Zócalo Public Square

Former Intel CEO and president Craig R. Barrett and Arizona State University president Michael M. Crow discussed what comes after the computer chip, the past 50 years of technological change, and what the United States needs to do to stay at the cutting edge of technology innovation.

Anat Admati Asks If We Can Fix What's Wrong With Banking

March 19, 2013 23:00 - 58 minutes - 27.8 MB

Stanford University economist Anat Admati, author of The Bankers' New Clothes, argues that the roots of the 2008 financial crisis lie in the excessive debt the banking industry takes on. But the reforms that have been put in place over the past few years are woefully inadequate. If we can regulate the amount of money banks borrow, we might be able to prevent the next crisis.

How Will L.A. Face Its Post-Immigrant Future?

March 12, 2013 23:00 - 1 hour - 33.2 MB

How Will L.A. Face Its Post-Immigrant Future?

Is Infotainment Good for Political Journalism?

March 11, 2013 23:00 - 1 hour - 34.2 MB

Television and the Internet are pushing entertainment and journalism closer together than ever. Should journalists fight the trend of news as entertainment, or can responsible reporters find ways to embrace it? New York Times Hollywood correspondent Michael Cieply, former CNN anchor Aaron Brown, TMZ co-executive producer Charles Latibeaudiere, and Zócalo California editor Joe Mathews discussed how best to strike the balance between political journalism and entertainment.

How Much Does Math Matter?

March 06, 2013 23:00 - 58 minutes - 28 MB

How much does math matter? In a New York Times op-ed last summer, political scientist Andrew Hacker suggested that the answer is not very much. Algebra, contended Hacker, isn’t necessary for all high school students—and it’s a barrier to graduation for some. But Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews, The Calculus Diaries author Jennifer Ouellette, Southern California math teacher Sarah Armstrong, and workforce expert Caz Pereira expressed a very different point of view.

Does Health Propaganda Work?

February 26, 2013 23:00 - 1 hour - 32 MB

As much as social scientists have learned about what drives people’s decision-making, we still haven’t found a silver bullet for changing people’s behavior. Yet at a panel co-presented by UCLA at MOCA Grand Avenue and moderated by The Atlantic contributing editor David H. Freedman, L.A. County Director of Public Health Jonathan Fielding, University of Minnesota social psychologist Traci Mann, and UCLA health economist Frederick J. Zimmerman agreed that it is possible to get people to make bet...

Should We Just Adapt to Climate Change?

February 20, 2013 23:00 - 57 minutes - 27.3 MB

Should we just adapt to climate change? The question raises the hackles of environmentalists and global warming deniers alike—yet it’s one we should be asking sooner rather than later. That was the consensus of New York Times environmental reporter Andrew Revkin, UCLA climate scientist Alex Hall, and UCLA environmental historian Jon Christensen during a panel discussion at The Actors’ Gang, an event put on in partnership with the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and with E...

How Dwight D. Eisenhower Scarred Richard Nixon

February 13, 2013 07:51 - 1 hour - 32.8 MB

Even a century after Richard Nixon’s birth, his life and political career are still almost always considered in light of his demons and dark side. But former New Yorker editor Jeffrey Frank, author of Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage, chose to dissect Nixon in an entirely different context—that of his relationship to his boss and eventual in-law, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, for whom Nixon was a two-term vice president. In a conversation with former Nixon Presidential...

Rebuilding After a Bubblicious Bust

February 12, 2013 05:34 - 1 hour - 15.5 MB

Rebuilding After a Bubblicious Bust

Hot, Sometimes Bothered

January 29, 2013 23:00 - 45 minutes - 11.7 MB

Hot, Sometimes Bothered

Linda Greenhouse on the Supreme Court's Next Move

January 17, 2013 23:00 - 57 minutes - 27.3 MB

In three decades of covering the Supreme Court for The New York Times, Linda Greenhouse wrote about 2,700 cases. Greenhouse—now the Knight Distinguished Journalist in Residence at Yale Law School—spoke with fellow legal journalist turned scholar Henry Weinstein, a professor of law and literary journalism at UC Irvine, about some of the court’s landmark cases throughout history and its role in American life today.

Was Human Life Inevitable?

January 14, 2013 23:00 - 52 minutes - 25 MB

Was Human Life Inevitable?

Name That Tune: Da-Da-Da-DUM

December 12, 2012 22:59 - 55 minutes - 50.5 MB

Name That Tune: Da-Da-Da-DUM

Why Is Cancer Killing More African-Americans?

December 06, 2012 22:59 - 1 hour - 30.6 MB

Why Is Cancer Killing More African-Americans?

Will Gaming Change the Way We Learn?

December 04, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 32.8 MB

Will Gaming Change the Way We Learn?

Citizen Who

November 28, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 32.3 MB

Citizen Who

Does Bakersfield Need More Doctors?

November 27, 2012 10:59 - 1 hour - 30.2 MB

Does Bakersfield Need More Doctors?

Does Hollywood Really Help Haiti?

November 14, 2012 22:59 - 1 hour - 30.2 MB

Since the January 2010 earthquake, Hollywood celebrities, like so many Americans, have given their money and loaned their faces and voices to Haiti. But are they helping the country? In conjunction with the Fowler Museum at UCLA exhibition “In Extremis: Death and Life in 21st-Century Haiti,” this question was posed by journalist Amy Wilentz to a panel of people who have worked in Haiti and philanthropy: Generosity Water CEO Jordan Wagner, UCSB black studies scholar Claudine Michel, and Giving...

What Do We Lose If We Don't Go To Space?

November 13, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 31.6 MB

It’s an exciting time to be studying, thinking, and dreaming about space, with the NASA Curiosity rover’s exploration of Mars and the rise of private companies like SpaceX. But as we tighten our belts here on Earth, there have also been questions about whether space exploration is worth an annual investment of billions of dollars. At an event sponsored by the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation at the Petersen Automotive Museum, NASA Mars Curiosity rover flight director Bobak Ferdowsi, Pla...

Do We Need High Art?

October 25, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 31 MB

Critic Camille Paglia, author of Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art From Egypt to Star Wars, believes that art in America is in crisis. Paglia, who has taught in art schools (she is currently a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia) for 40 years, is concerned about most of her students’ lack of exposure to art. But she's also been alarmed to hear the conservative denigration of artists and contemporary art on conservative talk radio. She believes Americans need to move...

Are Political Parties Hurting Our Democracy?

October 19, 2012 23:00 - 50 minutes - 45.6 MB

Mickey Edwards, a former Oklahoma Republican congressman and author of The Parties Versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans, visited Zócalo to talk about how America's two political parties are hurting the nation--and what can be done to fix our ailing system.

How Much Does It Cost to Buy the Presidency?

October 18, 2012 00:00 - 1 hour - 31.3 MB

How much are elections costing America? Zócalo's Joe Mathews talked with political scientist Samuel L. Popkin and campaign finance expert Richard L. Hasen about America's election dysfunction--and election reform--campaign finance, fundraising, and how candidates talk about money.

Does Happiness Keep the Doctor Away?

October 16, 2012 07:25 - 59 minutes - 28.4 MB

Studies show that happier, more optimistic people live longer, perform better in work and school, and lead healthier lives than their unhappy, pessimistic counterparts. But what can we do in our everyday lives to make ourselves both happier and healthier? "The Happiness Psychiatrist" Sheenie Ambardar and life coach Cynthia Loy Darst talked with Southern California Public Radio healthcare reporter Stephanie O’Neill about why it’s good to be happy, and how happiness can be achieved.

Did Obama's Stimulus Reinvent Government?

October 12, 2012 23:00 - 58 minutes - 27.8 MB

Time magazine's Michael Grunwald, author of The New New Deal, explains why, contrary to popular opinion, President Obama's 2009 stimulus has been a tremendous force for change in America. It created millions of jobs and lifted the nation's economy out of a free fall. But it is also transforming healthcare, energy, education, and the country's infrastructure.

Can Women Be Funny?

October 10, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 32.4 MB

Novelist Lisa Zeidner, memoirist Jeanne Darst, critic Heather Havrilesky, and Los Angeles Times columnist Meghan Daum discussed how humor differs between the sexes in its creation and reception. They agreed that the debate about whether women are as funny as men are is tired, but there are still a number of obstacles that face women who are creating comedy.

How Can L.A.'s Art Museums Thrive?

October 07, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 28.1 MB

The directors of three Los Angeles art museums--Ann Philbin of the Hammer, Michael Govan of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Timothy Potts, the new director of the Getty--discussed with Los Angeles Times arts reporter Jori Finkel the state of the city's museums and their hopes for the future. It's an exciting time for the L.A. art world, but although the museums have a great deal of potential they also face obstacles in cultivating a larger donor base, bringing in diverse audiences, ...

How Can Biomedicine Fulfill Its Promise?

October 05, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 29.4 MB

We’ve all heard the dismal facts about the American healthcare system: high spending, low-quality treatment, poor delivery, and spotty access. But biomedical innovator, businessman, and physician Patrick Soon-Shiong—who is also the richest man in Los Angeles and a Lakers part-owner—says the problems aren’t intractable. Far from it. Instead, we’re on the cusp of a more personalized, more accurate, and less error-prone era in American medicine. He talked with Arizona State University President ...

An Evening with Gavin Newsom

October 05, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 34 MB

Californians and their leaders need to move beyond longstanding battles over minor policy changes and begin new, broad debates about how to transform the state’s economy and educational system, argued Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom during an interview with NBC4 Los Angeles' Conan Nolan.

Is Altruism a Wonder Drug?

October 04, 2012 00:00 - 1 hour - 30.8 MB

What if there were a drug out there that cost nothing to produce, required no prescription, and made people live longer, feel happier and less stressed, and sleep better? There’d be a run on the pharmacies. But this wonder drug isn’t a drug. It’s altruism and compassion, a team of experts in the benefits of helping others--bioethicist Stephen G. Post, neurosurgeon James Doty, and Big Sunday founder David Levinson--told a crowd at an event co-presented by Kaiser Permanente and moderated by KQE...

What Does Vigilance Mean After Newspapers?

October 01, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 34.3 MB

For much of American history, newspapers held an exclusive role as democracy’s watchdog, sounding the alarm at any sign of corruption and abuse from those in power. But today there are fewer journalists than ever before, which means fewer people keeping watch. What does the death of newspapers mean for holding powerful institutions accountable? Voice of San Diego CEO Scott Lewis, Reportero director Bernardo Ruiz, and investigative journalist Carrie Lozano talk with Zócalo's Joe Mathews about ...

Does Where You Live Determine How You Die?

September 28, 2012 22:59 - 1 hour - 31.4 MB

In California, the end-of-life care you receive may have more to do with where you live than what you want. Shannon Brownlee, acting director of the New America Foundation Health Policy Program, discusses what’s behind this variation, and what can be done to make sure all patients get the care they want and need - rather than the care dictated by where they live.

Is Diversity Bad for Democracy?

September 25, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 35.8 MB

We tend to think that both democracy and diversity are good things; many of us even say that diversity is a strength. But others have argued that our polyglot nation is too big, too complex - simply too diverse - to boast a healthy and vibrant democracy. The Almanac of American Politics author Michael Barone, University of California Irvine sociologist Jennifer Lee, and City University of New York scholar Richard Alba examined America's divisions in a Zócalo/Cal Humanities event moderated by ...

An Evening with Sang Yoon

September 21, 2012 23:00 - 56 minutes - 26.7 MB

Sang Yoon, chef and owner of the Father’s Office and Lukshon restaurants, sat down with KCRW Good Foodhost Evan Kleiman to talk about entrepreneurship, inspiration, burgers, and, of course, ketchup (or rather the lack thereof at his Santa Monica and Culver City gastropubs) at a Grand Park event in partnership with the Music Center.

Can the Next President Put Public Universities Back on Top?

September 19, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 36.2 MB

Can the next U.S. president make public universities more affordable - and can the federal government do anything to support crucial research that takes place in these institutions? Yes, said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman, and Carnegie Corporation President Vartan Gregorian, in a panel co-presented by UCLA at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. that was moderated by David Leonhardt, Washington Bureau Chief of The New York Times.

Will Downtown Ever Work?

September 14, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 35.7 MB

Will downtown L.A. ever work? It’s already working, said a four-person panel of architects, planners, and designers who’ve been closely involved with downtown over the past decade. At an event in L.A.'s Grand Park, landscape architect Tony Paradowski, urban designer Melani Smith, SCI-Arc's Hernan Diaz Alonso, and architect Alice Kimm spoke with moderator Christopher Hawthorne, the Los Angeles Times architecture critic, about why they feel downtown has at last arrived and what the future might...

Does Imitation Breed Innovation?

September 10, 2012 23:00 - 51 minutes - 24.4 MB

According to UCLA legal scholar Kal Raustiala, coauthor of The Knockoff Economy: How Imitation Sparks Innovation, copycats and imitators—legal and illegal—not only fail to hurt creative industries but sometimes help drive them. In a talk at the Goethe Institut Los Angeles, Raustiala explains why a lot of what we think we know about intellectual property is wrong, and how certain industries—like fashion and food—still manage to thrive despite a lack of copyright protection.

How Doctors Die

July 30, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 31.2 MB

We all know we’re going to die, but we don’t want to talk about it—or plan for it. As a result, we take—and ask our healthcare providers to take—extraordinary measures to prolong our lives and those of our loved ones. Doctors, however, don’t take these same measures. Because they encounter death more often than most people, and because they know the quality of life that follows CPR, ventilators, and feeding tubes, physicians are better prepared than the rest of us to die in peace without a po...

Can Old Government Catch up to the New Economy?

July 26, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 32 MB

The key division in American politics and economics right now isn’t between liberals and conservatives, says Michael Lind. It’s between Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians. What does this division mean now, what is its history, and how did America’s economy get into the current mess? Lind, a public intellectual, co-founder of the New America Foundation, and author of Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States, tries to answer these questions.

What Does Heaven Look Like?

July 26, 2012 23:00 - 1 hour - 29.7 MB

Where’s heaven? What’s it like? Who gets in? And what tortures await those of us who land in the alternative destination? In a panel moderated by documentary filmmaker Jody Hassett Sanchez, UCLA Buddhism expert Robert Buswell, religion historian Jeffrey Burton Russell, UCLA anthropologist and expert in Pueblo Indian beliefs Peter Nabokov, and Martin Schwarz, curator of the exhibition "Heaven, Hell, and Dying Well: Images of Death in the Middle Ages" at the Getty Museum explore the ways differ...

Zócalo Public Square

Episodes

Guests

Books

Twitter Mentions