Festival of Dangerous Ideas
Episodes
Roxane Gay (2024) - How to Have Dangerous Ideas
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Drawing from her experience as an author and cultural critic who consistently challenges predictable opinions, Roxane Gay urges us to embrace the dang...
The Anatomy of Evil (2024) - Stan Grant & Simon Longstaff
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Humanity has demonstrated, time and again, a horrific tendency to destroy its own kind – often to eliminate difference and impose uniformity of ide...
John N. Friedman (2024) - The Fading Dream
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Economist John N. Friedman has made a career researching the causes of inequality and its long-term consequences for children in the US. His findings ...
Todd Fernando (2024) - The Next Frontier
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The concept of success and excellence is fraught with tension between communities within Australia. For non-Indigenous Australians, excellence is alm...
Saree Makdisi (2024) - Tolerance is a Wasteland
04 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For some, the image of Israel, as a shining example of liberal democratic ideals has been broken by the Netanyahu Government's actions in Gaza since 7...
David Baddiel (2024) - The God Desire
04 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is God a story we've just told ourselves to satisfy our own desires? Comedian and author David Baddiel knows God doesn't exist, but wishes he...
Coleman Hughes & Josh Szeps (2024) - A Colourblind Society
04 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are we too focused on race? Have recent anti-racist movements like Black Lives Matter abandoned the 'colourblind' spirit of the original civil righ...
Jen Gunter (2024) - Lifting the Curse
04 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Being open about the female body has always been taboo, risky and dangerous. So, by smashing ancient menstrual taboos, and demolishing dangerous pseu...
The Pitchforks are Coming (2024) - Myra Hamilton, Carl Rhodes & Jordan van den Berg
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ordinary citizens are starting to realise that their dwindling share of our common wealth is no accident, but the inevitable result of the current s...
Speaking Bluntly (2024) - Antoinette Lattouf, Andy Mills & Josh Szeps
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Journalists play a vital role in a democracy, holding power to account. The traditional model of journalism sees journalists as disinterested seekers ...
David Runciman (2024) - Votes for 6 year olds
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes our most divisive political, economic and social issues there is a fracture between the views of the old and the young. As older generat...
Counterfeit People (2024) - Lizzie O'Shea, Patrick Stokes & Emily van der Nagel
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The late philosopher and scientist, Daniel Dennett talked about 'counterfeit people' as one of the great dangers of AI – but are we now willin...
Ending the 'Tyranny' of Pregnancy (2024) - Luara Ferracioli, Brigitte Gerstl, Mianna Lotz & Kathryn MacKay
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Since the dawn of time, our pro-natalist society has implemented certain systems, norms and lenses in which we view child rearing. These often oppress...
Uncancelled Culture (2024) - David Baddiel, Roxane Gay, Andy Mills, Megan Phelps-Roper & Tim Dean
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout history we have found ways to regulate human behaviour through the threat of social exclusion. But while the idea of 'cancellation' is not...
Democracy is Not Worth Dying for (2024) - Geraldine Doogue, Masha Gessen, Paul Ham & David Runciman
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Democracy has often been presented as an ideal, where citizens can participate and benefit from a fair society. But as we face growing inequality, pol...
Jem Bendell (2024) - Breaking Together
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The process of global collapse has begun – driven by the damage we have caused to the Earth's natural systems. And governments and corporations are...
Contagious Realities (2024) - Alice Dawkins, Natasha Mitchell, Sandersan Onie, Jean Twenge & Sonny Jane Wise
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The increase in mental health and neurodivergent diagnoses in recent years indicates that we're more aware of our brains than ever before. Does...
Positive Masculinity (2024) - Monty Badami, Tarang Chawla, Michael Flood & Anna Krien
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Masculinity has become a battle ground. From the gender pay gap, to domestic violence and rape, the idea of what it means to be a man has been heavil...
Masha Gessen (2024) - The War of the Narratives
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In an age of creeping authoritarianism, anyone who questions the logic of competing narratives when it comes to historical conflicts risks being silen...
Art is Always Political (2024) - Louise Adler, Brook Garru Andrew, Violette Ayad, Gil Beckwith, Simon Longstaff & Emile Sherman
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The culture wars are seeping out of the real world and infiltrating our pages and stages. Art has always traversed unfamiliar and even dangerous ...
Wrecking the World Order (2024) - Matt Bevan, Avani Dias, Cheng Lei, Hamish Macdonald & Johanna Weaver
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The world order that we've lived with for most of our lives is experiencing a tectonic shift. We've experienced unprecedented levels of growth and pr...
