jolt along in fits and bursts of efficacy. Katherine Gehl and Michael Porter wanted to understand why, and their research flips the script of the political system on its head.
Our nation’s founders envisioned a republic in which the people would be the ultimate source of power. However, a pervasive cultural narrative—across the right and the left—tells Americans it is pointless to participate in civic life, because the game is rigged and their voices just don’t matter. The Pluribus Project Narrative Collaboratory, a project of the Aspen Institut...
Bestselling author Andrew Solomon praises Danielle Allen’s 2017 memoir Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A., saying, “In this narrative of freedom and incarceration, education and disadvantage, rehabilitation and punishment, Allen paints an unforgettable portrait of a cousin she loved. …The message is large and clear: we need urgently to reform the system through which we...
Traditional notions of masculinity emphasize strength and power and devalue attributes like vulnerability and emotional openness. At a very young age, most boys learn that being successful means becoming dominant, that winning matters most, and that tears are a sign of weakness. But at this time of cultural and economic upheaval, male roles are beginning to shift. In today...
Born out of gospel, R&B, and jazz in late 1950s America, soul has permeated music culture so thoroughly that its influence can be heard everywhere from modern country music to rock and hip-hop. So what is it about soul, and how did it become a soundtrack to some of our nation’s most defining moments? The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik and Grammy Award-winning artists share —...