The Festival of Dangerous Ideas (FODI) is Australia's original disruptive festival that encourages debate and critical thinking, co-founded in 2009 by

The Ethics Centre The Ethics Centre, formerly the St James Ethics Centre, is a fully independent not-for-profit organisation which provides a non-judgmental forum for the promotion and exploration of ethics and ethical decision-making. The Ethics Centre works wi ...

(formerly known as the St James Ethics Centre) held in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia.

History

The festival was presented at

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

for eight years. When it was created, the festival aimed to bring leading thinkers and culture creators from around

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and the world to discuss and debate important issues.

2009

In the inaugural 2009 event, the festival's opening address was given by

atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

advocate

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...

on the topic of "Religion Poisons Everything", which was countered by Australian Roman Catholic Cardinal

George Pell George Pell (born 8 June 1941) is an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . I ...

in a session titled "Without God We Are Nothing". ;Participants * Keysar Trad"Verbal grenades at speakers' corner"
''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

''. Linda Morris. 23 September 2009. (Muslim advocate) *

(Australian Roman Catholic Cardinal) *

(Atheism advocate) *

Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literatu ...

(Feminist) *

Susan Greenfield Susan Adele Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield, (born 1 October 1950) is an English scientist, writer, broadcaster and member of the House of Lords (since 2001). Her research has focused on the treatment of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's dise ...

(Neuroscientist) *

Dambisa Moyo Dambisa Felicia Moyo, Baroness Moyo (born 2 February 1969)Moyo showed a copy of an official document with her date and place of birth as part of a lecture she gave at TEDGlobal 2013, Edinburgh, Scotland. is a Zambian-born economist and author, ...

(African-futurist economist) ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' dubbed "Anti-

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...

" *

Greg Barns Gregory Joseph Barns SC (born 9 April 1962) is an Australian barrister, author, political commentator, company director and former political candidate based in Hobart, Tasmania. He took silk in Tasmania in May 2020. Early life and education ...

(Columnist) *

Oliver Marc Hartwich Oliver Marc Hartwich (born 8 July 1975 in Gelsenkirchen) is a German economist and media commentator. He is the Executive Director of the think tank The New Zealand Initiative in Wellington and a columnist with the online magazine Newsroom. Educ ...

(Economist) *

Norm Stamper Norman Harvey Stamper (born 1944) is an American former chief of police, writer, law enforcement consultant, and advocate for criminal justice reform. Biography Stamper is known for his role as Chief of the Seattle Police Department (1994-2000) r ...

former

Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

of the

Seattle Police Department The Seattle Police Department (SPD) is the principal law enforcement agency of the city of Seattle, Washington, United States, except for the campus of the University of Washington, which is under the responsibility of its own police department ...

Cassandra Wilkinson Cassandra Wilkinson is an Australian author and the president and co-founder of FBi Radio. She is married to former Australian politician Paul McLeay. Writing career Wilkinson is a columnist for the newspaper ''The Australian'' and the author ...

(President of

FBi Radio FBi (call sign: 2FBI) station is an independent, not-for-profit community radio in Sydney, Australia. FBi places a heavy emphasis on local emerging music: it has a policy that at least 50 per cent of its music content is to be Australian, of wh ...

) * John Humphreys (

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

economist) *

Chris Barrie Chris Barrie (born Christopher Jonathan Brown, 28 March 1960) is a British actor, comedian, and impressionist. He worked as a vocal impressionist on the ITV sketch show ''Spitting Image'' (1984–1996) and as Lara Croft's butler Hillary in the ...

(Retired admiral)"You want dangerous ideas? These are dangerous ideas"
'' The Crikey''. Guy Rundle. Tuesday, 6 October 2009.

2010

;Participants *

Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appoin ...

Geoffrey Robertson Geoffrey Ronald Robertson (born 30 September 1946) is a human rights barrister, academic, author and broadcaster. He holds dual Australian and British citizenship.

Waleed Aly Waleed Aly (born 15 August 1978) is an Australian journalist, academic, and lawyer. Aly is a lecturer in politics at Monash University working in their Global Terrorism Research Centre, and a co-host of Network Ten's news and current affairs ...

Annabel Crabb Annabel Crabb (born 1973) is an Australian political journalist, commentator and television host who is the ABC's chief online political writer. She has worked for Adelaide's '' The Advertiser'', ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', ''The Age'', the ...

Elizabeth Farrelly Dr Elizabeth Margaret Farrelly (born Dunedin, New Zealand), is a Sydney-based author, architecture critic, essayist, columnist and speaker who was born in New Zealand but later became an Australian citizen. She has contributed to current debates ...

