Festival of Dangerous Ideas
126 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 days ago - ★★★★ - 5 ratingsListen to talks presented at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas – the original disruptive festival. FODI features a line-up of leading experts from around the world, who bring bold ideas to complex issues. The festival seeks to challenge orthodox opinion, interrogate accepted truths, break through filter bubbles, and promote healthy and vibrant civil debate.
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Episodes
FODI 2024 program out now
June 25, 2024 21:00 - 1 minute - 1.38 MBAre you BOLD, BRAVE and CURIOUS? FODI is back, baby. We’ve gathered the world's best for a weekend of provocation and inspiration. 87 speakers and artists including 16 international guests across 88 sessions at Carriageworks, Sydney for one massive weekend of danger. Presented by The Ethics Centre, FODI is a place to come and be curious together. A sanctuary where all are welcome. Safe from hype. Safe to listen. And safe to ask hard questions. Satisfy your taste for danger, tickets wo...
Step into a sanctuary at FODI 2024
May 20, 2024 05:17 - 32 seconds - 728 KBFestival of Dangerous Ideas (FODI) returns to Carriageworks on 24-25 August 2024. Offering a haven for exploration and a harbour for the curious, FODI 2024's theme, Sanctuary allows audiences to engage with the ideas behind the headlines of the 24 hour news cycle. In a litany of entrenched ideas, shallow information and self-censorship, we desperately need a space where we can engage with challenging ideas in good faith. FODI 2024 is an opportunity to hear powerful and provocative speak...
Tariq Ali (2015) | The Twilight of Democracy
April 30, 2024 22:00 - 40 minutes - 55.5 MBWhat is the purpose of democracy when it’s become more challenging than ever to tell the left and right apart? Journalist and filmmaker, Tariq Ali says Western democracy has failed and we are now seeing the emergence of an extreme centre, which ensures no challenges to this form of neoliberal politics is permitted. Tariq Ali is a British-Pakistani political commentator and a prolific writer, journalist and filmmaker. He has been a leading figure of the international left since the 1960...
Dennis Glover (2015) | Winners and Losers
April 02, 2024 22:44 - 33 minutes - 45.8 MBIn modern Australia, productivity is all that matters, or so our leaders tell us. However the way we have pursued economic growth in the last 30 years has prevented many people from sharing the rewards. We now create wealth via exclusion. Writer Denis Glover argues that an economy is not a society. We desperately need to confront the working conditions, jobs and lives we want for ourselves and our families – and to choose a future that is designed to benefit all Australians, not just so...
Molly Crabapple (2016) | From the frontline
February 25, 2024 23:35 - 28 minutes - 39.7 MBIn a time of turmoil, what happens when art and politics collide? From prisons, refugee camps and war zones, artist and journalist Molly Crabapple has documented the astounding courage of people living in the worst possible circumstances. Crabapple wonders whether art is sharp enough to cut through razor wires. Is it time to move art out of galleries and use it as a real agent for change? Molly Crabapple is an artist and writer who has been published in the New York Times, The Paris R...
Expendable Australians (2022) | Kylie Moore-Gilbert, Peter Greste, Ian Kemish & Sangeetha Pillai
January 22, 2024 22:53 - 1 hour - 82.5 MBWe all have assumptions of what citizenship means. However, in recent years we are starting to see the envelop pushed with more common law rights being taken away. From Australia shutting its doors during the pandemic to authoritarian regimes acquiring the habit of turning travellers into political prisoners, where is it becoming too dangerous to go? And if an Australian passport does not protect you, what are you owed by your government? Kylie Moore-Gilbert is a scholar of Middle Easter...
Expendable Australians (FODI 2022) | Kylie Moore-Gilbert, Peter Greste, Ian Kemish & Sangeetha Pillai
January 22, 2024 22:53 - 1 hour - 82.5 MBWe all have assumptions of what citizenship means. However, in recent years we are starting to see the envelop pushed with more common law rights being taken away. From Australia shutting its doors during the pandemic to authoritarian regimes acquiring the habit of turning travellers into political prisoners, where is it becoming too dangerous to go? And if an Australian passport does not protect you, what are you owed by your government? Kylie Moore-Gilbert is a scholar of Middle Easter...
