Happiness in the Always-On Age
February 18-20, 2012
Teen Socrates 2012 is now full, please email beth.slater@aspeninstitute.org to be added to the wait list.
February 17: optional evening event with Lisa Napoli, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
The Aspen Meadows Restaurant
Free for Teen Socrates participants, $10 for the public.
Seminar Session 1: February 18 3:00-6:30 p.m.
*Group dinner to follow, location TBA.
Seminar Session 2: February 19 3:00-6:30 p.m.
*Group dinner to follow, location TBA.
Seminar Session 3: February 20 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Where is the happiest place on earth? Is there such a thing? What does happiness look like and feel like to you? Is it a busy bustling day filled with activity and communication, a quiet day in nature, a day spent helping other people, or a day immersed in something you love to do? How do the demands of modern life and our technological connectedness impact our feelings of well-being? Scientists, sociologists, and economists are studying all of these questions and new research is emerging.
Some call the tiny Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan the "last Shangri-La." The poor, pristine nation of 650,000 people is nestled between giants India and China and didn't open to tourists until the 1970s. There were no roads, electricity, schools or hard currency until then. Television and the Internet were only permitted 11 years ago. Bhutan measures its "Gross National Happiness" instead of "gross domestic product," placing the wellbeing of its citizens above profits. Is such an ideal possible, or even desirable, for the rest of us? What challenges are raised as modern conveniences are introduced to an ancient Kingdom?
Join us for lively discussion and a closer look at happiness in the modern age, using the developing nation of Bhutan as a lens to our world.
Fee: $425. Scholarships available, to apply use the registration button above.
Please register by January 12, 2012.
Teen Socrates Winter 2012 will be moderated by Lisa Napoli, author of Radio Shangri-La: What I learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth. Lisa Napoli's last staff job was as reporter and back-up host for public radio show Marketplace. She covered the Internet revolution and the cultural impact of technology as a columnist and staff reporter for the NY Times CyberTimes, and as a correspondent for MSNBC. Lisa began her career at CNN in Atlanta in the early eighties, worked in local TV news in North Carolina, and covered the Clinton campaign and Waco standoff as a field producer. She's also been a producer for an upscale division of QVC called Q2. Besides learning to swim at age 37, her proudest accomplishment is the parties she holds every Friday night, where she relishes seeing friends befriend one another. A native of Brooklyn, NY and a graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass. She currently lives in downtown Los Angeles, where there’s a giant swimming pool, and hopes in the second half of her life to be a philanthropist.