Miriam Lyons Miriam Lyons is an Australian policy analyst, writer and commentator. She was the founding Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Development (CPD), a left-wing think tank set up in 2007. Career She has been profiled in The Australian Financ ...

Marcus Westbury Marcus Westbury (born 1974) is an Australian urbanist, festival director, TV presenter, writer and broadcaster. He is based in Melbourne, Australia where he filmed the TV series '' Not Quite Art''. for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation scree ...

John Quiggin John Quiggin (born 29 March 1956) is an Australian economist, a professor at the University of Queensland. He was formerly an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Federation Fellow and a member of the board of the Climate Change Aut ...

P.W. Singer Peter Warren Singer (born 1974) is an American political scientist, an international relations scholar and a specialist on 21st century warfare. He is a ''New York Times'' bestselling author of both nonfiction and fiction, who has been describe ...

Andrew Leigh Andrew Keith Leigh (born 3 August 1972) is an Australian politician, author, lawyer and former professor of economics at the Australian National University. He currently serves as the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. ...

Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and con ...

Ross Gittins Ross Gittins Order of Australia, AM FRSN (born 1948 in Newcastle, Australia) is an Australian political and economic journalist and author, known for "his ability to make dry, hard-to-understand economics and economic policy relevant". Early l ...

Paul McGeough Paul McGeough is an Irish Australian journalist and senior foreign correspondent for ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. In 2001, when covering events in Afghanistan with the Northern Alliance, he and French journalist Véronique Reyberotte survived ...

* David Hetherington * Luke Malpass *

Tom Switzer Tom Switzer (born 1971) is the executive director of the Centre for Independent Studies, a Sydney-based libertarian public-policy research think tank that focuses on classical liberal issues. He is also the host of ''Between the Lines'' on the A ...

Steve Biddulph Stephen John Biddulph (born 15 August 1953 in Saltburn, England) is an Australian author, activist and psychologist who has written a number of influential best-selling books; and lectures worldwide on parenting, and boys' education. He is mar ...

Cordelia Fine Cordelia Fine (born 1975) is a Canadian-born British philosopher of science, psychologist and writer. She is a full professor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Fine has written three popular science ...

Clive Hamilton Clive Charles Hamilton AM FRSA (born 12 March 1953) is an Australian public intellectual and Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) and the Vice-Chancellor's Chair in Public Ethics at Charles ...

* Eric Kaufmann *

Rebecca Huntley Rebecca Huntley is an Australian author and researcher on social trends. She holds degrees in law and film studies and a PhD in gender studies. For nearly nine years Huntley was the Director of ''The Mind & Mood Report'', Australia's longest-r ...

* David Marr * Chris Taylor *

Lenore Skenazy Lenore Skenazy () is president oLet Grow a non-profit promoting childhood independence and resilience, and founder of the Free-Range Kids movement. She is also a speaker, blogger, syndicated columnist, author, and reality show host. A mother w ...

* Hugh Mackay * John Keane *

Anne Manne Anne Manne (née Robinson; born 1955) is an Australian journalist and social philosopher. Her 2005 book ''Motherhood: How should we care for our children?'' was short-listed in 2006 for Australian journalism's Walkley Award. Anne Manne has b ...

Fred Chaney Frederick Michael Chaney, AO (born 28 October 1941) is a former Australian politician who was deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 1989 to 1990 and served as a minister in the Fraser Government. He was a Senator for Western Australia from ...

Julian Morrow Julian Francis Xavier Morrow (born 1975) is an Australian comedian and television producer from Sydney. He is best known for being a member of the satirical team The Chaser. As a member of The Chaser, he has appeared on several ABC Television p ...

2011

;Participants *

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army inte ...

Alexander McCall Smith Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE (born 24 August 1948), is a British writer. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law and ...

Jonathan Safran Foer Jonathan Safran Foer (; born February 21, 1977) is an American novelist. He is known for his novels ''Everything Is Illuminated'' (2002), '' Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'' (2005), '' Here I Am'' (2016), and for his non-fiction works ''Eatin ...

Jon Ronson Jon Ronson (born 10 May 1967) is a British-American journalist, author, and filmmaker whose works include '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'' (2001), ''The Men Who Stare at Goats'' (2004), and ''The Psychopath Test'' (2011). He has been desc ...

Mike Daisey Mike Daisey (born January 21, 1976) is an American monologist, author, and actor. His monologue ''The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs'', about the labor conditions under which Apple devices are made, was used as the basis for a widely share ...

