Free Forum with Terrence McNally

In these unsettling times, I turned to the archives for inspiring ideas about the meaning of life. First, my 2009 conversation with physicist FRITJOF CAPRA about one of my favorite books, The Turning Point. Written in 1981, it looks at many domains of human activity, and makes clear that we need to move toward a systems view of reality that sees everything as dynamic and interdependent. True to those themes, in the second half you’ll hear my 2008 conversation with MacArthur award-winning biologist STUART KAUFFMAN about his provocative book, Reinventing the Sacred, in which he offers an inspiring image of God as the ceaseless creativity of the universe and of life itself.

Millennials have already revolutionized technology, commerce and media. They’re responsible for our major social movements. And there are now 26 Millennials in Congress - five times as many as before the 2018 midterms. TIME magazine national correspondent CHARLOTTE ALTER (cover stories on Mayor Pete, AOC, and Person of the Year Greta Thunberg) examines how millennials have gained power so far — from City Hall to Congress. In her first book, THE ONES WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR, she asks - How are we going to get to the political future? - and - What’s it going to look like when we do?

In The Patterning Instinct, JEREMY LENT brings together cultural history and neuroscience - a new discipline he calls cognitive history. Lent reminds us we see the world through stories. The right has dominated politics with a story of America that is false on many counts and based on a set of values that brings us to this moment when we cannot work together to save our lives. Can we come out the other side with a story of shared vulnerability, shared fate, and shared purpose? I think this conversation recorded in 2018 lays a good foundation for considering that challenge.

The American people usually come together when confronting huge challenges – think of WWII and the attacks of 9/11. But today, facing the global pandemic, we are divided – on nearly every aspect of the crisis. In NONZERO, ROBERT WRIGHT contends that evolution and history move us toward greater cooperation, collaboration, and win-win outcomes. We talk about why - though individuals act heroically - the nation remains tribalized.

ROBERT WRIGHT takes on big questions, and in 2009’s THE EVOLUTION OF GOD, he shows how the concept of God in Judaism, Christianity and Islam has varied over time depending on the politics at play when their stories were told. When people see their interests threatened, this perception brings out the most belligerent parts of their religion. We explore how this might apply to Islamic terrorists and Evangelical Christians.

MARY O’HARA grew up in deep poverty in Belfast, Northern Ireland during the Troubles. In THE SHAME GAME, she fights to break the power of the narrative that excuses the cruel and unjust treatment of our most vulnerable. We talk about her own story and the stories of others who have begun to move past that narrative in their own lives, often through the power of reading and writing, the same pathways that O’Hara herself took. Inspiring.

Before the pandemic, before Trump, millions of Americans had already lost confidence in our political and economic system. Stagnant wages, volatile job markets, an unwillingness to deal with threats like climate change, fed a sense that the system is fixed, and serves only those with enough money to buy power. ROBERT REICH and I talk about the pandemic and about his new book, THE SYSTEM: Who Rigged It and How Do We Fix It?

In Capitalism, Alone: The Future of the System That Rules the World, BRANKO MILANOVIC says we’re all capitalists now. Liberal capitalism delivers rampant inequality and capitalist excess as it fights for hearts and minds with political capitalism, as practiced by China. Milanovic asks - What are the prospects for a fairer world now that capitalism is the only game in town? And what can we do to make that more likely?

Our bodies — and all living systems — accomplish tasks far more sophisticated and dynamic than any entity yet designed by humans. By emulating nature's principles, researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering develop innovative engineering solutions for healthcare, energy, robotics, and more. Here’s my 2012 conversation with founding director, DON INGBER. I find the notion of learning from nature one of the most exciting developments in human activity, one that gives me great hope.

How far would you travel to vote if your polling place closed? How much time would you spend before giving up? I talk with ROBERT GREENWALD of Brave New Films about his latest documentary SUPPRESSED: The Fight to Vote, which exposes voter suppression tactics and policies used in Georgia that could be deployed nationally in 2020. Polling place closures, voter purges, missing absentee ballots, extreme wait times, and a host of voter ID issues disproportionately prevented many students and people of color from casting their ballots. I also speak with Linda Marshall, a disenfranchised voter. Learn more at bravenewfilms.org