Aspen Ideas to Go

What does it look like to hope in the face of tough times and undeniable challenges? The speakers in today’s talk might describe true hope as more than a passive platitude, but something closer to a muscle that needs exercise. Krista Tippett, the creator and host of the public radio show “On Being,” reunites with young adult author and MacArthur grantee Jason Reynolds to continue their multi-year conversation about how to find resilience in a world full of obstacles. They explore the relationship between fear and hope, and share experiences of finding light and connection in unexpected places.

In this engaging discussion, Anna Deavere Smith, an acclaimed actress and playwright, leads a powerhouse panel featuring Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian, Mariko Silver, CEO of Lincoln Center, and Yana Peel, arts executive at Chanel. They explore how arts institutions serve as cultural glue, fostering creativity and community. The group tackles the balance of risk and audience demand, addresses funding strategies for innovation, and considers new economic models for artist compensation, all while emphasizing the vital role of art in healing fractured communities.

Leaders who truly inspire and get the best out of people are few and far between. How do they learn to gain trust and rally a group to action? Steve Kerr has been coaching the Golden State Warriors NBA team for 11 years, four of which have been champion seasons. He joins Maryland Governor Wes Moore, who became the first Black person to hold that office after combat in the Army and a career fighting poverty, for a discussion about leading with respect and purpose. CBS co-anchor John Dickerson moderates the conversation.

Following economic news too closely can give you feelings of whiplash and confusion, and may not speak to your personal experience. What economic information should you actually pay attention to, and how should you interpret what you hear? Former economics professor and head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Austan Goolsbee, and the CEO of polling and analytics company Gallup, Jon Clifton, break down the economic indicators we come across all the time. They tease apart what’s based on data and reality, what’s missing, and what’s hype and fluff. And how consumers react to economic news, they explain, adds yet another layer of feedback to the equation. Social media influencer and financial advisor Vivian Tu, the founder of advice brand Your Rich BFF, moderates the conversation.

Who would have thought play would be a transformative tool to de-stress and build resilience? Turns out the act, which is different for everyone, is biologically hardwired in our brains. “Everyone has a sense of joyfulness,” says Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play. He began studying play science after discovering the perpetrator of a 1960s mass shooting lacked play from the time he was born. Play deprivation can have grave consequences, he found, but joyful engagement fuels happiness and intelligence. He joins a panel of play experts including Cj Hendry, an artist whose large-scale installations often lead people to play, and Heidi Erwin, senior game designer at the New York Times. Sam Sanders, former NPR reporter and producer and host of the podcast, “The Sam Sanders Show,” moderates the conversation.

Brené Brown, a research professor known for her work on courage and empathy, joins Kate Crawford, an AI scholar and author, to explore the profound impacts of artificial intelligence on human connection. They discuss how AI, driven by exploitation and material extraction, can lead to feelings of emptiness. Brené critiques reassuring platitudes that oversimplify human traits, while Kate highlights the risks of cognitive outsourcing. Together, they advocate for authentic connections and the importance of discernment in navigating an AI-driven world.

Many technology companies infamously measure their success based on how long someone spends in their app. That amount of screen time may or may not be good for a person’s wellbeing, but executives don’t see that as their problem. Not all CEOs have fallen into that trap, though. Bill Ready, the head of Pinterest, and Justin McLeod, who runs the dating app Hinge, have different priorities. When the writing on the wall was becoming more apparent and more disturbing, they led resets at their companies and looked for ways to put their users’ health first. Success for them means getting people out into the real world for healthy activities and in-person social engagement. And it turns out, that’s actually good for business, too. The editor-in-chief of Allure and Self magazines, Jessica Cruel, interviews the two CEOs about how they pulled off these positive pivots.

Colossal Biosciences has grand ambitions to bring back extinct species like the woolly mammoth and the dodo. But while it’s still working on those, Colossal surprised the world by announcing in April that it had created three white animals it says are dire wolves — a canine that lived in the Americas and is thought to have been slightly larger than a gray wolf. Colossal’s CEO Ben Lamm explains what it all means and how they brought the wolves into being. CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria interviews Lamm about the buzz Colossal created with its wolves and what’s coming next.   

Raising our kids with access to touchscreens and technology at almost all hours of the day is an untested experiment with unknown results. But by many measures, it isn’t going well. For several years, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has been collecting and analyzing the data on young people, social media and smartphones. He’s found some deeply troubling trends, which he explains in his latest book, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.” In a talk at the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival, Haidt highlights his key findings and underscores the seriousness of this problem, but also presents practical and feasible ideas for solutions. Olivia Walton, the founder and CEO of Ingeborg Investments, joins Haidt after his solo talk for a question and answer session.

A push to expand publicly-funded school choice programs across the country is gaining steam. In only three decades, the practice has grown dramatically and President Trump is supportive of the idea. But what effect do school choice policies have on the K-12 education system as a whole? And where do charter schools fit in this debate? In this discussion from the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival, three education experts from various perspectives report on what the data is telling us and highlight the nuances we should be considering. Alberto Carvalho is the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest district in the country. Education journalist Cara Fitzpatrick reports for Chalkbeat and is the author of “The Death of Public School: How Conservatives Won the War Over Education in America.” And Tommy Schultz is the CEO of the American Federation for Children, which advocates for school choice. CBS co-anchor John Dickerson moderates the conversation, which was recorded in June.