KERA's Think KERA

For many parents, policing a child’s online activity is a challenge. Devorah Heitner, an expert in young people’s relationship with digital media and technology, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how to balance protecting kids with allowing them to have some level of autonomy, what to do when mistakes are made, and how to support them as they build identities online. Her book is “Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World.”

Police officers use a variety of means to subdue agitated and sometimes violent suspects, all of which involve risk. Serginho Roosblad, video producer for the Associated Press’ Global Investigations team, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss an investigation into why “nonlethal” techniques still led to more than a thousand deaths over a 10-year period. His Frontline documentary “Documenting Police Use of Force” debuts tonight on PBS stations.

Last year, the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, leading to an array of reactions from Asian Americans. OiYan Poon is a co-director of the College Admissions Futures Co-Laborative, and she joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the diversity of feelings about the ruling among Asian Americans and how that’s shaped the ways they’ve understood the admission processes of select universities. Her book is “Asian American Is Not a Color: Conversations on Race,  Affirmative Action, and Family.”

What if it were possible to put a cap on capitalism? Christine Emba, staff writer for The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how extreme wealth buys influence while not necessarily providing innovation, and the idea of “limitarianism,” which allow for great wealth, but not uber wealth. Her article is “What Would Society Look Like if Extreme Wealth Were Impossible?”

If everything happens for a reason, and those reasons are beyond our control, maybe we don’t have free will after all. Robert Sapolsky, professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his case against free will, which he says is the logical choice if you look at the ways our lives are shaped by forces that start from our very biology. And we’ll hear why, even without this control, we are still bound to be moral and decent humans. His book is “Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will.”

Putting actors of color into historically white roles might not be as progressive as we’d like to think it is. Writer and filmmaker Kabir Chibber joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why colorblind casting still has roots in Euro-centric thinking, and how it often distracts us from actually confronting racism. His article in The New York Times is “Hollywood’s New Fantasy: A Magical, Colorblind Past.”