Marc Thiessen Marc Alexander Thiessen (born January 13, 1967) is an American conservative author, political appointee, and weekly columnist for ''The Washington Post''. Thiessen served as a speechwriter for President George W. Bush from 2007 to 2009 and Secreta ...

Emmanuel Jal Emmanuel Jal (born Jal Jok 1 January 1980) is a South Sudanese-Canadian artist, actor, former child soldier, and political activist. His autobiography, ''War Child: A Child Soldier's Story'', was published in 2009. Childhood Jal was born to ...

Kate Adie Kathryn Adie (born 19 September 1945) is an English journalist. She was Chief News Correspondent for BBC News between 1989 and 2003, during which time she reported from war zones around the world. She retired from the BBC in early 2003 and w ...

Christopher Ryan Christopher Ryan (born Christopher Papazoglou; 25 January 1950) is a British actor best known for his roles as Mike TheCoolPerson in the BBC comedy series '' The Young Ones'', Dave Hedgehog in the BBC comedy series ''Bottom'', Tony Driscoll in t ...

Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New Y ...

Salil Shetty Salil Shetty (born 3 February 1961) is an Indian human rights activist who was the Secretary General of the human rights organization Amnesty International (2010–2018) till 31 July 2018. His tenure at Amnesty International was marred by signi ...

Mona Eltahawy Mona Eltahawy ( ar, منى الطحاوى, ; born August 1, 1967) is a freelance Egyptian-American journalist and social commentator based in New York City. She has written essays and op-eds for publications worldwide on Egypt and the Islamic worl ...

* Lisa Pryor * Samah Hadid * Catherine Lumby * Roy Masters * Michael Kirby * Alison Broinwski *

Richard Denniss Richard Denniss is the Executive Director of The Australia Institute. He is a prominent Australian economist, author and public policy commentator, and a former Associate Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian Nationa ...

* David Marr * Alan Noble * Martin Rogers * Alec Cameron *

Jim Wallace James Robert Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness, (born 25 August 1954) is a Scottish politician serving as a Liberal Democrat life peer in the British House of Lords since 2007 and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland ...

Cheryl Kernot Cheryl Zena Kernot (née Paton, formerly Young; born 5 December 1948) is an Australian politician, academic, and political activist. She was a member of the Australian Senate representing Queensland for the Australian Democrats from 1990 to 199 ...

Philip Nitschke Philip Haig Nitschke (; born 8 August 1947) is an Australian humanist, author, former physician, and founder and director of the pro-euthanasia group Exit International. He campaigned successfully to have a legal euthanasia law passed in Austra ...

* Dick Smith *

Julian Burnside Julian William Kennedy Burnside (born 9 June 1949) is an Australian barrister, human rights and refugee advocate, and author. He practises principally in commercial litigation, trade practices and administrative law. He is known for his staunch ...

Simon Sheikh Simon Sheikh (born 1986 in Sydney) is the CEO of superannuation fund Future Super and an Australian activist. He was the National Director of GetUp! from 2008 to 2012. He was a delegate to the economics stream of the Australia 2020 Summit and w ...

* Bronwyn Fredericks * Aileen Moreton-Robinson *

Stephanie Alexander Stephanie Ann Alexander (born 13 November 1940) is an Australian cook, restaurateur and food writer. After studying to become a librarian and travelling the world at the age of 21, Alexander's first restaurant, Jamaica House, opened in 1964. ...

* Gabrielle Hamilton * Appelspiel

2012

;Participants *

Sam Harris Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics ...

* Illan Pappe *

Tim Harford Timothy Douglas Harford (born 27 September 1973) is an English economic journalist who lives in Oxford. Harford is the author of four economics books and writes his long-running ''Financial Times'' column, "The Undercover Economist", syndic ...

Jason Silva Jason Luis Silva Mishkin (born February 6, 1982) is a Venezuelan-American television personality, filmmaker, futurist, philosopher, and public speaker. He is known for hosting the National Geographic documentaries ''Brain Games (2011 TV series) ...

Joe Hildebrand Joe Hildebrand is an Australian journalist, television and radio presenter. Hildebrand writes for Sydney's ''The Daily Telegraph'' and is also known to contribute to a number of other News Corp publications, including Melbourne's Herald Sun an ...

Gideon Haigh Gideon Clifford Jeffrey Davidson Haigh (born 29 December 1965) is an English-born Australian journalist and non-fiction author who writes about sport (especially cricket), business and crime in Australia. He was born in London, was raised in Ge ...