FODI 2024 program out now
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are 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 art...
Step into a sanctuary at FODI 2024
20 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Festival of Dangerous Ideas (FODI) returns to Carriageworks on 24-25 August 2024. Offering a haven for exploration and a harbour for the curious, FO...
Tariq Ali (2015) | The Twilight of Democracy
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What 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 ...
Dennis Glover (2015) | Winners and Losers
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 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 yea...
Molly Crabapple (2016) | From the frontline
25 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a time of turmoil, what happens when art and politics collide? From prisons, refugee camps and war zones, artist and journalist Molly Crabapple ha...
Expendable Australians (2022) | Kylie Moore-Gilbert, Peter Greste, Ian Kemish & Sangeetha Pillai
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We all have assumptions of what citizenship means. However, in recent years we are starting to see the envelop pushed with more common law rights bein...
Drawing Truth to Power (2022) | Badiucao, Dan Ilic & Cathy Wilcox
11 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Drawing 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 cart...
Steven Pinker (2022) | Enlightenment or Dark Age?
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Are the ideals of the Enlightenment – reason, science and humanism – and the progress they can deliver being undermined by a cynical desire to bur...
Harmful Thoughts (2022) | Jayne Crossling, Emma A. Jane, Georgia Naldrett & Michael Salter
09 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Australia is facing a child sexual abuse epidemic. Brought to light by The Royal Commission and stories of high-profile survivors, the numbers are s...
Donate to make FODI happen in 2024
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Since 2009 the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, or FODI to its fans, has curated thought-provoking topics and new approaches to wicked problems. We bring ...
Stealing Culture (2022) | Daniel Browning, Corrie Chen, Coby Edgar & Luara Ferracioli
04 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From musical borrowings and dance moves, to clothing, art and stories, it's time to talk about where to draw the line between legitimate cultural exc...
Claire G. Coleman (2022) | Words are Weapons
07 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Stories define who we are, our history and they can be weaponised. Stories can erase an entire culture. History is nothing but a story. Noongar...
Just Be Evil (2022) | Frances Haugen, Scott Hargreaves, Sam Mostyn & Carl Rhodes
05 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1970, Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman famously said that 'the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits'. And muc...
Joanna Bourke (2022) | The Last Taboo
31 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our modern society is dependent on extraordinary levels of abuse and violence towards non-human animals. While we may love animals, we continue to in...
Frances Haugen (2022) | Unmasking Facebook
07 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Former 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 ...
Join the Rebellion (2022) | Jane Caro, Osher Günsberg, Yasmin Poole, Kevin Roose & Alok Vaid-Menon
11 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As 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 tec...
World Without Rape (2022) | Joanna Bourke, Jess Hill, Sisonke Msimang, Saxon Mullins & Bronwyn Penrith
05 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The last few years have seen courageous sexual assault survivors become heroines and heroes, conquering the forces that have silenced them for so lon...
The Crime Paradox (2022) | Wenlei Ma, Kate McClymont, Ann Mossop & Don Weatherburn
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our obsession with true crime is everywhere – from news stories and podcasts to the big screen. However in recent decades, rates of almost all crime...
Sisonke Msimang (2022) | Precious White Lives
08 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Australia is professed to be the most successful multicultural society in the world. However, with our treatment of multicultural communities througho...
Kevin Roose (2022) | Caught in a web
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 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 ...
Ruth Ben-Ghiat (2022) | Return of the Strongman
27 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From Russia and China to America, Turkey and beyond, illiberal leaders have used corruption, machismo, disinformation, propaganda and violence to stay...
American Decadence (2022) | Nick Bryant, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Geraldine Doogue & Adam Tooze
13 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While 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, m...
Adam Tooze (2022) | F=Fail
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The 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 afterm...
Jacqui Lambie (2022) | On Blowing Things Up
16 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Known 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 h...
Masha Gessen & Tom Switzer (2014) | Putin
27 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It'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...
Jesse Bering (2012) | We Are All Sexual Perverts
04 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We 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-m...
FODI: The In-Between | 08.5 | Endtropy | B-Side
25 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A 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 ...
FODI: The In-Between | 08 | Waleed Aly & Naomi Klein | Our entanglements have been exposed
25 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On 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 ...
FODI: The In-Between | 07.5 | Revivification | B-Side
25 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
CellF is a cybernetic musician and the world's first neural synthesiser, created by Perth-based artist and researcher, Guy Ben-Ary. Its 'brain' is mad...