Drawing Truth to Power (2022) | Badiucao, Dan Ilic & Cathy Wilcox
December 11, 2023 00:07 - 1 hour - 82.5 MBDrawing truth to power is more dangerous in some parts of the world than others. The combination of satire and anger can make the best political cartoons lethal to politicians, unveiling truths around human rights, leadership and freedom. But where do we draw the line between humour, offence and legality? And for cartoonists trapped between censorship and cancellation, what is there still left to draw? Badiucao is one of the most popular and prolific political artist from China, and he c...
Steven Pinker (2022) | Enlightenment or Dark Age?
November 07, 2023 03:39 - 39 minutes - 53.6 MBAre the ideals of the Enlightenment – reason, science and humanism – and the progress they can deliver being undermined by a cynical desire to burn it all down? Pre-eminent psychologist Steven Pinker explains why problems are inevitable and not a reason to destroy the institutions of modernity, with all the resulting chaos and carnage. The use of knowledge to enhance human flourishing will never bring about utopia, but it has given greater life, freedom, equality, safety, peace, and enrichme...
Harmful Thoughts (2022) | Jayne Crossling, Emma A. Jane, Georgia Naldrett & Michael Salter
October 09, 2023 02:31 - 58 minutes - 80.6 MBAustralia is facing a child sexual abuse epidemic. Brought to light by The Royal Commission and stories of high-profile survivors, the numbers are shocking, and the online world is even worse. But this is not a crimewave we can arrest our way out of. Criminal justice is not enough, and the revulsion child sexual abuse inspires can paralyse more effective responses. However, there is a window for child sexual abuse prevention, if we are not too scared to seize it. It’s time to engage earlier...
Donate to make FODI happen in 2024
September 08, 2023 01:57 - 1 minute - 1.54 MBSince 2009 the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, or FODI to its fans, has curated thought-provoking topics and new approaches to wicked problems. We bring bold speakers, artists and experiences together in ways that are unexpected, and yes, sometimes a bit uncomfortable, but we are always unerringly authentic. We’ve never shied away from truth. So, here’s our dangerous truth: Festival of Dangerous Ideas needs funds to go ahead in 2024. We’re already talking to partners. We’re applying for g...
Stealing Culture (2022) | Daniel Browning, Corrie Chen, Coby Edgar & Luara Ferracioli
September 04, 2023 04:37 - 1 hour - 82.9 MBFrom musical borrowings and dance moves, to clothing, art and stories, it's time to talk about where to draw the line between legitimate cultural exchange and damaging cultural appropriation. As we see more clearly how power shapes culture, the relationships between artistic freedom and protecting culture is shifting rapidly. It’s time for a bigger discussion about who owns culture, who’s stealing it, who is entitled to borrow, and how to pay a fair price. Daniel Browning is an Aborigi...
Claire G. Coleman (2022) | Words are Weapons
August 07, 2023 00:58 - 57 minutes - 79.1 MBStories define who we are, our history and they can be weaponised. Stories can erase an entire culture. History is nothing but a story. Noongar woman and author Claire G. Coleman invites you to consider that Australia has been defined by a story that hasn’t been built on truth. That the stories Australia tells itself about itself are actually dangerous; they disenfranchise and dehumanise people, both the settlers and the First Nations people. Colonisation in Australia is not over. It is a pr...
Just Be Evil (2022) | Frances Haugen, Scott Hargreaves, Sam Mostyn & Carl Rhodes
July 05, 2023 01:58 - 1 hour - 93.9 MBIn 1970, Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman famously said that ‘the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits’. And much of western corporate culture has lived by that credo, allowing businesses to ravage the environment and trash the rights of workers. However in more recent times, corporations have seemingly grown a political and social conscious. Is woke capitalism the next step towards a better world? Or is it a form of dangerous hypocrisy that threaten...
