Aspen Ideas to Go

Robots as caregivers? Meet “Pepper,” a robot that can tell a joke, recognize emotions and help people remember special times in their lives. Rebekah Romberg, of Colorado Public Radio, guides us through this fascinating talk with Professor Arshia Khan of the University of Minnesota Duluth. She spoke at Aspen Ideas: Health.Tell us what you think about this episode by taking this quick survey.  aspenideas.org

Right when women feel like they have it all figured out, many of them enter a stage of life in our society where they feel dismissed, ignored and cast out. The pressure is strong to try and hold onto youth as long as possible via whatever means necessary, and shame tends to accompany all of the available options. How can we learn to embrace the inevitability of aging a little more, and push society to come along with us? Former models Paulina Porizkova, Yasmin Warsame, and Christie Brinkley are publicly changing the conversation about what it means to be a woman in her 50s and 60s, and raising questions about beauty standards, norms, and media representation. Editor-in-chief of Allure magazine, Jessica Cruel, moderates the lively on-stage conversation and poses provocative questions about how we see ourselves and each other. aspenideas.org

We try our whole lives to avoid pain and suffering and when it does show up, we try to solve it. In her new book, No Cure for Being Human, religious scholar Kate Bowler says we try to out-eat, out-learn, and out-perform our humanness. Truth is, bad things do happen to good people and if we're going to tell the truth, we need one another. As someone who lives with cancer, Bowler knows first-hand about the everything-works-out fantasy common in American culture. She speaks with Adelle Banks, national reporter at Religion News Service, about her personal experiences with pain and grief and the role religion plays in dealing with suffering. aspenideas.org

Though it can sometimes feel like conflict and discord is human nature, our brains are actually predisposed to forming groups and working together. In our individualistic society, we may think our minds stop at our skulls, but when people come together and connect effectively, they actually think in different ways, and they all become smarter and healthier together. Science writer Annie Murphy Paul, the author of “The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain,” joins NYU psychology professor Jay Van Bavel for a participatory conversation about uniting people to solve problems and work towards common goals. Again and again, research demonstrates the power of groups, and the panelists help us translate these findings into practical tips for encouraging people to collaborate functionally. New Yorker writer Charles Duhigg moderates the conversation and takes questions from the audience. aspenideas.org

As the world’s nations face the realities of climate change negotiation in Egypt this week at CoP27, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, we take a closer look at what it means to care for wild places. For some indigenous groups, just the concept of “wild” land is foreign, but many of these groups do recognize when land is out of balance. The extreme floods and fires we’ve been seeing around the U.S. and the world are a telltale sign that something is off, and as humans, we need to pay a little more attention to what’s happening on our land. Chuck Sams is the first Native American director of the U.S. National Park Service, and he explains in this talk how his background impacts the way he approaches his job and thinks about managing protected places. Kristine Tompkins spent a lot of time outside and in U.S. national parks growing up, and now runs Tompkins Conservation. The philanthropic organization buys up land in Chile and Argentina to restore and return to the countries as part of their national park systems. NBC Correspondent Gadi Schwartz moderates the conversation and shares some outdoor memories of his upbringing in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  aspenideas.org

Americans across the country will go to the polls and cast their ballots next week, but they won’t all do it in exactly the same way. The U.S. has 8,800 voting jurisdictions, which allows for local adaptation, but presents a challenge when it comes to standardizing elections. That variability might be part of what’s fueling a wave of mistrust about voting integrity, and a heightened interest in how elections work. Despite experts assuring us that 2020 was the most secure election in the country’s history, fears about voting fraud or voter suppression make it into the news almost daily, and social media complicates the information ecosystem. Election administrators have a new role to play as communicators, laying bare the inner workings of their operations. A panel of election experts at the Aspen Ideas Festival break it all down and share their insider perspectives. Kim Wyman used to run elections in Washington state, and now works on election security at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA). Stephen Richer is the Maricopa County, Arizona recorder, managing elections for the nation’s second largest voting jurisdiction. Election law expert and UCLA professor Rick Hasen provides an academic view of our current context. Former CISA director Chris Krebs moderates the conversation. aspenideas.org

Does it feel like the quality of our national discourse has gone down in the last several years? You’re not the only one who’s noticed. It’s not individuals who have gotten stupider, says NYU social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, but it’s our collective intelligence that’s suffering. Institutions aren’t getting as much done, and leaders are making rash decisions under the pressure of mobs on social media. Everyone on earth now has a “little dart gun,” says Haidt, and the sting of those darts add up to a messy, disorganized form of power. In his conversation onstage with the editor in chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Haidt explains the nuanced cumulative impact that social media has had on our discourse, and offers some ideas for how to raise our societal IQ back to functional levels. aspenideas.org

So much of adult life is about learning the rules and then using those rules to navigate the world. We become certain that we know what we know — that we’re right, and we’re safer and more secure that way. But certainty, argues neuroscientist Beau Lotto, might actually be one of society’s biggest sources of emotional and physical unwellness. Certainty causes us to have less humility, less creativity, and less tolerance for difference. But occasionally, something amazing knocks us out of those patterns — we’re awestruck. Is it possible to use awe as a tool to make us more open, tolerant people? In Lotto’s talk from Aspen Ideas: Health, he walks us through how that effect actually works in our brains, and shares what he’s learned from researching the topic at his Lab of Misfits, where he’s founder and CEO. aspenideas.org

Hate has unfortunately been a part of the United States since the founding of the country, enshrined at various times in policies and regulations, and showing up in the practices and everyday behavior of individuals. We have made progress in addressing some of those harms and removing some of the structural barriers people face, but we still have a ways to go as a society. And in the last few years, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hateful incidents have been on the rise, putting minority groups at great risk. In this panel at the 2022 Aspen Ideas Festival, civic leaders and researchers who are leading the fight against hate explain its inner workings and tell us what they’ve learned about stopping hate from spreading. Eric Liu, the co-founder and CEO of Citizen University and the director of the Aspen Institute’s Citizenship and American Identity Program, moderates the conversation between Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, and Dana Coester, media professor at West Virginia University. aspenideas.org

People often talk about maintaining their physical health but brain health is an afterthought. It turns out brain fitness at any age heightens and protects brain function and can even prevent brain disease. Sanjay Gupta, author of Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age, Maria Shriver, founder of the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement, and Natalie Morales, West Coast anchor of NBC’s Today Show, all have personal stories about dementia. In this episode, they talk about why it's important to link lifestyle with brain health in order to live a longer, happier life. aspenideas.org