FODI: The In-Between | 07 | S. Matthew Liao & John Rasko | Immortality, fraud and the future of the human species
25 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From the ancient tale of Gilgamesh to Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, the dream of immortality has long captured the imagination of writers and scientists...
FODI: The In-Between | 06.5 | Tongues | B-Side
24 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tongues is an explicit, potent musical manifesto, exploring having your voice taken away, in response to Roxane Gay and Kate Manne's discussion. Tongu...
FODI: The In-Between | 06 | Roxane Gay & Kate Manne | The mild terror of publishing feminist cultural criticism
24 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
FODI: The In-Between | 05.5 | Semi-Autonomous | B-Side
24 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A text-generating AI that has been trained with FODI transcripts speaks in conversation with a deepfake AI about violence, conspiracy theories and wha...
FODI: The In-Between | 05 | Joanna Bourke & Toby Walsh | Killer robots and the human construction of war
24 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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, mach...
FODI: The In-Between | 04.5 | The Dancer | B-Side
23 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 di...
FODI: The In-Between | 04 | Eleanor Gordon-Smith and Slavoj Žižek | The age of doubt, reason and conspiracy
23 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Against the pillars of Enlightenment, how can we make sense of conspiracy theories, tribalism, and deepening divisions between our beliefs? In a conve...
FODI: The In-Between | 03.5 | Within Salt | B-Side
22 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
During Sydney's most recent lockdown, sound artist Alexandra Spence submerged a 15 minute-long piece of cassette tape in seawater. The cassette tape c...
FODI: The In-Between | 03 | Lee Vinsel & Tyson Yunkaporta | A gradual decline into disorder
22 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Lee Vinsel and Tyson Yunkaporta speak with Ann Mossop about the passing age, apocalypses, and the cyclical nature of eras. Their conversation is ancho...
FODI: The In-Between | 02.5 | Anthropocene | B-Side
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We hear the recorded sound of the invisible electromagnetic landscape that humans created unintentionally, allowing us to tune in to what our environm...
FODI: The In-Between | 02 | Sam Mostyn & Peter Singer | We have failed to protect those who don't yet exist
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A conversation between business sustainability advisor Sam Mostyn and moral philosopher Peter Singer, moderated by Simon Longstaff. Sam and Peter disc...
FODI: The In-Between | 01.5 | Light Shines | B-Side
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sydney-based writer Tasnim Hossain records her written take on the meandering histories of Enlightenment discussed by Joya Chatterji and Stephen Fry, ...
FODI: The In-Between | 01 | Joya Chatterji & Stephen Fry | There is no beginning
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In a conversation moderated by Simon Longstaff, historians Joya Chatterji and Stephen Fry discuss whether the age of Enlightenment is truly coming to ...
FODI: The In-Between | Trailer
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Elizabeth Pisani (2014) | Corruption Makes the World Go Round
14 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to good governance, conventional wisdom has it that less corruption would translate into more economic growth, a healthier body politic ...
A.C. Grayling (2015) | Bad Education
31 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A.C. Grayling says "to read is to fly". The distinguished philosopher who has dedicated his life to examining knowledge believes we need a revolutio...
Don't Trust the Scientists (2016) | Tim Flannery, Alok Jha, Natasha Mitchell & Lee Vinsel
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 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 ...
Chris Berg (2015) | Nanny State
10 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 votin...
Erwin James (2013) | A Killer Can Be a Good Neighbour
02 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 syst...
Gender Doesn't Matter (2016) | Jesse Bering, Raewyn Connell Cordelia Fine & Elizabeth Anne Riley
08 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Satyajit Das (2016) | The Bill Is Due
17 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today the human race faces existential challenges. Our prosperity has been built on unsustainable economic and environmental practices — but our soc...
Lionel Shriver (2016) | Break A Rule A Day
09 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 fear...
Little Bad Thing Trailer
28 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 Th...
The End Of The World As We Know It (2014) | Tim Flannery, Elizabeth Kolbert, Steven Pinker & Jaan Tallinn
03 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What does the future hold? A reign of world peace with stunning medical breakthroughs conquering death, illness and disease? Or a world where human be...
Helen Joyce (2015) | The Right To Die
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Edward Snowden (2020) | Surveillance States
15 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Marcia Langton (2020) | Dangerous Fictions
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
No one has a monopoly on truth when it comes to the past and present lives of Australia's Indigenous peoples. Conservatives tend to deny that Indigeno...
