Episodes
Friday Jan 28, 2011
The Dark Side of Internet Freedom
Friday Jan 28, 2011
Friday Jan 28, 2011
When the green revolution took place in Iran last year many of us saw every tweet of the revolutionaries. But, while it may have moved us, what impact did it actually have on the scene? To what extent has social networking aided the recent democratic revolutions in Tunisia and what is it’s impact today in Egypt? As the Internet spreads though China, Russia and even Lebanon, what impact is it having? Is it empowering democratic forces or is it providing a kind of organizing force for dictators and the forces of repression? Is the Internet a catalyst for social change for these fledgling forces of freedom, or a kind of glue actually holding authoritarian regimes together? For too long we’ve allowed conventional wisdom to dictate the discussion here. But the facts just may be somewhat different. Journalist and Evgeny Morozov takes us to place that exposes the dark side of the Internet freedom in his new work The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom. My conversation with Evgeny Morozov:
Thursday Jan 27, 2011
A peek at the future
Thursday Jan 27, 2011
Thursday Jan 27, 2011
Wednesday Jan 26, 2011
A Natural Year in an Unnatural World
Wednesday Jan 26, 2011
Wednesday Jan 26, 2011
Tuesday Jan 25, 2011
The Myth of American Religious Freedom
Tuesday Jan 25, 2011
Tuesday Jan 25, 2011
It’s safe to say that the one thing that the left and the right both have in common, with respect to the role of religion in public life, is that they are both wrong. The defining mythology of separation of church and state was never what progressives thought it was and the Christian influence and power that the right fantasizes about, was never all it was cracked up to me. The truth and the history is far more complex, nuanced and some would argue troubling. David Sehat, in his new book The Myth of American Religious Freedom takes us through the history. My conversation with David Sehat:
Thursday Jan 20, 2011
50 Years ago Today
Thursday Jan 20, 2011
Thursday Jan 20, 2011
Last week the President proved once again that words and speeches matter. That they have the potential to move people and even reset a debate. While many of us remember, or have studied great speeches, few rise to the level of JFK's Inaugural Address. That speech, given 50 years ago today, truly changed a nation. It was a speech that would define a new, post war generation of leadership and arguably would set the stage for the 60’s and 70’s. Historian and journalist Thurston Clarke has captured that moment in his his book Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America. My conversation with Thurston Clarke:
Thursday Jan 20, 2011
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
Thursday Jan 20, 2011
Thursday Jan 20, 2011
Discussion never seems to end about the rise and growth of China. On this program alone, we've talked about everything from outsourcing to immigration. About food, foreign policy, spectacle, sport and how Americans are falling behind. If any one theme has emerged it is that while we all may have shared goals and aspirations, there are indeed profound cultural differences. Perhaps nowhere is that difference felt or seen or more controversial, then in the realm of parenting; specifically in how Western mothers vs. Chinese mothers raise their children. Time vs. money, sleepovers vs. success, play dates vs. practice drills, choice vs. conformity. These are just a few of the issues that separate the Chinese Way from the Western Way of parenting. On this very day in which we mark the 50 anniversary of JFK's Inauguration, we’re reminded of a quote by Jackie Kennedy who said simply, "if we bungle raising our children, I don't think whatever else we do matters very much.” What’s not so simple, is how we do that. Amy Chua has not only written her new book about how Chinese mothers practice parenting, but she has lived it, raising her own two daughters her own way. Her new book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, is about the way that Chua has lived, practiced and adapted the Chinese model of parenting and her own personal journey in that effort. My conversation with Amy Chua:
Wednesday Jan 19, 2011
India Calling
Wednesday Jan 19, 2011
Wednesday Jan 19, 2011
It has been an almost universal truth since Horace Greeley first uttered the worlds "go West young man," that the West offers opportunity and fortune. Today, all that has changed. For many, particularly the children of immigrants from China and India, the decision to go East has been the road to riches. Back in 2008, New York Times and International Herald Tribune columnist Anand Giridharadas did exactly that. He headed to India, to find what he saw as the frontier of the future. My conversation with Anand Giridharadas about his book India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking.
Tuesday Jan 18, 2011
Bye Bye Pluto...
