Socrates Salons represent an exciting new extension of the program, aimed at providing members (i.e., past participants) with opportunities to reconnect outside of Aspen and to introduce their friends and colleagues to the Socrates seminar experience. The salons do not substitute for the Aspen experience, but they offer a glimpse of the community that has come to define Socrates and a feel for the intellectual exploration that characterizes Aspen seminars.
These invitation-only events are set in major cities across the country, where host committees form to help select venues, provide input on seminar topics and moderators, and develop invitation lists. The salons kick off with Friday evening cocktails, conversation, and Q&A for about 100 guests, and continue with Saturday seminar sessions for 20 participants and a limited number of auditors
2013 Salons
May 17-18, 2013
Chicago, IL
Heroes and Villains, Winners and Losers: Leading Business, Politics, and Civil Society in the 21st Century
How must we lead in the 21st century, in politics, business and civil society? From human nature to global systems, financial services in ancient Greece to the current economic downturn, endangered-peoples movements to extreme sports, Thoreau, and social media, "Heroes and Villains" captures the challenges and solutions we have already articulated for the new century. Starting with participant input on the nature of values-based leadership today, we will look at dominant issues in government, corporations, and the larger culture, and identify cross-sector frameworks for successful, ethical decision-making.
Moderated by Leigh Hafrey
Senior lecturer, Communication and Ethics, MIT Sloan School of Management
February 22-23,2013
21st Century Media: Threats and Promises
Journalism — that mainstay of a democracy — is undergoing a revolution. Seeking to understand exactly what is happening, we start with the golden era of legacy media, acquainting ourselves with its ethical and economic underpinnings, assessing its strengths and noting its weaknesses, from the pressures toward “infotainment” to those left outside its focus. Looking across media platforms, we consider the rise of social media, the transformation of “the people formerly known as the audience,” the decline of old platforms and the astonishing changes wrought by technological transformation. Arriving at the current moment, we size up the state of the traditional media today, the role of government, the many new ways of delivering information in the public interest and the questions surrounding its sustainability.
Moderators: Geneva Overholser, professor and director at the USC Annenberg's School of Journalism
2012 Salons
October 19-20, Washington, DC
The New Global Middle Class: How Will Rising Global Consumption Transform Innovation, Trade, and Markets?
Moderators: Jack A. Goldstone and Vijay Vaitheeswaran
November 2-3, New York, NY
The American Dream: It is lost? Can it be regained?
Moderators: Jack A. Goldstone and Hedrick Smith
2011 Salons
April 1-2, Boston, MA
The Future of Power in the 21st Century
Moderator: Joseph Nye
November 4-5, New York, NY
The Emergence of an Impact Economy
Moderators: Bart Houlahan and Brian Trelstad
2010 Salons
May 7-8, Washington, DC
Can the U.S. Survive the U.S. Health Care System?
Moderator: Susan Dentzer
November 19-20, San Francisco, CA
Sustainable Communities: Designing Places that Thrive
Moderators: Michelle Lapinski and Donlyn Lyndon
2009 Salons
April 24-25, Washington, DC
From Economic Crisis to the New New Deal: Repairing the American Economy
Moderator: Clive Crook
October 23-24, Los Angeles, CA
Lessons Not Learned: Wall Street and the Crisis Next Time
Moderator: Kai Ryssdal
November 13-14, New York, NY
21st Century Energy: Can it be Clean, Secure, and Affordable, or Must We Choose?
Moderator: R. James Woolsey
For more information, please contact:
Melissa Ingber
Director, Socrates Program