Jesse Bering Jesse Michael Bering (born May 6, 1975) is an American psychologist, writer, and academic. He is a professor in Science Communication at the University of Otago (where he serves as Director of the Centre for Science Communication), as well as a ...

* Bishop Julian Porteous *

Jane Bussmann Jane Bussmann (born 1969 in Marylebone, London) is an English comedian and author, who has written for television and radio. Her credits include: ''The Fast Show'', ''Smack the Pony'', ''Brass Eye'', ''Jam'', '' South Park'' and ''Crackanory''; ...

Eliza Griswold Eliza Griswold (born February 9, 1973) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and poet. Griswold is currently a contributing writer to ''The New Yorker'' and a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University. She is the author of ...

* Ed Howker * Shiv Malik * Alberto Giubilini * Francesca Minerva *

Peter Fitzsimons Peter John Allen FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an Australian author, journalist, and radio and television presenter. He is a former national representative rugby union player and has been the chair of the Australian Republic Movement sinc ...

* Simon Laham * Corman Cullinan *

Guy Pearse Guy Pearse is an Australian author and former Research Fellow at the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland. His first book titled ''High & Dry: John Howard, climate change and the selling of Australia's future'' was published ...

* Appelspiel * Brian Morris *

Alec Doomadgee Alec Doomadgee is an Australian actor, television host and presenter. He is also an Indigenous Australian community leader, mentor and activist. Background Born and raised on the born and raised with his extended family on the Waanyi / Garawa L ...

* Samah Hadid *

Ronnie Chan Ronnie Chan Chi-chung (; born 1949) is a Hong Kong businessman. Education Chan earned bachelor's and master's degrees in biology from a California State University. He received an MBA from the University of Southern California in 1976. Chan ...

* Li Cunxin * Geoffrey Garrett *

Jianying Zha Jianying Zha or Zha Jianying (; born 1959) is a Chinese American journalist and non-fiction writer. She writes and publishes in both English language, English and Chinese language, Chinese.Dan WashburnInterview: Author Zha Jianying on Grappling Wit ...

* Stan Grant * Pasi Sahlberg *

Eva Cox Eva Maria Cox (née Hauser; born 21 February 1938) is an Austrian-born Australian writer, feminist, sociologist, social commentator and activist. She has been an active advocate for creating a "more civil" society. She was a long-term member of ...

Tara Moss Tara Rae Moss (born 2 October 1973) is a Canadian-Australian author, documentary maker and presenter, journalist, former model and UNICEF national ambassador for child survival. Biography Moss was born in Victoria, British Columbia, where she a ...

Richard Heinberg Richard William Heinberg is an American journalist and educator who has written extensively on energy, economic, and ecological issues, including oil depletion. He is the author of 14 books, and presently serves as the senior fellow at the Post C ...

* Michael Anderson * Chris Leithner

2013

;Participants *

David Simon David Judah Simon (born February 9, 1960) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on ''The Wire'' (2002–08). He worked for ''The Baltimore Sun'' City Desk for twelve years (1982–95), wrote '' Hom ...

Hanna Rosin Hanna Rosin (born 1970) is an Israeli-born American writer. She is the editorial director for audio for ''New York Magazine'' Formerly, she was the co-host of the NPR podcast Invisibilia with Alix Spiegel. She was co-founder of DoubleX, the now ...

Evgeny Morozov Evgeny Morozov (Russian: Eвге́ний Моро́зов; be, Яўгені Марозаў; born in 1984) is an American writer, researcher, and intellectual from Belarus who studies political and social implications of technology. He was named ...

Vandana Shiva Vandana Shiva (born 5 November 1952) is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalisation author. Based in Delhi, Shiva has written more than 20 books. She is often referred to as "Gandhi ...

Lawrence Krauss Lawrence Maxwell Krauss (born May 27, 1954) is an American theoretical physicist and cosmologist who previously taught at Arizona State University, Yale University, and Case Western Reserve University. He founded ASU's Origins Project, now cal ...

Peter Rollins Peter Rollins (born 31 March 1973) is a Northern Irish writer, public speaker, philosopher, producer and radical theologian. Drawing largely from various strands of continental philosophy, Rollins' early work operated broadly from within the tr ...

Peter Hitchens Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 28 October 1951) is an English author, broadcaster, journalist, and commentator. He writes for ''The Mail on Sunday'' and was a foreign correspondent reporting from both Moscow and Washington, D.C. Peter Hitchens h ...

Arlie Hochschild Arlie Russell Hochschild (; born January 15, 1940) is an American professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley and writer. Hochschild has long focused on the human emotions that underlie moral beliefs, practices, and ...

