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Aspen Ideas to Go: Daily Summaries Delivered
by The Aspen Institute
Aspen Ideas to Go is a show about bold ideas that will open your mind. Featuring compelling conversations with the world’s top thinkers and doers from a diverse range of disciplines, Aspen Ideas to Go gives you front-row access to the Aspen Ideas Festival.
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- 1 weeks ago56 min
Major Questions, Major Consequences: The Supreme Court’s 2025 Term in Review
In an increasingly polarized nation with a divided Congress, the rulings of the Supreme Court’s latest term were as closely watched as ever. The justices took on decisions about birthright citizenship, voting rights, transgender athletes and many other hot button issues, with sometimes surprising results. Immediately after the term wrapped, three experts on the court met onstage at the 2026 Aspen Ideas Festival to discuss what these rulings say about the future of the court and American law. And they touch on the big question hovering over all recent decisions – has the court become too politicized? Colleen Sinzdak is a Supreme Court and Appellate partner at Milbank, Melissa Murray is an NYU law professor, and Sarah Isgur is the editor of SCOTUSblog. The panelists don’t hold back as moderator Jonathan Capehart of MS NOW keeps the conversation on track.
- 2 weeks ago53 min
The Idea of America
Before this month’s semiquincentennial celebration, the United States’ last milestone anniversary was in 1976–during a difficult period. “The 1970s were a rough time–9 percent unemployment, 15 percent inflation, violent crime tripled, divorce rates tripled. It was a rough time,” says David Brooks, staff writer for The Atlantic. Still, he says, it was a unifying and uplifting moment. He asks Danielle Allen, Reihan Salam, Martha Jones, and Shilo Brooks how today is different from the bicentennial and whether the original ideas that bound us together–laid out in the Declaration of Independence–still apply. Allen is political science professor at Harvard; Salam is president of the Manhattan Institute; Jones is a professor at John Hopkins University; and Shilo Brooks is president and CEO of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
- Jun 24, 202652 min
ENCORE: Brené Brown and Kate Crawford on Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit
As artificial intelligence becomes more powerful and pervasive, how will it affect our work, our lives, and our ability to connect? Brené Brown, research professor and best-selling author says she hears a lot of experts trying to soothe people’s anxiety about the pace of technological change by offering platitudes like, What makes us human will ensure our relevance. This is dangerous because, as she explains, we’re not especially good at what makes us human. We’re not hardwired for the current level of uncertainty, and many of us feel as if the constant need to self-protect is driving the humanity right out of us.Brown joins Kate Crawford, AI scholar and University of Southern California professor, who points out that so much of what’s driving our feelings of emptiness and disconnection around AI is rooted in the fact that artificial intelligence is fundamentally a technology of extraction – it depends on the intensive exploitation of raw materials, human labor, and personal data. Together, Drs. Brown and Crawford encourage us to advocate for authentic connection over algorithmic convenience.This episode will be our last for a few weeks as we pause for the 2026 Aspen Ideas Festival. We will be back in mid-July with new content featuring brilliant thinkers and inspiring leaders.
- Jun 17, 202655 min
Unexpected Hope: What Can Religious Traditions Offer Today?
The teachings offered by ancient religious texts are timeless and full of wisdom for today’s world. When hope can be difficult to find in contemporary society, sacred traditions sometimes fill the gap, with help from the interpretations of scholars. In this talk from the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival, Princeton historian and professor of religion Elaine Pagels unpacks the truths at the center of her life’s work. She talks with writer Pico Iyer about where to look for enduring guidance and how the world’s faiths talk to each other and fit into our daily modern lives. Pagels is the author of many books, most recently “Miracles and Wonders: The Historical Mystery of Jesus.”
- Jun 10, 202640 min
ENCORE: Leadership that Lifts Us
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.
- Jun 4, 202647 min
The Complexities of Merit
Over the last 50 years or so, the divide between winners and losers in the United States has been deepening, says author and philosopher Michael Sandel. In the era of globalization, inequalities in income and wealth have widened and changed attitudes around success. “Those who landed on top have come to believe that their success was their own doing–a measure of merit. By implication, those who struggle and are left behind, must deserve their fate too,” says Sandel. He says this meritocratic thinking has poisoned our politics and eroded civil life. He tells playwright Anna Deavere Smith how to restore a vision of the common good. Sandel is a Harvard professor and author of The Tyranny of Merit. Smith, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated performer, reads an original work about the complexities of merit.
- May 28, 202641 min
Remembering Lilly Ledbetter’s Fight for Equal Pay
For those who knew her, Lilly Ledbetter was humble, smart, and determined. For the rest of us, she is a symbol of unequal treatment of women in the workplace. A landmark law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, bears her name and was the result of years of tireless activism. She sued her employer, Goodyear Tire, after she discovered her pay was as much as $2,000 less a month than her male counterparts. Her case went to the Supreme Court and eventually Congress. The civil rights attorney who represented her, Jon Goldfarb, joins Patricia Clarkson and Suzanne Malveaux for a moving conversation that celebrates Ledbetter’s life and legacy. Clarkson, an award-winning actor, portrays Ledbetter in the 2024 film “Lilly” and Malveaux, a former CNN reporter and CEO of Malveaux Global Media, reported on Ledbetter’s fight.
- May 21, 202656 min
ENCORE: Hope is a Muscle with Jason Reynolds & Krista Tippett
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.
About Aspen Ideas to Go
Aspen Ideas to Go is a show about bold ideas that will open your mind. Featuring compelling conversations with the world’s top thinkers and doers from a diverse range of disciplines, Aspen Ideas to Go gives you front-row access to the Aspen Ideas Festival.
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