Even though women are likely to live longer than men, their hormonal changes make them far more susceptible to age-related memory loss like Alzhemier’s disease and other conditions. Yet gender is often not a primary consideration by the medical community  — but more and more research shows that it should be. Professor of neuroscience, neurology, and radiology Lisa Mosconi directs the Women’s Brain Initiative at Weill Cornell Medical College. Her latest book is “The XX Brain.” She discusses the female brain’s unique risks and strengths and ways to maximize cognitive health with Natalie Morales of NBC’s TODAY Show.

Brain Health and the Pitfalls of "Bikini Medicine"

People have been thinking about happiness for thousands of years. In fact, ancient thinkers came up with strategies for cultivating pleasures over a lifetime, or creating a lasting capacity to take joy in the world. This long-term flourishing is different from immediate pleasures — it’s a richer notion of happiness. Laurie Santos is a professor of psychology at Yale and an expert on human cognition and the cognitive biases that impede better choices. She’s joined by Yale philosophy professor Tamar Gendler. Their conversation sheds light on the modern science behind ancient discoveries.

What the Ancients Got Right about Happiness

Anthony Doerr is probably best known for his Pulitzer Prize winning novel All the Light We Cannot See. Just like that book, his latest work, Cloud Cuckoo Land, features protagonists who are dreamers and outsiders who find hope in the midst of danger. He talks with Mary Beth Keane, author of Ask Again, Yes, about the inspiration for his latest book and its focus on technology, destruction, preservation, and humanity’s vast interconnectedness. Doerr and Keane spoke as part of the Winter Words conversation series held by Aspen Words.

A Conversation with Author Anthony Doerr

The cornerstone of democracy is the principle that all citizens have the right and ability to participate in their own governance, either directly or via representation. While many Americans today may believe that we’ve lost sight of that inclusive ideal, Rashad Robinson, racial justice activist and the president of Color of Change, points out that for some, the system has never worked as well as it was supposed to. He wants us to come together and look ahead to build a new, more inclusive, more functional version of democracy than what we had before, and be honest about what that requires. In this panel from the State of Democracy Summit, co-presented by the 92nd Street Y and Aspen Digital, Robinson is interviewed by Vivian Schiller, the Executive Director of Aspen Digital.

How Can Activism Repair Our Democracy?

Any organization, public or private, with any connection to Ukraine, should be exercising extreme technological vigilance, says cybersecurity expert Sandra Joyce, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Intelligence at Mandiant. In addition to the attacks on the ground, Russia could come at Ukraine virtually, with a wide range of targets and tactics and varying levels of sophistication. On February 18th, 2022, a few days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Chris Krebs, the Senior Newmark Fellow in Cybersecurity Policy at Aspen Digital and former director of the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, interviewed Joyce and Dr. Herb Lin, Senior Research Scholar for Cyber Policy and Security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation, and the Hank J. Holland Fellow in Cyber Policy and Security at the Hoover Institution, both at Stanford University. The panelists explore the potential outcomes of cyber attacks, and discuss how the U.S. government’s ability to detect and respond to such threats has evolved over the last few years.

The Russian Cyber Threats Facing Ukraine

The industrial revolution and consequent terrible labor conditions sparked a wave of revolutions in Europe, and then a string of laws and protections for workers. As author and innovation expert Alec Ross describes it, we “rewrote the social contract.” But, Ross says, we may be due for another rewrite, as we transition from an industrial economy to one based on information and knowledge. He writes in his book, “The Raging 2020s: Companies, Countries, People – And the Fight For Our Future,” that some corporations have as much power as nations, government regulation is out of date, and workers have lost staggering amounts of wealth and agency. In this talk from the Society of Fellows at the Aspen Institute, Stephanie Mehta, editor in chief of Fast Company magazine, interviews Ross, a board partner at the venture capital firm Amplo and former innovation advisor for the State Department, about what went wrong and how we get back to equilibrium.

A New and Improved Social Contract

We may have moved from a time of reckoning on racial equity to a time of transformation, says business leader Dr. Rohini Anand, and that gives her hope. The author of “Leading Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: A Guide for Systemic Change in Multinational Organizations,” Anand advises leaders all over the world on how to get to work and make DEI improvements that stick. Each situation is unique, but the principles Anand has come up with help leaders adapt her expertise to their own organization. Miecha Ranea Forbes, the Aspen Institute’s Vice President of People and Culture, interviews Dr. Anand and shares some of her own expertise in this work. The talk is hosted by Ascend at the Aspen Institute; Ascend is a catalyst and convener for systems, policy, and social impact leaders working to create a society where every family passes a legacy of prosperity and well-being from one generation to the next.

How to Build Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that Sticks

The Aspen Institute remembers and mourns Secretary Madeleine K. Albright, who passed away on March 23, 2022. She was a diplomat, professor, author, business leader, and the first woman to be the U.S. Secretary of State. In 2018, she raised the alarm on dangerous world leadership with her book “Fascism: A Warning,” calling out the regimes of Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, among others. In July of that year, Aspen Institute President and CEO, Dan Porterfield, interviewed her about the book in front of a live audience as part of the McCloskey Speaker Series. Among her many achievements and accomplishments, Secretary Albright served on the Aspen Institute Board of Trustees starting in 2002, and founded the Aspen Ministers Forum that same year, to strengthen diplomatic ties between the US and Europe. In 2012, she helped establish Aspen Central Europe based in Prague, and was recognized in 2011 as the recipient of the Institute’s Henry Crown Leadership Award. Secretary Albright leaves an enormous legacy as a longtime champion of freedom, justice, and equity around the world.

Remembering Madeleine Albright

History is taught with textbooks and lectures, but it’s also passed down in more informal ways, within families from generation to generation. Different groups of people can become attached to varying stories of the same past, and some narratives are erased or distorted. Writer and scholar Clint Smith takes a close look at the mechanisms and consequences of those distortions in his new book, “How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America.” He visited historical sites around the U.S., such as Thomas Jefferson’s plantation, Monticello, and a Confederate cemetery, and talked with docents and descendents about how they explain and make sense of what happened in those places. Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic, and a poet and education scholar. As part of the Winter Words series from Aspen Words, he is interviewed by James Merle Thomas, a curator and art history professor, and the director of the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies at the Aspen Institute.

Reckoning with America’s History of Slavery

The reversal of Roe v. Wade would make it difficult or impossible for millions of people to obtain abortions, but would also open the doors to criminally prosecute people who seek or obtain an abortion. And in our technological age, that criminalization brings new, frightening opportunities for digital surveillance by law enforcement agencies or anti-abortion vigilantes. In this panel from Aspen Digital, “Digital Surveillance and the Fight for Reproductive Rights,” three experts in digital privacy and civil rights walk us through the risks and existing practices, and share what can be done: Wafa Ben-Hassine from the Omidyar Network, Tiffany Li from University of New Hampshire School of Law and Yale Law School’s Information Society Project, and Cynthia Conti-Cook from the Ford Foundation. The panelists are also joined by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a longtime advocate for digital privacy, and Vivian Schiller, the Executive Director of Aspen Digital, moderates.

Digital Surveillance and the Fight for Reproductive Rights

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A New and Improved Social Contract

Aspen Ideas To Go

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