Dan Savage Daniel Keenan Savage (born October 7, 1964) is an American author, media pundit, journalist, and LGBT community activist. He writes ''Savage Love'', an internationally syndicated relationship and sex advice column. In 2010, Savage and his husba ...

Kirby Ferguson Kirby Ferguson is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, and speaker whose work covers creative works and popular culture; particularly remix culture. He is best known for his documentary series ''Everything is a Remix'' and ''This is Not a Conspiracy The ...

John Safran , citizenship = , education = , occupation = DocumentarianJournalistRadio presenterAuthor , years_active = 1997 – present , known_for = ''John Safran's Music Jamboree'' ''John Safran vs God'' ''Race ...

Erwin James Erwin James Monahan (born 1957) is a columnist and convicted murderer who has written for ''The Guardian'' since 1998, writing under the name "Erwin James" whilst still incarcerated. He was released in August 2004 having served 20 years of a life ...

Peter Moskos Peter Moskos is an American professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the Department of Law, Police Science, and Criminal Justice Administration and the CUNY Graduate Center in the Department of Sociology. He is a former Baltimore Police ...

* Mustafa Bargouthi *

Conrad Black Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour (born 25 August 1944), is a Canadian-born British former newspaper publisher, businessman, and writer. His father was businessman George Montegu Black II, who had significant holdings in Canadi ...

Malcolm Knox Sir Thomas Malcolm Knox (28 November 1900 – 6 April 1980) was a British philosopher who served as Principal of St Andrews University from 1953–1966 and Vice-president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1975–1978. Biography Knox ...

Christos Tsiolkas Christos Tsiolkas is an Australian author, playwright, and screenwriter. He is especially known for '' The Slap'', which was both well-received critically and highly successful commercially. Several of his books have been adapted for film and t ...

Patricia Edgar Patricia May Edgar AM is an Australian author, television producer, educator and media scholar best known as the founding director of the Australian Children's Television Foundation. Early life She was born in Mildura, Victoria, and moved ...

Dennis Altman Dennis Patkin Altman (born 16 August 1943) is an Australian academic and gay rights activist. Early childhood Altman was born in Sydney, New South Wales to Jewish immigrant parents, and spent most of his childhood in Hobart, Tasmania. Educa ...

James Fallows James Mackenzie Fallows (born August 2, 1949) is an American writer and journalist. He is a former national correspondent for ''The Atlantic.'' His work has also appeared in ''Slate'', ''The New York Times Magazine'', ''The New York Review of Book ...

James O'Loghlin James O'Loghlin (born 1966) is an Australian comedian, television and radio presenter. He works for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Local Radio evening program in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. Career Previous ...

* Chris Berg * Emily Maguire * Simran Sethi

2014

The 2014 festival was criticised due to the links between the St James Ethics Centre and companies that profit from the mandatory indefinite detention of asylum seekers. ;Participants * Masha Alekhina * Liz Ann MacGregor *

Bettina Arndt Bettina Mary Arndt (born 1 August 1949) is an Australian writer and commentator who specialises in sex and gender issues. Starting as a sex therapist and self-proclaimed feminist, she established her career in the 1970s publishing and broadcas ...

* David Baker *

Peter Berner Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

Lydia Cacho Lydia María Cacho Ribeiro (born 12 April 1963) is a Mexican journalist, feminist, and human rights activist. Described by Amnesty International as "perhaps Mexico's most famous investigative journalist and women's rights advocate", Cacho's repor ...

* Mark Carnegie *

Jane Caro Catherine Jane Caro (born 24 June 1957) is a feminist social commentator, writer and lecturer based in Australia. Early life and education Caro was born in London in 1957 and emigrated to Australia with her parents as a five-year-old in 1963. ...

Bob Carr Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He later en ...

* Simon Crerar * Kirsten Drysdale * Tim Duggan *

Kajsa Ekis Ekman Kajsa "Ekis" Ekman is a Swedish author and journalist. She has written four books, translated into several languages, about capitalism, economic crises, and women's rights. She lectures internationally on prostitution and surrogacy. She is a regul ...

* Whitney Fitzsimmons *

Kitty Flanagan Kitty Flanagan (born 1968) is an Australian comedian, writer and actress who works in Australia and the United Kingdom. She has also performed in France, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Japan and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and ...

Tim Flannery Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, Conservation biology, conservationist, Exploration, explorer, author, Science communication, science communicator, activist and p ...

Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, holding office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Fraser was raised on hi ...

* Peter Fray *

Bradley Garrett Bradley Garrett (born January 4, 1981) is an American social and cultural geographer at University College Dublin in Ireland and a writer for ''The Guardian'' newspaper in the United Kingdom. He describes his research interests as being at the i ...

