Taking over Carriageworks from 24-25 August for a weekend of conversation, stimulation and provocation, the Festival of Dangerous Ideas (FODI) returns to Sydney.
Presented by The Ethics Centre, FODI24 will create a sanctuary for those wanting to cut through the noise, ask hard questions and engage in good faith conversation about the most challenging issues of our time.
Introducing the 2024 program, Festival director Danielle Harvey, said, “At a time when we are surrounded by bad ideas and bad faith, where information is cheap and shallow, we need a place people can come and be curious together and be inspired. A space safe from hype. Safe to listen and ask questions. A space with real experts from all disciplines. Festival of Dangerous Ideas is here to be that space. The line-up won’t please everybody (it never does!) and nor does it aim to. What FODI offers is a precious moment in real time with 87 thought leaders and creatives who will bring you next-level discussion, likely some disagreement, and definitely some hope. Learning more about the world we are making and unmaking is a thrill, and I can’t wait for you to discover new ideas and thinkers over one massive weekend of danger”.
“FODI was created in anticipation of a time in which the space allowed for principled disagreement would be subject to unrelenting pressure – from all sides. We live in such a time. For over 15 years we have pushed back – creating a forum where it is safe to engage with ideas that challenge and ultimately redefine what counts as ‘conventional wisdom’. This incredible program continues in that tradition – offering a range of topics and speakers whom we are confident will produce at least as much light as heat during the course of the Festival,” said Simon Longstaff, executive cirector of The Ethics Centre, presenter of FODI.
FODI’s dangerous provocations also extend off stage and across Carriageworks and beyond with a series of installations, performances and immersive experiences designed to test limits and push boundaries.
Joining a cohort of local talent, 16 international guests present keynotes including:
- Roxane Gay, who will return to Australia ten years on from the publication of her internationally bestselling Bad Feminist to reflect on what it takes to be a serial dissenter in this age of ‘tribal warfare’.
- Jean Twenge, US psychologist who was one of the first voices to raise the alarm about the negative impact of the smartphone and associated social media apps – especially on young people.
- Masha Gessen, journalist and writer examining the intersection of history, propaganda and censorship as today’s players race to control their narratives.
- David Runciman, renowned contrarian Christopher Hitchens, academic and Talking Politics podcaster presents an audacious plan that might just rescue democracy: Votes for 6 year olds. In a fractured society, with a deepening void between the views of ‘the old’ and ‘the young’, can the balance between generations be restored? Runciman suggests that the solution may lie in giving children the right to vote.
- Megan Phelps-Roper, known for hosting the ground-breaking podcast The Witch Trials of JK Rowling, and for Unfollow, her memoir about her formative years spent as a member of the Westboro Baptist Church. Joined by producer Andy Mills, co-creator of the New York Times’ The Daily and Rabbit Hole podcasts, they will discuss the role their podcast played in highlighting tensions in the debate about the intersection of gender diversity and feminism.
- Academic Saree Makdisi argues that Europe and America are complicit in an historic wrong by tolerating the intolerable. Makdisi argues that Israel is not the ‘liberal democracy’ it pretends to be – at least not for the Palestinian people who continue to suffer the effects of violent dispossession and discrimination. Makdisi asks how this act of self-deception, on the part of the West, can have occurred – and what might now be possible, for both Palestinians and Israelis.
- Economist John N. Friedman has made a career researching the causes of inequality and its long-term, grim results for children in the US. With fellow economist Richard Holden offering a local perspective, Friedman will explore how different policies can reverse the current decline of social mobility by harnessing schools, neighbourhoods, universities and social capital to revive a fading dream of upward mobility.
- Jen Gunter, a crusader against ‘vaginal steamers’ and ‘jade egg enthusiasts’, the ‘Internet’s OB/GYN’, has long been on a mission to dismantle the maze of myths (and misogyny) surrounding women’s health. Gunter exposes the pervasive misinformation that shackles society, urging women to seize control of their bodies with a call for evidence-based care.
- Coleman Hughes, writer, public intellectual and author of The End of Race Politics, joins broadcaster Josh Szeps for a live, FODI edition of Szeps’ Uncomfortable Conversations. Drawing from research and personal insights, Hughes will articulate his vision of a ‘colour blind’ society and a more inclusive culture.
- For the inaugural John Caldon Provocation, UK comedian, author and public atheist David Baddiel will assert that humanity’s desperate need for meaning and moral guidance will always lead to some imagination of God. Indeed, Baddiel suggests it is the very urgency of the desire for God that proves His/Her/Their non-existence.
- Jem Bendell is widely known for originating the concept of “deep adaptation”. In short, Bendell believes the process of civilizational collapse has already begun and is irreversible – meaning that it is now time to learn how to ‘break together’.
- South African philosopher David Benatar asks if it’s ethical to bring a child into this world when every living being is guaranteed to suffer The Case for Not Having Children.
- In The Next Frontier academic and advocate Todd Fernando, descendant of the Kalarie Peoples of the Wiradjuri Nation, asks: are we ready to accept Indigenous excellence? The concept of Indigenous excellence is fraught with tension within Aboriginal Australia. The farleft questions its feasibility, the far-right denies its legitimacy, and centrists struggle with how to implement it effectively.
Early access to purchase tickets is available to FODI and Ethics Centre subscribers from 7am this morning.
Tickets are available to the general public from 7am on Wednesday 26 June.
Select sessions will be available to stream, livestream tickets on sale in August.
