Socrates Summer Seminars
June 26-29, 2009
Aspen, Colorado
Seminar Schedule
Register Now
If you require financial assistance, please select the option "Scholarship Assistance for Tuition Only" on the registration form.
The US and the Global Economy: How do we compare?
What is the outlook for the US economy in comparison to the challenges faced by Europe, Japan, and emerging markets? Can the US be an active player in the global economy without a stable domestic economy? How stable is the US economy? What are the short and long term goals and challenges? What are the likely domestic consequences of the Obama stimulus package? Does it provide assistance towards stabilizing the global economy? Finally, what can the US learn from other nations about economic recovery? Read more about this seminar.
Moderator: Nouriel Roubini, Ph.D, Professor of Economics Stern School of Business, New York University and Chairman of RGE Monitor
The Truth about Going Green: How Do We Make Sense of Green Investing?
The film “An Inconvenient Truth” among other catalysts have sparked consumer interest in green investment, but what are the real technological, environmental and political considerations of renewable resources? Can we distinguish substantive innovation from corporate hype? Are new breakthroughs in basic science necessary to enable the development of sustainable energy technologies, or is the key excellence in execution on technologies well in hand? How is the availability of new technology changing green investment? This session will cover the values-based tension regarding the definition of green products and servicesand the push to frame clean coal or fourth generation nuclear power as green alternatives. Read more about this seminar.
Moderator: William D. Browning, Co-Founder, Terrapin Bright Green LLC
The Playing Field Revisited: The Impact of Sports on Our Values and Behavior
The behavior of pro athletes and coaches is mimicked by youth athletes and coaches as well as business leaders, and the impact on adults and youth is enormous. In our increasingly diverse and fractured society, sports, in Thomas Boswell's memorable phrase, "has become central to what remains of our American sense of identity" and has become "the meeting ground where we discuss our values." While huge battles rage in Iraq and social problems abound, the U.S. Congress holds hearings on steroid use in sports that push other issues off the public agenda. What is it that gives sports such a hold on American life? And how does it shape our values and behavior? This seminar will examine the ways that sports impact our values and the decisions that come from those values. We will look at the kind of society that sports helps shape and how society, in turn, impacts the world of sports. We will then consider the intersection of our sports and media cultures. Read more about this seminar.
Moderator: Jeremy Schaap, columnist, ESPN
Social and Business Decision Making: Hopelessly Biased or Improvable?
Research in psychology reveals strong biases and distortions that lead individuals and groups to make predictable errors in judgment and decision making. Is the situation hopeless or can knowledgeable leaders transform themselves and others into better decision makers? Should biases be exploited for the good of individuals and society? When do efforts to correct decision making go too far? What are the tradeoffs we face when we allow others to make our decisions for us? We will consider how techniques to debias decisions have been used in the real world, in contexts ranging from fuel-efficient transportation and financial risk decisions, to decisions about organ donations and health. Read more about this seminar.
Moderator: Rebecca Ratner, Associate Professor of Marketing, Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland
Beyond the Crisis: Rethinking the Relationship Between Government and Business
In a market-based economy, the relationship between business and government is a constantly evolving, and not always harmonious, compact of private and public interests. The current economic emergency has raised old questions about the ordering of this relationship, but with new and sudden urgency. Where do business and government stand in relation to each other today--and how, if at all, is this going to change? How should banks and the wider financial system be regulated? What stings should be attached to bail-out money for failed financial institutions? How far was the economic emergency a result of corporate governance failures, and can these be remedied? What is the proper role of government in the economy more broadly--and, again, is this going to change? How can we minimize corruption in business and in government? What can "corporate social responsibility" bring to our understanding of these questions? Read more about this seminar.
Moderator: Clive Crook, senior editor, The Atlantic, and chief Washington commentator of The Financial Times
Summer Teen Seminar Session
June 26-29, 2009
Aspen, Colorado
Seminar Schedule
Register Now
To apply for financial assistance for Teen Socrates, please submit an application.
Environment and Energy: The World We Will Inherit and Build
As teenagers we are joining the conversation about stewardship of the Earth approximately forty years after the first Earth Day, and the early warning signs on global climate change. Former President Jimmy Carter referred often to the need for a transition to a renewable energy economy, and in the mid seventies said that solving the energy problem was the moral equivalent of war. And yet, for many reasons, the transition off of oil to renewable fuels has been delayed, and the many warnings about the costs of delay - economic, political, and environmental have become realities. The pace of global climate change, for example, has exceeded most of the responsible climate modeling predictions. What are we as teens to make of this? What values in our parent's generation led us to this predicament, and what other values might actually make a difference going forward? What role can the US play as the developing world rapidly increases its consumption of resources? What are the new possibilities for change, and the basis for optimism? Read more about this seminar.
Moderator: AO Forbes, Co-Founder, Tomorrow’s Voices
Also please register to join us for our annual Socrates Society Benefit Dinner on Sunday, June 28th, featuring New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning-author Thomas L. Friedman.
For more information about Socrates, please contact:
Melissa Ingber
Director, Socrates Society Program
Margaret Fisher
Program Coordinator, Public and Policy Programs
The Aspen Institute
One Dupont Circle
Washington DC 20036
phone: 202-736-1497
Aspen Institute Online Community Provided by LiveWorld