In October 2016 Louisvillian and occasional worker Joe Geoghegan and his high-school friend Noah quit their jobs and began an incredible adventure from Louisville to Antarctica...all by land and sea. Traveling by his wits Geoghegan has explored more than a dozen countries and met with scores of people. This experience has left a variety of intense impressions on him, including how such traveling can help facilitate a better understanding among diverse people in an increasingly fractured world. Geoghegan is interrupting his adventure to return to IdeaFestival from Australia to share his notes, experiences and deep impressions of his travels.
Humans and the Planet: An Unnatural History
Our planet is undergoing disruptive change on a global scale. Patterns involving rising temperatures, changing sea levels, increasingly common extreme weather events and their implications (including public health) may be driving another mass change and extinction of life on Earth. Climate change biologist Scott Hotaling, Ph.D. joins IdeaFestival 2017 to discuss his use of ecological and genomic tools, to better understand how biodiversity is and may be impacted on recent timescales. Whether you live in coastal Florida, the mountains of Tibet or Louisville ramifications of this dramatic change will affect all of us.
Ideas On The Edge
We are delighted to welcome Creative Capital artists Ann Carlson and Ghana ThinkTank to IdeaFestival 2017. Ann Carlson borrows from the disciplines of dance, performance, theater, visual and conceptual art, often dismantling conventional boundaries between artist and subject. Carlson’s work takes the form of solo dance/performance, site-specific projects, ensemble theatrical works and performance/video. The Ghana ThinkTank is a worldwide network of think tanks, founded in 2006 and managed by John Ewing, Carmen Montoya and Christopher Robbins, creating strategies to resolve local problems in the "developed" world. The network began with think tanks from Ghana, Cuba and El Salvador, and has since expanded to include Serbia, Mexico and Ethiopia. In partnership with Creative Capital.
Ann Carlson
Ghana ThinkTank:
John Ewing, Carmen Montoya, Christopher Robbins
The Mind and Music of Chopin
Concert pianist and psychiatrist Richard Kogan has gained renown for his lecture-recitals that explore the deep role of music in healing and the influence of psychological and psychiatric forces and medical illness on the creative output of many of the greatest composers. Dr. Kogan returns to IdeaFestival to explore the multifaceted "symphony" of Chopin.
Flash Class: Louisville...in a Driverless Future
AI expert and University of Louisville professor Roman Yampolskiy explores the challenges and implications of a driverless car economy on Louisville.
Flash Class: "Stupid Smart Goals"
Many of us were taught that “SMART goals” were the best way to plan. But what if that SMART goal is exactly what it is holding you back? Come hear nerd and planner, Kristen Hanel, talk about the limitations of SMART goals and how breaking out of your “Action Plan” can be the fastest way to where you want to be.
Polarization: A View from the Front Lines with John King
CNN chief national correspondent, analyst and anchor of Inside Politics John King offers his thoughts and insights on the increasing polarization of the US electorate. King will provide insights from the front-line of the national debate, historical context and thoughts on where we might go from here. He will then be joined by psychologist Phil Kraemer Ph.D. and artist Hannah Drake for a broader conversation offering differing perspectives on this issue and the fact that any possible "solutions" are fraught with many complex and very deep issues that go far beyond simply political differences. Conversation moderated by Tom Eblen.
The Science of Whiskey
Eric Simanek, chemist, chair and director of the IdeaFactory at Texas Christian University (TCU) comes to IdeaFestival 2017 to discuss his amazing and wonderfully illustrated book entitled Shots of Knowledge: The Science of Whiskey, a guidebook for bourbon lovers. The story begins with the Big Bang and travels through photosynthesis, bubble caps, oak speciation or a mechanistic enzymology. Simanek reveals the elegant beauty of whiskey production often masked behind the science and engineering.