Booz Allen Hamilton

Walter Isaacson, CEO of the Aspen Institute, opens up the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival running from June 27 to July 3.

Pervez Musharraf, former president of Pakistan.

Michelle Kwan, former Olympic figure skater.

The band They Might Be Giants.

What do they all have in common?

They've all taken the stage at the Aspen Ideas Festival, an event which brings together thinkers from all over the world from June 27 to July 3.

Topics range from Supreme Court decisions to artificial intelligence and the importance of sports.

Alexis Madrigal, senior editor at The Atlantic, a co-sponsor of the festival, says the festival aims to create a forum for new ideas and humanistic education.

Madrigal says that it's difficult to see the impact of the festival right away.

"There's no new agreement that comes out of here between Democrats and Republicans. There's no grand bargain that gets struck" at the festival," Madrigal says.

"But on balance and on time," he says, "you hope if you put people with differing social and political views in an environment in which they can interact and come to new understandings of each others' position that would have some positive impact in the future."

Guest:

Alexis Madrigal, senior editor at The Atlantic, a co-sponsor of the festival