Innovation Hub

Megacities: Our Urban Future

By Kara Miller   |   Saturday, March 24, 2012
0 Comments   0 comments.

Part 1:

Part 2:

The skyline of Singapore, a completely urbanized city-state. (chooyutshing via Flickr)

Our guest this week says that, although humanity has tried living in many ways, we are drawn back to cities, in part because of what they can offer us: More social interaction, more money, more productivity -- even a longer life.

Edward Glaeser, the author of Triumph of The City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, And Happier, says we are now entering the golden age of the city, because they enable us to learn from each other in a complex world, building on each others' ideas and powering humanity's progress.

But cities present problems, too: Confronting their residents with stark inequalities and creating an intensive draw on scarce resources.

We'll talk about the possibilities and explore some of the challenges of our urban existance. 

Guest:

Race Against the Machine

By Kara Miller   |   Saturday, March 17, 2012
0 Comments   0 comments.

Robots are seen on the floor of the Tesla factory. (patrick_h/flickr)

Part 1:

Part 2:

We dive into a big debate about the economy with the authors of the widely-discussed book, Race Against the Machine, who argue that the stagnant unemployment rate may not be about to get better any time soon.

In fact, they say, computers may allow the economy to do perfectly well without ever getting anywhere close to full employment. But the consequences could be dire, turning us into a chronically-underemployed country, where some are helped by computers and others are displaced by them.

They’ll sketch out their vision for us and offer a potential solution. Where is this trend going? And will it lead to a great divide between the haves and the have nots?

Guests: 

  • Andrew McAfee, author; principal research scientist, at MIT’s Center for Digital Business
  • Erik Brynjolfsson, author; director of the MIT Center for Digital Business

More:

The Future of Knowledge: Too Big to Know

By Kara Miller   |   Saturday, March 17, 2012
0 Comments   0 comments.

This week, we talk to three big thinkers about the the forces that will shape our future.

First, Harvard’s David Weinberger, whose book, Too Big to Know: Rethinking Knowledge: Now that the Facts aren't the Facts, Experts are Everywhere, and the Smartest Person in the Room is the Room, argues that the rapidly-expanding amount of information available to us is changing how we think and communicate.

It’s changing who we view as “experts,” whether we keep secrets, and how we think about media.

Guest:  


More:

A Nutrition Label for the News

By Cristina Quinn   |   Tuesday, March 13, 2012
0 Comments   0 comments.

Mar. 14, 2012

news nutritional label
Dee-lish. (Clay Johnson)

EXTRA: We don't always consume the most whole-grain information. What's your biggest guilty-pleasure media "junk food"? Tell us in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — We take in a lot of information these days ... from the radio, television and every size screen imaginable.

Just look at the media diet of one patron at Out of Town News in Harvard Square: "I usually read the newspaper — a little old-fashioned — then I check my iPhone to see the breadth of news that’s out there, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and the London Times. I listen to the news on radio, but also Bloomberg Radio."

The media, like the food we consume, provides different tastes for different moods. But would you consider your media diet a balanced one? Are you getting the recommended daily dose of media nutrients? According to a 2009 study from the University of California San Diego, Americans consume an average of 12 hours of media a day.

But just as we're tempted to skip that apple and snarf some chips, with media, "The problem is that there is a difference between what people want and what they need," said theorist Clay Johnson.

Read More

Innovating in the Face of Climate Change

Saturday, March 10, 2012
2 Comments   2 comments.

smokestacks

Plumes from smokestacks, like these, are a mix of water vapor and greenhouse gasses. (ribarnia/Flickr)

It seems like we’ve been talking about a changing climate for a long time. In 2006, Al Gore made a documentary called “An Inconvenient Truth,” which threw the issue further into the spotlight.

But while debate, discord, and discussions about the climate continued, from the Kyoto Summit to the Copenhagen Accord, the world kept right on industrializing.

Recent estimates show that America produces about 18 metric tons of carbon per person per year — compared to about 5 tons, for example, for Argentinians.

But, as a country, our aggregate pollution was overtaken years ago by China, where the middle class is hungry for TVs, washing machines, and refrigerators. And where, on average, a coal-fired power plant opens every week.

So, today, we look at the climate and how we are beginning to adapt to a new world. We start with a discussion of the changes we may face.

Guests:

Adapting To The Future

Part 1:
 

Part 2:

We’re talking today about how our lives will change in response to climate change — and the steps we can take, through innovation, to adapt to these issues. Will we see shifts in the availability of certain foods? Changes in the way cities, towns, and farms are constructed?

Guests:





Bringing More Women To The Top Of The Business World

By Kara Miller   |   Friday, March 2, 2012
1 Comments   1 comments.

From left: Liz Claman, Fox Business Network anchor (courtesy); Marissa Mayer, Google vice president (AP), Jennifer Siebel Newsom, filmmaker (AP)



This weekend, we talk to a filmmaker, a vice president at Google, and a national news anchor about the future of women in business.

The trailer for Jennifer Siebel Newsom's film, Miss Representation.

Just 3% of Fortune 500 companies are currently run by women, and, women hold fewer than 1 in 5 positions in upper management at these corporations.

Where do women fit in the changing world of business and technology? What do women bring to innovation in these sectors? And why is it that, in this day and age, the balance at the top of these fields is still so unequal?

We get insights from:

A Look by the Numbers

We ask a research expert to delve into the data. Who is happiest at work? How is balance acheived? Where can improvements be made?

We hear from:

  • Scott Marden, research director, Captivate Network

    • Hear the show this weekend, at 7 a.m. Saturday or 10 p.m. Sunday on 89.7 or online.

    About Innovation Hub

    Each week, Kara Miller talks to Boston's most innovative thinkers, examining new ideas and potential solutions to today’s many challenges. Topics range from education to health care to green energy. Join us on Saturdays at 7 a.m. and Sundays at 10 p.m.

    About the Hosts
    Kara Miller Kara Miller
    As a radio host, Kara Miller has interviewed thinkers from E.J. Dionne to Howard Gardner, Deepak Chopra to Lani Guinier. She is a panelist on WGBH-TV's "Beat the Press," as well as an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Her writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The National Journal, The Boston Herald, Boston Magazine, and The International Herald Tribune.

    Podcast: iTunes | XML

    Browse our past programs


    Podcast: iTunes | XML

    RSS   RSS

    Rick Steves Contest


    WGBH FunFest

    Topics

     
    You are on page 9 of 17   |