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If the 2016 US election felt volatile and vitriolic, the forecast for a cordial 2020 isn't looking good. The nomination process is dividing Democrats, Republicans are closing ranks around an embattled President Trump, and distrust of news media is at an all-time high. Is there hope for unity across political affiliations? Can we learn to trust journalists again? What are t...
Politics are a frenzy right now, with bombshell headlines dropping so often that it’s hard to know what to focus on. Even when you can cut through the noise, what you hear is grim. Culture wars are dividing schools and dinner table conversations. Voting rights are threatened across the country. Distrust of news media is at an all-time high. Political discourse is fraught w...
How does ballet strengthen the mind along with the body? Can Yo-Yo Ma help sixth graders learn earth science? How do the personal and political transform when they come together in performance? The below clips, which feature dance, music, and art pieces performed at the Aspen Ideas Festival, are tantalizing parts of whole sessions that explore how the arts can heal, educat...
Global conflicts and health crises have put into stark relief deeply-ingrained gender roles in society. Yet the past years have also seen record-high numbers of women running for political office and holding executive positions in Fortune 500 companies. Where are we seeing progress, and where do we still desperately need to make headway? How is feminism adapting to tumultu...
Race has divided our country since colonization, with some calling slavery America's original sin. The history of the US, from the Civil War to Jim Crow and Black Lives Matter, is defined as conspicuously by racial strife as it is by great achievements. So what does racial progress actually mean in practice? How can political, business, and community leaders confront the t...
Today's kids are coming of age against a backdrop of political, social, technological, and economic upheaval. While these circumstances are shaping a precocious generation that is changing society and redefining cultural norms, kids are also struggling with mental health issues, the pressures of social media, and the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on key developmental years....
Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and since then, the war has proven longer and costlier than what the Kremlin might have expected. Ukrainian resistance has been successful in its counteroffensives, pushing back Russian forces from their original goal of taking Kyiv, though much of the country has still been devastated by the fighting. How much long...
A 2018 UN report on climate change urged swift and unprecedented action to curb the rise of the planet’s temperature. Experts argue that avoiding a crisis will require significant breakthroughs in technology, a full stop on fossil fuel projects, fundamental changes to the way we feed the world, and ubiquitous carbon policies. Who will lead the charge towards a multilateral...
Our national conversation is increasingly defined by deep divisions, worries about the stability of our political system, and even threats of political violence. Yet, in the midst of our national partisan rancor and political and cultural upheaval, you can find heroes, visionaries, and bold leaders.
Black History Month shouldn't be the only time we talk about the inextricable role of race in US society. But conversations with friends, family, and coworkers about race and racism can be self-defeating. Listen as prominent voices from the Aspen Ideas To Go podcast explain the roots of the US's fraught racial politics and the ways racism continues to shape society. Their...
Everywhere you look, there’s a headline about the power of artificial intelligence and how it will impact our lives in ways we have not yet imagined. From advancing medicine to personalizing education and even understanding animal language, many possibilities lay ahead as machine learning gets smarter. But there are just as many perils, including misinformation, bias, priv...
Americans seem more culturally and ideologically divided than at any point in most of our lifetimes, with no prospect of bridging those divides any time soon. The only thing we seem to agree upon is that our politics are broken and our leaders are unable to solve the nation’s most fundamental challenges. What can be done to save American democracy from itself? Can we still...
As antagonism between superpowers is escalating, free and fair elections are increasingly threatened, and war plays out on the ground and across cyberspace, the fault lines in democratic institutions are widening. Healthy democracies require trust among members, and that trust is failing. Just how much danger is our political system in? What can we do to repair what’s brok...
Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar — some of the political leaders who have taken the Aspen Ideas Festival stage are now running to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2020. What's ahead for the news media, pollsters, and the candidates, themselves? Journalists and political experts debate what the 2020 candidates could and should do to win. Check out our collecti...
Capitalism has been a success, though certainly not for everyone. Disparities according to gender, race, and even birthplace have disadvantaged large groups of Americans, and increasing economic and political power among the wealthy leaves the working class — and increasingly the middle class — unable to get ahead. Can we create an inclusive capitalism?
It wasn't so long ago that journalists and news anchors were some of the most trusted figures in America. Traditional journalism faced challenges before the 2016 election when "fake news" appeared and online media began to supplant print and cable news. How will journalism adapt to a changing technological and political landscape? What does it mean to be an arbiter of trut...
Speakers at the 2022 Aspen Ideas Festival addressed issues in a world that is irreversibly changed by the pandemic, divided by sharpening political polarization, reckoning with race, and craving connection after several isolating years. They looked to the past, present, and future to grapple with many of the most pressing — and simply fascinating — questions of our time....