Around the Institute

The New Golden Age of Television

May 31, 2016  • Institute Staff

Aspen Institute Radio, our two-hour radio show, airs every Saturday and Sunday on SiriusXM Insight (channel 121). Each episode dives into the topics that inform the world around us. Here in our weekly Listen Longer posts, we’ll recap each episode and show where you can read, watch, and listen to more. Don’t have SiriusXM? Try it for free for a month here.

To get you ready for the next Aspen Ideas Festival, taking place next month, this week’s episode features highlights from last year’s event, which included talks on the new golden age of television, capitalism, and rethinking how America’s police force can keep people safe.

The New Golden Age of Television

Is “Netflix-ing” the way of our future? Wall Street sure thinks so. Simply stated, internet TV is growing globally in ways that traditional TV just isn’t. From our desktops to our wrists, the opportunity to watch what we want, when we want, and where we want has dramatically impacted our habits and desire. Who IS this up-ender, disruptor, and changemaker who is so dramatically influencing our consumption of story-telling? Meet Ted Sarandos, gutsy program chief of Netflix, whose platinum successes include “House of Cards,” “Orange is the New Black,” and now “Grace and Frankie.”

How I Learned About Capitalism From JS Bach and a Penniless Swami

Some argue that capitalism is a great blessing and a fundamental force for good. Others argue that it can encourage greed. The truth? Both sides are onto something. Free enterprise has lifted billions of people out of poverty worldwide. But while we fight for prosperity at home and around the world, we must guard against materialism and remember that money is only a means to greater ends. Please join Arthur Brooks—New York Times columnist, bestselling author, and president of the American Enterprise Institute — for this thought-provoking conversation.

Do We Need to Rethink Policing in America?

Perhaps. But much of the current conversation is focused on programmatic fixes that sound like rebranding, rather than reinvention. How do we harness new technologies, policies, and approaches to policing that will keep citizens safe, crime low, and trust high? How do we manage gangs at the one extreme and prepare for an impending terrorist attack at the other?

Valerie Jarrett in Conversation with Walter Isaacson

The signature event of the Aspen Ideas Festival, the Afternoon of Conversation hosts an audience of more than 2,000 in the Benedict Music Tent in Aspen, CO. Big thinkers and doers engage on serious ideas about their work and the future.