Masha Gessen Masha Gessen (born 13 January 1967) is a Russian-American journalist, author, translator and activist who has been an outspoken critic of the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and the former president of the United States, Donald Trump. Gess ...

Peter Hartcher Peter Hartcher is an Australian journalist and the Political and International Editor of the ''Sydney Morning Herald''. He is also a visiting fellow at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based foreign policy think tank. Career In 1981, while a stude ...

John Hewson John Robert Hewson AM (born 28 October 1946) is an Australian former politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party from 1990 to 1994. He led the Liberal-National Coalition to defeat at the 1993 Australian federal election. Hewson was ...

Lewis Hobba Lewis Hobba (born 16 June 1980) is an Australian radio presenter, television presenter and comedian. From 2014 to 2020, he co-hosted the afternoon drive time programme ''Veronica & Lewis'' alongside Veronica Milsom on youth radio station Triple ...

Kay Hymowitz Kay S. Hymowitz (born December 25, 1948) is an American author. Early life and education Born in Philadelphia, she earned her B.A. at Brandeis University, and her M.A. in English literature from Tufts University. Career She taught English lit ...

Dan Ilic Dan Ilic (born 20 November 1981) is an Australian presenter, comedian and filmmaker. Ilic has been known for his parody work, including videos and ''Beaconsfield: The Musical'', which he wrote, and more recently for his work on the show '' Hungr ...

* Nöelle Janaczewska *

Elizabeth Kolbert Elizabeth Kolbert (born 1961) is an American journalist, author, and visiting fellow at Williams College. She is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book '' The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History'', and as an observer and commentator o ...

Mark Latham Mark William Latham (born 28 February 1961) is an Australian politician and media commentator, currently serving as a member in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and ...

* Francesca Minerva *

Natasha Mitchell Natasha Mitchell is an Australian science journalist. She currently presents the Radio National program "Life Matters", a program that was first broadcast in 1992 and initially presented by Australian journalist Geraldine Doogue Geraldine ...

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...

* Emily Nussbaum *

Alissa Nutting Alissa Nutting (born 1980 or 1981) is an American author and creative writing professor. Her writing has appeared in ''Tin House'', ''Fence'', ''BOMB'' and the fairy tale anthology ''My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me''. She is an assoc ...

Dave O'Neil David O'Neil (born 8 May 1965) is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor, bass guitarist, writer, television and radio presenter with unusually large thumbs. Early career Dave was a Cub, Scout, Venturer and Rover. His late father Kevin was th ...

* Gordon Parker *

John Pilger John Richard Pilger (; born 9 October 1939) is an Australian journalist, writer, scholar, and documentary filmmaker. He has been mainly based in Britain since 1962. He was also once visiting professor at Cornell University in New York. Pilger ...

Steven Pinker Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He is an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind. P ...

Elizabeth Pisani Elizabeth Pisani (born 1964) is a British-American epidemiologist, public health consultant, author and journalist. She is an academic researcher and the director of Ternyata Ltd., a public health consultancy based in London, UK. Her research in ...

Huw Price Huw Price (; born 17 May 1953) is an Australian philosopher, formerly the Bertrand Russell Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy, Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was previously Challis Professor of Philosophy and Di ...

Glenn Robbins Glenn Maxwell Robbins (born 30 December 1957) is an Australian comedian, writer, actor, television and radio presenter. Robbins has appeared on '' The Panel'', ''Thank God You're Here'' and ''Have You Been Paying Attention?''. He is best known ...

* Chip Rolley *

Sir Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern world, E ...

* Mark Scott *

Judith Sloan Judith Sloan (born 22 November 1954)
''Encyclopedia of Australian Science'' is an Australian economist. Sloan was born in Me ...

Jaan Tallinn Jaan Tallinn (born 14 February 1972) is an Estonian billionaire computer programmer and investor known for his participation in the development of Skype and file-sharing application FastTrack/ Kazaa. Jaan Tallinn is a leading figure in the field ...

* Nadya Tolokonnikov * Stella Young * Ragip Zarakolu

2015

In 2015, the seventh Festival of Dangerous Ideas was made up of solo sessions and panels featuring speakers such as

Naomi Klein Naomi A. Klein (born May 8, 1970) is a Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses, support of ecofeminism, organized labour, left-wing politics and criticism of corporate globalization, fascism, ecofascism ...