Eric Schlosser (2015) | Nuclear Delusions
18 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why has humanity still not worked out how to make nuclear weapons safe? As an investigative journalist, Eric Schlosser continues to explore subje...
Lydia Cacho (2014) | Slavery Is Big Business
04 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the West, slavery is often seen as a dark part of the colonial past. Although it's illegal in all countries, it remains alive and well—and is gr...
Lee Vinsel (2016) | Innovation Fetish
21 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Is innovation overvalued? It is the dominant ideology of our era. But what if building, maintenance and repair prove much more important to our daily...
Sarai Walker (2015) | Radical Fat Acceptance
06 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One of the last bastions of acceptable discrimination is against fat people. Health arguments reinforce the social and cultural pressure to avoid fa...
Daisy Jeffrey, Audrey Mason-Hyde & Dylan Storer (2020) | Stolen Inheritance
23 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With 'normal' education on hold, a mountain of public debt, high levels of long-term unemployment and the mental health effects of isolation yet to fu...
Claire Wardle & Ariel Bogle (2020) | Misinformation is Infectious
10 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As lockdowns and quarantines continue, some of us may feel like we're losing our grip on reality. Misinformation and conspiracy theories spread worldw...
Matt Beard, Eleanor Gordon-Smith, Bryan Mukandi (2020) | The Ethics of the Pandemic
27 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In stripping away so much of ordinary life, the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a lot about us – not all of it pretty. It's also confronted us with b...
David Sinclair and Norman Swan (2020) | Ageing Is A Disease
05 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
COVID-19 has highlighted the particular vulnerability of the aged. However, as we find out more about the ageing process, we are uncovering new ways t...
Alicia Garza & Stan Grant (2016) | Why Black Lives Matter
22 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
#BlackLivesMatter has become the call to action for a generation of US human rights activists to denounce the violence and prejudice still experienced...
Jennifer Rayner (2016) | Generation Less
15 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why are young people worse off than their parents? Why is the gap between older and younger Australians – in terms of work, wealth and wellbeing –...
Michael Wesley (2015) | Feudal World
09 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Globalism is a Western construct which may not survive in its current form. Asia's rising powers are starting to look past global institutions to cons...
S. Matthew Liao (2013) | Engineer Humans to Stop Climate Change
01 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The latest science suggests that it is too late to prevent human-induced climate change. Technological optimists are now turning their minds to mitiga...
Mona Eltahawy (2011) | Hypocrisy Rhymes With Democracy
25 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded in 2011 and the beginning of the Arab Spring, Mona Eltahawy reflects on the hunger for freedom and democracy unleashed within Arab population...
Alok Jha (2016) | Water Wars
10 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Will we run out of water – and if so, when? Will the Earth suffer? Explore how water drives modern conflict and is not about to stop. Alok Jha is th...
Slavoj Žižek (2011) | Let Us Be Realists and Demand the Impossible
03 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the late 90s, political theorists, economists and politicians were talking confidently about the "end of history" and the undisputed triumph of lib...
Helen Razer (2015) | Against Compassion
26 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Compassion has become a commodity whose possession marks us as a better person, or better than other people. Writer and commentator Helen Razer diagno...
David Simon (2014) | Some People Are More Equal Than Others
19 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Society preaches forgiveness for the rich and retribution for the poor. Entrenched inequality and its companion, poverty, are the dark side of the Ame...
Tim Harford (2012) | Make More Mistakes
12 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a complex and fast-moving world, if we want to move ahead we need to rethink the conditions for making progress in science, business and society in...
Anne Manne (2014) | The Narcissism Epidemic
05 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The stories of Anders Behring Breivik and Lance Armstrong may seem to have little in common, but each shows the consequences of the epidemic of narcis...
A. C. Grayling (2016) | Closing The Modern Mind
30 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The tumultuous 17th century Enlightenment created the modern mind. What were the radical forces that shaped this intellectual world view we still sha...
Christopher Hitchens (2009) | Religion Poisons Everything
27 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We take you back to the unforgettable Christopher Hitchens. Hitch was the opening speaker at the very first Festival of Dangerous Ideas in 2009. Erudi...
Dee Madigan (2016) | The Propaganda Machine
27 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Enjoy Dee Madigan's talk on political advertising from FODI 2016. This detailed look at how political propaganda gets made will enlighten, disgust and...
Evgeny Morozov (2013) | The Dark Side of the Internet
26 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Revisit Evgeny Morozov's prophetic talk about the future of technology from FODI 2013. It warns of the growing influence of tech corporations in our e...