Ideas 2017
Dispatches from the Aspen Ideas Festival/Spotlight Health
Is It Possible to Predict the Next Pandemic?
Large initiatives are underway to pinpoint the next big viral threats—but some virologists believe the task is too hard.
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Why Young Americans Are Questioning Democracy
In a poll, less than one-third of millennial Americans said they thought it was essential to live in a democracy. Why?
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Does Technology Need to Be Ethical?
The entrepreneur Anil Dash believes that the tech world has an obligation to be more humane.
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How Just Six Words Can Spark Conversation About Race in America
Michele Norris has created an archive of more than 50,000 stories about race and identity.
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When In-Person Conversation Is Better Than Texting
Sherry Turkle, the Director of the MIT “Initiative on Technology and Self,” discusses the relationship between talking in real life and cultivating empathy.
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Astro Teller on Why Artificial Intelligence Is Not Scary
How worried should we be about robots taking over the world?
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Khizr Khan on the Constitution
The lawyer and Gold Star father believes that Americans should look to its oldest documents for guidance.
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Genetic Testing Is Recreating Bonds Broken by Slavery
Alondra Nelson discusses how ancestry tests can empower African Americans.
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Dolores Huerta's Life of Activism
The 87-year-old labor leader who fought with Cesar Chavez says grassroots organizing is still effective.
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Hate Groups Are Growing Under Trump
The director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project discusses an alarming new trend.
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The Problem With Confederate Monuments
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu believes that the Civil War should be remembered, not revered.
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How Cable News Fails Viewers
Jon Lovett wonders if political commentary has become theater criticism.
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Adam Grant's Advice for Raising Resilient Kids
The Wharton School organizational psychologist says kids should practice struggling.
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Trump's 'Adhocracy' Could Leave the World in Disarray
Richard Haass argues the administration's approach to foreign policy is a liability.
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What Drives Sally Yates
The former Acting attorney general reflects on her career and the decision that ended it.
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Should the U.S. Get Rid of Political Parties?
Former Republican Congressman Mickey Edwards thinks Americans are ready for a new system.
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Reuters / Amr Dalsh A College Student Who Seeks to Learn Rather Than to Teach
Surrounded by cultural pressures to dislike the “other,” one undergraduate marshals empathy and charity.
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Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters North Korea Says it Tested ICBM
The move would mark a dramatic improvement in Pyongyang’s military capabilities.
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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters What Does 'Community' Mean?
The term’s evolution makes a nice metaphor for the rise of American individualism—and the decline of trust in American institutions.
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Axel Schmidt / Reuters How Germany Managed to Avoid Populism
The country’s economic resilience may have contributed to its political resilience.
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Sergey Uryadnikov / Shutterstock When Hatred Is a Joke
On Sunday, the president posted a video making light of violence. The move was both highly unusual and completely at home in this turbulent political moment.