Peter Greste Peter Greste ( lv, Pēteris Greste; born 1 December 1965) is an Australian journalist and correspondent, who holds dual citizenship of Australia and Latvia. He has worked as a correspondent for Reuters, CNN and the BBC, predominantly in the Midd ...

Gabriella Coleman Enid Gabriella Coleman (usually known as Gabriella Coleman or Biella; born 1973) is an anthropologist, academic and author whose work focuses on cultures of hacking and online activism, particularly Anonymous. She previously held the Wolfe Ch ...

, Sarai Walker, AC Grayling, Marc Lewis,

Paul Krugman Paul Robin Krugman ( ; born February 28, 1953) is an American economist, who is Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and a columnist for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, Krugman was th ...

Laurie Penny Laurie Penny (born Laura Barnett, 28 September 1986) is a British journalist and writer. Penny has written articles for publications including ''The Guardian,'' ''The New York Times'' and ''Salon''. Penny is a contributing editor at the ''New ...

Eric Schlosser Eric Matthew Schlosser (born August 17, 1959) is an American journalist and author known for his investigative journalism, such as in his books ''Fast Food Nation'' (2001), ''Reefer Madness'' (2003), and '' Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, ...

and

Gideon Raff Gideon "Gidi" Raff ( he, גדעון „גידי" רף; born 10 September 1972) is an Israeli film and television director, screenwriter, and writer. He is best known for his creation of the Channel 2 thriller drama series '' Prisoners of War'', ...

. For the first time, ''FODI Melbourne'' also took place as part of the

Melbourne Writers Festival Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) is an annual literary festival held in the Australian city of Melbourne, a UNESCO City of Literature. The Festival runs during early September each year. Melbourne Writers Festival is part of the Word Alliance, ...

. ;Participants *

* Professor Frank Brennan * Anna Broinowski * James Colley *

Peter C. Doherty Peter Charles Doherty (born 15 October 1940) is an Australian immunologist and Nobel laureate. He received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1995, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Rolf M. Zinkerna ...

Clementine Ford Clementine Shepherd Ford (born June 29, 1979) is an American actress known for her appearance as Molly Kroll on Showtime's ''The L Word''. In April 2009, she joined the cast of the soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'' in the role of Macken ...

* Martin Ford *

Damon Gameau Damon Gameau is an Australian actor, director, and producer, known for his documentaries '' That Sugar Film'' and '' 2040''. Gameau has also appeared in a number of award-winning TV shows and films, such as ''Love My Way'', '' The Tracker'' an ...

* Dennis Glover * AC Grayling *

Johann Hari Johann Eduard Hari (born 21 January 1979) is a British-Swiss writer and journalist who has written for ''The Independent'' and ''The Huffington Post''. In 2011, Hari was suspended from ''The Independent'' and later resigned, after admitting to ...

* James Jericho * Dr Helen Joyce *

Suki Kim Suki Kim is a Korean American journalist and writer. She is the author of two books: the award-winning novel ''The Interpreter'' and a book of investigative journalism, ''Without You, There Is No Us: Undercover Among the Sons of North Korea's E ...

* Michael Kirby *

* Marc Lewis *

* Jane Martin * Chris Munro *

Malarndirri McCarthy Malarndirri Barbara McCarthy (born 19 April 1970) is an Australian politician and former journalist who has been a Senator for the Northern Territory since 2016. She is an Assistant Minister in the Albanese Government, and previously served i ...

* Kate McCartney *

Helen Razer Helen Razer is a Melbourne-born and Canberra-raised radio presenter and writer. She is the author of four non-fiction books and a columnist with the Australian version of ''The Big Issue'', Melbourne newspaper ''The Age'' and contributor to the m ...

Jordan Shanks Jordan Shanks-Markovina (born 18 August 1989), known online as Friendlyjordies, is an Australian political commentator, journalist, stand-up comedian and YouTuber. His content often discusses contemporary Australian political issues, involving ...

* Rebecca Shaw * Sarai Walker *

Michael Wesley Michael Wesley (1968) is an Australian academic of Indian descent. He was appointed Professor of International Relations and Deputy VC International at the University of Melbourne in 2019, and was previously Dean of the College of Asia and the P ...

* Sarah Wilson *

Murong Xuecun Murong Xuecun (, born 1974) is the pen name of the Chinese writer Hao Qun (郝群). His debut work ''Leave Me Alone: A Novel of Chengdu'' (), which was distributed online, propelled him to stardom. On July 22, 2008 Murong made the long list for the ...

