Festival of Dangerous Ideas

Tongues 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), Wa...

Roxane 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...

A 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-Aut...

By 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...

Recording 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.

Against 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...

During 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 rec...

Lee 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...

We 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 Sin...

A 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...

Sydney-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 Fest...

In 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 Asi...

FODI: 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 th...

When 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 "cor...

A.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 q uestion  to ask?    A.C. Grayling is a distinguished philosopher notable for his ability to make philosophy relevant to contemporary readers and...

In our current state of the world ,   a re 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 N...

If 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 Fel...

When 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-violen...

With more people coming out as gender fluid, transitioning or on a spectrum of gender identity, it's clear the biological constraints of gender today have loosened. But how do we deal with enduring gender-based social inequality and injustice? Will we ever get to a point in society where  gender  doesn't  matter ?  Jesse Bering is an award-winning science writer, psychologist, and academic.  Raewy...

Today the human race faces existential challenges. Our prosperity has been built on unsustainable economic and environmental practices — but our social and political processes seem incapable of fixing anything. Why are we unable to even acknowledge the truth of our predicament? Chaired by Rebecca Huntley. Satyajit Das is a former financier. He anticipated the 2008 financial crisis and has been pre...

When you're on a bicycle at a red light with no car or pedestrian in sight, do you still wait for the green? Do you obey every single law? Surely fearful compliance with every niggling regulation defies the much-vaunted "freedom" that is the premise of democracy. Maybe that's what drives our fascination with film and fiction criminality: we envy renegades. Is breaking a rule a day better than an a...

If you've been enjoying our deep dive festival sessions you might want to check out bite sized conundrums in Little Bad Thing, the new podcast from The Ethics Centre. True stories about the things we wish we hadn't done. Smart, dark, wry, and surprising, this is a show for anyone who's made a big decision or regretted a small one. Search for Little Bad thing and subscribe.

What does the future hold? A reign of world peace with stunning medical breakthroughs conquering death, illness and disease? Or a world where human beings have destroyed the web of living things and put our own existence at risk by playing with science we don't fully understand? Must we think in terms of these extremes to create a positive future or prevent disaster? Join a panel of brilliant opti...

Why is the right to doctor-assisted dying supported by so many and legal for so few?   Helen Joyce became international editor of The Economist in January 2014 having previously served as International Education Editor and Sao Paulo bureau chief. Before joining The Economist  she worked as editor of Plus, an online magazine about maths published by the University of Cambridge, and was founding edi...

Edward Snowden has been condemned as a traitor and celebrated as a patriot. In his mind, he is simply a man of good conscience who has followed in the footsteps of family members who have faithfully served the people and Constitution of the USA since the War of Independence. This was the motivation behind his revelation of US secrets. Governments are now armed with technology that enables them to...