Joanna Bourke (2022) | The Last Taboo
May 31, 2023 06:07 - 44 minutes - 61.4 MBOur modern society is dependent on extraordinary levels of abuse and violence towards non-human animals. While we may love animals, we continue to interact with them in thoughtless, violent and cruel ways. We destroy their habitats, regulate their slaughter, farm and exploit them, and even in extreme circumstances, sexually abuse them. Historian Joanna Bourke asks us how we can love and care for animals better? Please note this session contains themes that may be sensitive to some lis...
Frances Haugen (2022) | Unmasking Facebook
May 07, 2023 23:54 - 32 minutes - 44.6 MBFormer Facebook product manager, Frances Haugen did not set out to be a whistleblower, but when it became a question of saving lives, she knew it was time to tell the truth. On top of her concerns about mental health and hate speech, finding out that the Facebook platform was being used by human traffickers in Ethiopia tipped the balance. With almost half the people in the world using Meta’s platforms, and leadership of the company vigorously denying her accusation that it values profits o...
Join the Rebellion (2022) | Jane Caro, Osher Günsberg, Yasmin Poole, Kevin Roose & Alok Vaid-Menon
April 11, 2023 00:59 - 1 hour - 105 MBAs we confront the challenges of the 21st century, we’ve been encouraged to think that we can innovate our way out of anything, or that coding and technology are the answers. But what if the most important tools for our time are human skills like compassion, creativity and collaboration? To protect our own futures, it’s time to stop relying on technology to save us and focus on the things that make us truly human. Jane Caro is a Walkley Award winning Australian columnist, author, novelist,...
World Without Rape (2022) | Joanna Bourke, Jess Hill, Sisonke Msimang, Saxon Mullins & Bronwyn Penrith
March 05, 2023 23:29 - 58 minutes - 80.4 MBThe last few years have seen courageous sexual assault survivors become heroines and heroes, conquering the forces that have silenced them for so long. While laws are changing and we continue to unravel the culture of shame that has protected perpetrators and punished survivors – how can we evolve the conversation? Can we ever get to the heart of the matter, and think about a world without rape? Or are our efforts doomed to failure as we tinker at the edges of an eternal crime? Please no...
The Crime Paradox (2022) | Wenlei Ma, Kate McClymont, Ann Mossop & Don Weatherburn
February 07, 2023 01:12 - 56 minutes - 77.4 MBOur obsession with true crime is everywhere – from news stories and podcasts to the big screen. However in recent decades, rates of almost all crime around the world have declined dramatically, with the notable exception of sexual assault. Meanwhile the number of people in prison has increased alarmingly. TV and film critic Wenlei Ma, journalist Kate McClymont, and former Executive Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics Don Weatherburn investigate why the data on crime, the inmate...
Sisonke Msimang (2022) | Precious White Lives
January 08, 2023 23:39 - 45 minutes - 62.2 MBAustralia is professed to be the most successful multicultural society in the world. However, with our treatment of multicultural communities throughout the pandemic, a selective immigration progress and fraught ongoing Indigenous relations – Australia continues to deliver some sharp lessons about race. Why is it that some lives are remembered, commemorated and valued more than others? Delivered in the wake of the Queen’s passing, author and activist Sisonke Msimang explores the preciousn...
Kevin Roose (2022) | Caught in a web
December 13, 2022 01:52 - 32 minutes - 44 MBIn a world where the internet saturates everything, where does the internet stop and our human selves begin? As we’re nudged and pushed by an endless stream of alerts, notifications and recommendations, our attention and money are pulled in directions that seem to only serve the interests of the platforms. As we’re inevitably drifting towards automation, NY Times tech columnist and host of the Rabbit Hole podcast Kevin Roose, offers us a digital wellness check up in how we can fight back ...
Ruth Ben-Ghiat (2022) | Return of the Strongman
November 27, 2022 20:00 - 34 minutes - 47.3 MBFrom Russia and China to America, Turkey and beyond, illiberal leaders have used corruption, machismo, disinformation, propaganda and violence to stay in power and expand their influence for decades. With authoritarianism now governing over 60% of the world’s population, are we witnessing a backslide in democracy and a more efficient model of governance emerging? Join historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat as she examines the authoritarian playbook, how strongmen think and what drives them. Hi...
American Decadence (2022) | Nick Bryant, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Geraldine Doogue & Adam Tooze
November 13, 2022 20:00 - 57 minutes - 79.1 MBWhile we’ve all watched the rise of the US in our lifetimes, its recent decline has been a hot topic of conversation – with ballooning inequality, military overreach, gun violence and police shootings, the great recession, and a dramatic slide into decadence and division provided by recent politics and structures of power. While the idea of a slightly less-powerful America might be attractive to many countries tired of US dominance, can we reach the conclusion that America has reached a of t...
Adam Tooze (2022) | F=Fail
October 31, 2022 22:34 - 40 minutes - 56.3 MBThe 21st century was supposed to be better than this. As we confront the impacts of climate change, wars old and new, the pandemic and its aftermath, and a dangerously fragile global financial system, it’s time to ask ‘Why can’t we get our act together and solve the issues that matter?’ As we find ourselves dealing with a multitude of challenges that we predicted would arrive, but seem unable to prevent, acclaimed historian Adam Tooze looks back to see a better future. Prize-winning histo...
Jacqui Lambie (2022) | On Blowing Things Up
October 16, 2022 20:00 - 34 minutes - 47.4 MBKnown as one of the most fierce and outspoken politicians in the country, Jacqui Lambie does not hold back. Not with her opinion, her work ethic, or her convictions. And she’s done the unthinkable, for a politician, she’s changed her mind and admitted to it. Rising to public office with the Palmer United Party in 2013, she quickly struck out on her own in 2014 as an independent for Tasmania in the Senate. Lambie, an Aboriginal Tasmanian who served in the Australian Army, has fought hard fo...
Masha Gessen & Tom Switzer (2014) | Putin
May 27, 2022 02:26 - 1 hour - 92.8 MBIt’s been over 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union and 22 years since Vladimir Putin came to power. Now in the throes of a Ukraine invasion, the Russian regime combats any conflict with an utter disregard for internal opposition and external western pressure. From the inside, fighting Putin is the only option for Russian activists. From the outside, what are the strategic options for western countries against this authoritarian superpower? Do m...
Jesse Bering (2012) | We Are All Sexual Perverts
April 04, 2022 01:49 - 49 minutes - 67.8 MBWe may not want to admit it, but there is a spectrum of perversion along which we all sit. Whether it’s voyeurism, exhibitionism, or your run-of-the-mill foot fetish, we all possess a suite of sexual tastes as unique as our fingerprints—and as secret as the rest of the skeletons we’ve hidden in our closets. In his 2012 talk Jesse Bering humanises so-called deviants while at the same time asking serious questions about the differences between thought and action. He presents us with a cha...
FODI: The In-Between | 08.5 | Endtropy | B-Side
February 25, 2022 20:04 - 4 minutes - 9.18 MBA playerless piano performs a repeating piece of music in which every note of a scale is played on every beat of the bar. The melody is absorbed into chaos, as the words of Noami Klein and Waleed Aly speak of our interconnectedness and entanglements. Produced by The Festival of Dangerous Ideas, The Ethics Centre and Audiocraft.
FODI: The In-Between | 08 | Waleed Aly & Naomi Klein | Our entanglements have been exposed
February 25, 2022 20:03 - 37 minutes - 86.1 MBOn the precipice of a new age, what are the forces that will bring us together, and what is driving us apart? Simon Longstaff sits between Waleed Aly and Naomi Klein as they discuss the decline of meta-narratives in society and politics, reconciling coloniser and Indigenous histories and narratives, and trends of hyper-individualism and conspiracy. Neither are wholly optimistic nor pessimistic about the future that lies ahead. Waleed Aly is a broadcaster, lawyer, academic and Walkley Award...
FODI: The In-Between | 07.5 | Revivification | B-Side
February 25, 2022 20:01 - 5 minutes - 13.2 MBCellF is a cybernetic musician and the world’s first neural synthesiser, created by Perth-based artist and researcher, Guy Ben-Ary. Its ‘brain’ is made of biological neural networks bio-engineered from the artist’s own cells, that grow in a petri dish and control in real time its ‘body’ – an array of synthesizers that play music live with human musicians. Revivification is a short piece that responds to S.Matthew Liao and John Rasko’s discussion. Produced by The Festival of Dangerous Ideas...
FODI: The In-Between | 07 | S. Matthew Liao & John Rasko | Immortality, fraud and the future of the human species
February 25, 2022 20:00 - 34 minutes - 78.1 MBFrom the ancient tale of Gilgamesh to Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, the dream of immortality has long captured the imagination of writers and scientists. But how close are we to conquering death? In a conversation moderated by Simon Longstaff, neuro-ethicist S. Matthew Liao speaks with stem cell-researcher John Rasko about the age of regenerative medicine, the heroes and fraudsters of the past, and the reality of a distant future where genetic engineering helps humans to colonise future planets...
FODI: The In-Between | 06.5 | Tongues | B-Side
February 24, 2022 20:04 - 5 minutes - 11.5 MBTongues is an explicit, potent musical manifesto, exploring having your voice taken away, in response to Roxane Gay and Kate Manne’s discussion. Tongues is written and performed by Tanya Tagaq, a Canadian Inuk improvisational singer, avant-garde composer, bestselling author, and Saul Williams, Sumach Valentine, Jesse Zubot; published by Songs of Six Shooter B (SOCAN), Martyr Loser King (ASCAP), Warp Music Limited (PRS/ASCAP), Jesse Zubot (SOCAN). Courtesy of Six Shooter Records Inc. Produc...
FODI: The In-Between | 06 | Roxane Gay & Kate Manne | The mild terror of publishing feminist cultural criticism
February 24, 2022 20:03 - 42 minutes - 97.8 MBRoxane Gay and Kate Manne speak to this moment in time, the nature of progress, and their hopes and fears for the future. In a conversation moderated by Ann Mossop, they discuss modern feminism, online communication and social media, and the “lean white male” bodies that history has centred over those that exist on the periphery. Roxane Gay is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. Kate Manne is a philosopher and associate professor at the Sage School of Philosophy at Corn...
FODI: The In-Between | 05.5 | Semi-Autonomous | B-Side
February 24, 2022 20:02 - 5 minutes - 11.9 MBA text-generating AI that has been trained with FODI transcripts speaks in conversation with a deepfake AI about violence, conspiracy theories and what it means to be human. Our FODI-trained AI was created using Max Woolf’s simplified version of OpenAI’s Generative Pre-trained Transformer 2 (GPT-2) and Google Colab; Max has created a tutorial so that anyone can train an AI model for free. Semi-Autonomous is a response to Joanna Bourke and Toby Walsh’s discussion. Produced by The Festival of ...
FODI: The In-Between | 05 | Joanna Bourke & Toby Walsh | Killer robots and the human construction of war
February 24, 2022 20:00 - 34 minutes - 79.8 MBBy the year 2062, it is predicted that we will have built machines that are as intelligent as humans. Modern weapons will become more autonomous, machines will further infiltrate our daily lives, and the way we think of humanity will be permanently altered. To understand what lies ahead and learn from our past, Ann Mossop sits between Joanna Bourke and Toby Walsh in a conversation about the future of AI, killer robots and what it means to be human. Joanna Bourke is a historian, academic and p...
FODI: The In-Between | 04.5 | The Dancer | B-Side
February 23, 2022 23:11 - 2 minutes - 6.41 MBRecording art for a post-human world, a machine attempts to describe a human dance. The piece responds to Eleanor Gordon-Smith and Slavoj Žižek’s discussion, the power of words to create reality, and the experience of emotion between the digital or artificial and what we take as ‘real’. Produced by The Festival of Dangerous Ideas, The Ethics Centre and Audiocraft.
FODI: The In-Between | 04 | Eleanor Gordon-Smith and Slavoj Žižek | The age of doubt, reason and conspiracy
February 23, 2022 23:10 - 33 minutes - 77 MBAgainst the pillars of Enlightenment, how can we make sense of conspiracy theories, tribalism, and deepening divisions between our beliefs? In a conversation moderated by Simon Longstaff, Eleanor Gordon-Smith and Slavoj Žižek discuss the proliferation and saturation of knowledge, the rise of conspiracy theories, and whether or not the Age of Enlightenment is coming to an end. Eleanor Gordon-Smith is a philosopher and radio producer currently at Princeton University, where she is a Graduate F...
FODI: The In-Between | 03.5 | Within Salt | B-Side
February 22, 2022 20:00 - 5 minutes - 11.9 MBDuring Sydney’s most recent lockdown, sound artist Alexandra Spence submerged a 15 minute-long piece of cassette tape in seawater. The cassette tape contained a field recording of waves, and a recording of Alex’s voice offering a non-definitive, and non-hierarchical list of things found in the Pacific Ocean. The resulting physical deterioration of the magnetic tape and degradation of the audio recording can be heard in this composition. ‘Within Salt’ is a short piece that responds to Lee Vin...
FODI: The In-Between | 03 | Lee Vinsel & Tyson Yunkaporta | A gradual decline into disorder
February 22, 2022 20:00 - 43 minutes - 98.7 MBLee Vinsel and Tyson Yunkaporta speak with Ann Mossop about the passing age, apocalypses, and the cyclical nature of eras. Their conversation is anchored in language: both speak of systems, entropy, the roles of maintainers or custodians, and the machines and languages of capitalism. Tyson explains entropy by connecting an incident of Aboriginal people spearing Dutchmen centuries ago to the modern-day experiences of colonialism, and Lee speaks of entropy as the natural breaking down of syste...
FODI: The In-Between | 02.5 | Anthropocene | B-Side
February 17, 2022 20:00 - 5 minutes - 12.5 MBWe hear the recorded sound of the invisible electromagnetic landscape that humans created unintentionally, allowing us to tune in to what our environment has to endure. Against a backdrop, we hear the voices of anonymous FODI listeners, recording their hopes and fears for the future of humanity, and a poem by Sylvie Barber and Simon Longstaff. Anthropocene is a response to Sam Mostyn and Peter Singer’s discussion.
FODI: The In-Between | 02 | Sam Mostyn & Peter Singer | We have failed to protect those who don’t yet exist
February 17, 2022 20:00 - 31 minutes - 71.1 MBA conversation between business sustainability advisor Sam Mostyn and moral philosopher Peter Singer, moderated by Simon Longstaff. Sam and Peter discuss the role of business in sustainability and climate action, the discrepancies between our values and monetary donations for global aid, and the ethics of responsibility we have toward the generation of humans who don’t yet exist. They touch on how the pandemic has highlighted gender and class divisions, along with the significance of communi...
FODI: The In-Between | 01.5 | Light Shines | B-Side
February 15, 2022 06:02 - 4 minutes - 11.3 MBSydney-based writer Tasnim Hossain records her written take on the meandering histories of Enlightenment discussed by Joya Chatterji and Stephen Fry, and the experimental sounds of the first known recordings of the human voice. Music is composed from sounds found in the archives of firstsounds.org, and recordings taken from a museum of mechanical music (fairgroundfollies.com). Produced by The Festival of Dangerous Ideas, The Ethics Centre and Audiocraft.
FODI: The In-Between | 01 | Joya Chatterji & Stephen Fry | There is no beginning
February 15, 2022 06:01 - 37 minutes - 85.8 MBIn a conversation moderated by Simon Longstaff, historians Joya Chatterji and Stephen Fry discuss whether the age of Enlightenment is truly coming to an end. They share varying Enlightenment narratives that cross geographical, cultural and class borders and challenge the attempt to define an era of history as linear, with a definitive start and end point. Joya Chatterji is a Professor of South Asian History. Stephen Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, ...
FODI: The In-Between | Trailer
February 15, 2022 06:00 - 1 minute - 2.57 MBFODI: The In-Between is an audio time capsule recording this moment in time. It asks: Are we in-between two eras? And if so, what does this mean about the past and the future? 8 conversations between 16 of the world’s biggest thinkers, featuring Stephen Fry, Roxane Gay, Waleed Aly, Peter Singer, Sam Mostyn, Slavoj Žižek, Naomi Klein and more . Accompanied by 8 short creative sound responses to the themes that will be released alongside each conversation. Two new episodes dropping weekly. S...
Elizabeth Pisani (2014) | Corruption Makes the World Go Round
December 14, 2021 05:14 - 1 hour - 83.6 MBWhen it comes to good governance, conventional wisdom has it that less corruption would translate into more economic growth, a healthier body politic and reduced likelihood of conflict. But what if this isn’t always the case? Although there are cases where corruption has promoted conflict, in other instances it has helped restore peace in a country. A more nuanced and less ideological view of "corruption" is needed if countries are to fight graft without undermining peaceful co-existence. ...
A.C. Grayling (2015) | Bad Education
October 31, 2021 21:00 - 37 minutes - 51.4 MBA.C. Grayling says “to read is to fly”. The distinguished philosopher who has dedicated his life to examining knowledge believes we need a revolution in education. But many of us grapple with the question: what is education for? And is this the right question to ask? A.C. Grayling is a distinguished philosopher notable for his ability to make philosophy relevant to contemporary readers and audiences. He is Master of the New College of the Humanities, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Ann...
Don't Trust the Scientists (2016) | Tim Flannery, Alok Jha, Natasha Mitchell & Lee Vinsel
October 04, 2021 21:00 - 1 hour - 85.6 MBIn our current state of the world, are scientists the new gods? Do we increasingly rely on science to solve our problems, and are we stretching the scientific method to mystique? If we can’t trust scientists, is it possible to still trust science? Tim Flannery is a scientist and one of Australia’s leading writers on climate change. Alok Jha is the science correspondent for ITV News in the UK. Natasha Mitchell is a multi-award winning journalist and presenter of flagship ABC Radio Na...
Nanny State (2015) | Chris Berg
September 10, 2021 01:22 - 28 minutes - 38.9 MBIf we don’t think our fellow citizens are capable of making the right choices about what they eat and drink, why do we think they are capable of voting? Since researcher Chris Berg presented this 2015 FODI talk, this question rings eerily true to what many individuals are experiencing today. Who is best placed to make the decisions for us – we the people, or the state? Chris Berg is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, where he specialises in civil liberties, the politi...
Chris Berg (2015) | Nanny State
September 10, 2021 01:22 - 28 minutes - 38.9 MBIf we don’t think our fellow citizens are capable of making the right choices about what they eat and drink, why do we think they are capable of voting? Since researcher Chris Berg presented this 2015 FODI talk, this question rings eerily true to what many individuals are experiencing today. Who is best placed to make the decisions for us – we the people, or the state? Chris Berg is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, where he specialises in civil liberties, the politi...
A Killer Can Be a Good Neighbour (2013) | Erwin James
August 02, 2021 03:26 - 1 hour - 138 MBWhen someone commits a crime, we want them punished. If wrongdoers go to prison more often and for longer, everyone seems happy. But we live in a system where people do eventually come out of prison and rejoin the community. And this is where what has happened to them in prison really starts to matter. If prisons are a rank breeding ground for recidivism, where drug use is unchecked and non-violent offenders are initiated into the criminal world, do you want someone who has spent time ther...