Tuesday Jan 18, 2011
Tuesday Jan 18, 2011
Imagine, you go though life for almost seventy years with a good name, a stellar reputation and then one day that good name is gone. Instead, they give you a number. They reclassify you as something less then what you thought you were. It probably wouldn't feel very good. Yet this is exactly what happened to the planet Pluto, as Mike Brown led the charge to take away Pluto's good name. Dr. Michel Brown brags How He Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming. My conversation with astronomer and Cal Tech Professor Dr. Mike Brown.
Tuesday Jan 18, 2011
The Military-Industrial Complex
Tuesday Jan 18, 2011
Tuesday Jan 18, 2011
Monday Jan 17, 2011
Getting to know you...
Monday Jan 17, 2011
Monday Jan 17, 2011
In spite of all the trouble inherent in our most intimate relationships, we still keep trying! Why is it that our quest for attachment seemingly has a life of its own? Woody Allen once said, that it’s because "we all need the eggs.” The truth, is both a lot more complicated and also a lot simpler. We are simply hardwired, by millions of years of evolution, to seek intimate attachment. But how and why is the question for modern science. Dr. Amir Levine, in his book Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Findand KeepLove,distills years of "attachment theory" and helps us to understand the science of intimate human relationships. My conversation with Dr. Amir Levine:
Friday Jan 14, 2011
Compassion
Friday Jan 14, 2011
Friday Jan 14, 2011
Wednesday Jan 12, 2011
Practical Wisdom
Wednesday Jan 12, 2011
Wednesday Jan 12, 2011
Everywhere we turn today we see a kind of cynicism about all of our institutions. From Governance, to business to banking and education, we have lost faith in how things work and why. We fear change yet damn the status quo. We know something is wrong, yet practically speaking, we know we must integrate change and modernity into how we see the world. How do we begin to get a handle on this? We know that its not as simple as a set of rules, or even a change of leaders. Professor Barry Schwartz argues that the answer lies in what he calls Practical Wisdom. Something in short supply these days. My conversation with Barry Schwartz:
Wednesday Jan 12, 2011
What Technology Wants
Wednesday Jan 12, 2011
Wednesday Jan 12, 2011
Monday Jan 10, 2011
OVERconnected
Monday Jan 10, 2011
Monday Jan 10, 2011
Much as the printing press and later the telegraph & telephone transformed the speed and transmission of information, so the Internet may be even more profound. In fact, it may very well be the biggest transformation in human connectivity since the invention of language itself. The question today, is that while we live and work amidst the impact of this transformation, there is so much we do not know, in real time, about its challenges and its long term impact on our economies, our governance, our laws and our business. Are we more efficient today, or merely more stressed? Are we better managers or just better jugglers? Do we control our new found connectivity, or does it control us? These are just some of the questions asked by William Davidow in his groundbreaking book OVERCONNECTED: The Promise and Threat of the Internet. My conversation with William H. Davidow:
Tuesday Jan 04, 2011
Virtual Justice
Tuesday Jan 04, 2011
Tuesday Jan 04, 2011
Today millions of people are truly living part of their lives in a virtual world. People are playing games, building communities, making friends and even making real money. Literary billions of dollars are paid in exchange for virtual goods. But what if something goes wrong? What are the rules, the laws, the codes of conduct that govern these worlds? Rutgers University law professor Greg Lastowka, in Virtual Justice: The New Laws of Online Worlds, lays out the problems posed and explains how the government and courts might respond and asks important questions about law, artifice and technology. My conversation with Greg Lastowka:
Monday Jan 03, 2011
Deadly Spin
Monday Jan 03, 2011
Monday Jan 03, 2011
Before congress thinks about tampering with the new health care laws, they need to take a close look at what former Cigna PR Executive Wendell Potter says about what's really going on inside the insurance industry. He was the very well respected former head of Corporate Communications for Cigna until his conscience led him to turn on his former colleagues and testify before congressional committees about what he viewed as the health-insurance industry's "duplicitous" behavior. He openly talks about how insurers would have no problems with "dumping the sick" to protect the stock price above all else. Now, Wendell Potter, in his book Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans, gives us a true profile in courage. My conversation with Wendell Potter: