His Holiness the Dalai Lama at The Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute
Aspen, CO
Jul 26th, 2008

The Aspen Institute and co-chairs Margot Pritzker and Richard Blum, in collaboration with the Conservancy for Tibetan Art and Culture, are proud to present a substantive symposium that embraces Tibetan and Himalayan art, culture, science, medicine, spiritual practice, and history.
The three-day program - featuring His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the keynote speaker - will bring together an extraordinary number of eminent scholars, teachers, practitioners and tradition-bearers from around the globe to shed light on the rich historical and philosophical significance of Tibet and its impact on global issues today - The Aspen Institute







FORA.tv - His Holiness the Dalai Lama at The Aspen Institute

Steven Pinker - The Stuff of Thought

The Commonwealth Club of California
San Francisco, CA
Sep 12th, 2008

One of the principal researchers on language and cognition, Steven Pinker turns his focus to what our language says about us. He explores the sometimes comic, sometimes tragic ways our mind works, using language as a clue.
Why do we impose taboos on certain topics, like sex? Why do we go to great lengths to bribe or convince?
What do our swear words (and their syntax) say about us? How do our minds handle the large amount of information targeted at us each day? - The Commonwealth Club of California







FORA.tv - Steven Pinker - The Stuff of Thought

Dexter Filkins: Reporting from the Front Lines

World Affairs Council of Northern California
San Francisco, CA
Sep 23rd, 2008

War correspondents often provide us with greater insight into the complex experiences behind the headlines of the daily news.
Reporting from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and New York during 9/11, Dexter Filkins works on the ground to interview soldiers, insurgents, suicide bombers and civilian victims of conflict and gives us unique access to situations such as street-to-street combat and wartorn homes and villages.
In The Forever War, he offers a personal glimpse into the experiences of the people involved in war - combatants and victims alike - World Affairs Council of Northern California







FORA.tv - Dexter Filkins: Reporting from the Front Lines

James Randi - Authors@Google

James Randi is an internationally known magician (as The Amazing Randi), psychic debunker, and winner of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant." He was a founding fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). He is perhaps best known for offering $1,000,000 (via the James Randi Educational Foundation) to anyone who can successfully demonstrate psychic powers under conditions mutually agreed on by the challenger and himself. Starting with a $10,000 prize over 25 years ago, no claimant to psychic powers has ever won the money.

Randi has pursued "psychic" spoonbenders, exposed the dirty tricks of faith healers, investigated homeopathic water "with a memory," and generally been a thorn in the sides of those who try to pull the wool over the public's eyes in the name of the supernatural.

This event took place August 6, 2007 at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA.




YouTube - Authors@Google: James Randi

Christopher Hitchens - "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything"

Author Christopher Hitchens discusses his book "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" as a part of the Authors@Google series. The author of Why Orwell Matters and Letters to a Young Contrarian, Christopher Hitchens is a Vanity Fair contributing editor, a Slate columnist, and a regular contributor to The Atlantic Monthly. He has also written for The Nation, Granta, Harper's, The Washington Post, and is a frequent television and radio guest. Born in England, Hitchens was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he received a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics. He now lives in Washington, D.C., and he became a U.S. citizen in 2007. This event took place on August 16, 2007 at Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA.
Authors@Google:



YouTube - Authors@Google: Christopher Hitchens

My Brilliant Brain - Make Me A Genius

- 47 min - Aug 27, 2007
At 38 years old, Susan Polgar has reached heights that few women have ever equalled in the chess world. Despite the common assumption that men’s brains are better at understanding spatial relationships, giving them an advantage in games such as chess, Susan went on to become the world’s first grandmaster. Susan’s remarkable abilities have earned her the label of ‘genius’, but her psychologist father, László Polgar, believed that genius was “not born, but made”. Noting that even Mozart received tutelage from his father at a very early age, Polgar set about teaching chess to the five-year-old Susan after she happened upon a chess set in their home. “My father believed that the potential of children was not used optimally,” says Susan.