An effective propaganda system encourages people to be discouraged. Hey! Worry about the Kardashian's latest news. Leave the complicated matters of domestic and foreign affairs to the smart guys. This is a recipe for disaster because the ruling class will attend acutely to its interests at the expense of everyone and everything else including the planet. This indifference to the 99% and the environment was dramatically revealed in a 2015 poll of CEOs at Davos. Every year the so-called "masters of the universe" meet in the Swiss Alps. The poll asked them to list their major concerns. They had 19. Climate change was not one of them. No surprise. The big boys have other things on their minds like making money. It's an institutional imperative. Will the changes to avert eco-catastrophes come from the top? Highly unlikely. We the People must act.

This event was presented by the Lannan Foundation.

Noam Chomsky, by any measure, has led a most extraordinary life. In one index he is ranked as the eighth most cited person in history, right up there with Aristotle, Shakespeare, Marx, Plato and Freud. The legendary MIT professor practically invented modern linguistics. In addition to his pioneering work in that field he has been a leading voice for peace and social justice for many decades. Chris Hedges says he is "America's greatest intellectual" who "makes the powerful, as well as their liberal apologists, deeply uncomfortable." He is the author of scores of books, including Hopes and Prospects, Masters of Mankind, How the World Works, and Power Systems with David Barsamian.