* The Moth

2016

In 2016, the Festival of Dangerous Ideas was held at the Sydney Opera House for the final time. It featured speakers such as

Andrew Bolt Andrew Bolt (born 26 September 1959) is an Australian right-wing social and political commentator. He has worked at the News Corp-owned newspaper company The Herald and Weekly Times (HWT) for many years, for both '' The Herald'' and its success ...

Molly Crabapple Molly Crabapple (born Jennifer Caban; 1983) is an American artist and writer. She is a contributing editor for ''Vice (magazine), VICE'' and has written for a variety of other outlets, as well as publishing books, including an illustrated memoir, ...

Alicia Garza Alicia Garza (born January 4, 1981) is an American civil rights activist and writer known for co-founding the international Black Lives Matter movement. She has organized around the issues of health, student services and rights, rights for dome ...

(

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Rolli ...

( Black Flag) and

Lionel Shriver Lionel Shriver (born Margaret Ann Shriver; May 18, 1957) is an American author and journalist who lives in the United Kingdom. Her novel '' We Need to Talk About Kevin'' won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005. Early life and education Shriver ...

. ;Participants *

John Bell (Australian actor) John Anthony Bell AO OBE FRSN (born 1 November 1940) is an Australian actor, theatre director and theatre manager. He has been a major influence on the development of Australian theatre in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Early lif ...

* Raewyn Connell *

Stephen Dank Stephen Dank is an Australian biochemist who worked as a sports scientist at several professional sports club. He is known for his key role in two major sports drug cheating scandals, the Essendon Football Club supplements saga and the Cronulla- ...

Satyajit Das Satyajit Das (born 1957) is an Australian former banker and corporate treasurer, turned consultant, and author. Early life and education Satyajit Das was born in Calcutta, India in 1957. His family emigrated to Australia when he was 12. Das ...

* Pat Dudgeon * Tobias Feakin *

* Lisa Forrest *

(

) * Bates Gill *

Priyamvada Gopal Priyamvada Gopal (born 1968) is an Indian-born academic, writer and public intellectual who is Professor of Postcolonial Studies in the Faculty of English at the University of Cambridge. Her primary teaching and research interests are in colon ...

Kevan Gosper Richard Kevan Gosper, AO (born 19 December 1933) is an Australian former athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He was formerly a Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, and combined Chairman and CEO of Shell Australia ...

Stan Grant (journalist) Stan Grant (born 30 September 1963) is an Australian journalist, writer and radio and television presenter, since the 1990s. He has written and spoken on Indigenous issues and his Aboriginal identity. He is a Wiradjuri man. Early years Grant ...

A.C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling (; born 3 April 1949) is a British philosopher and author. He was born in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and spent most of his childhood there and in Nyasaland (now Malawi). In 2011 he founded and became the first Ma ...

Lev Grossman Lev Grossman (born June 26, 1969) is an American novelist and journalist who wrote ''The Magicians Trilogy'': '' The Magicians'' (2009), '' The Magician King'' (2011), and '' The Magician's Land'' (2014). He was the book critic and lead technolog ...

Tracey Holmes Tracey Holmes, an Australian journalist, is a presenter on ABC ''NewsRadio'', since January 2014, with an extensive career in television and radio, specialising predominantly in sport. She currently presents The Ticket at 11:00am every Sunday ...

* Sarah Houbolt * Shanto Iyengar * Simon Jackman * Alok Jha * Miranda Johnson *

Michael Kirby (judge) Michael Donald Kirby (born 18 March 1939) is an Australian jurist and academic who is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, serving from 1996 to 2009. He has remained active in retirement; in May 2013 he was appointed by the United N ...

* Brian Lipson * Sheryn Lee *

Philippe Legrain Philippe Legrain is a British political economist and writer. He specializes in global and European economic issues, notably globalisation, migration, the post-crisis world and the euro. A visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economi ...

* Ming Long * Hamish Macdonald * Dee Madigan * David Marr * Jason Mazanov *

Jane McAdam Jane Alexandra McAdam (born 1974) is an Australian legal scholar, and expert in climate change and refugees. She is a Scientia Professor at the University of NSW, and is the inaugural Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law ...

* Lloyd Newson * Norman Ornstein * George Packer * Jennifer Rayner * John Elder Robison *

Alexei Sayle Alexei David Sayle (born 7 August 1952) is an English actor, author, stand-up comedian, television presenter and former recording artist. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement in the 1980s. He was voted the 18th gr ...

Laura Secor Laura Secor is an American journalist whose work has focused on Iranian politics and Iran–United States relations. She has written about personal stories, such as the experience of poet Asieh Amini, and has also written a book, ''Children of Par ...

Tim Soutphommasane Thinethavone "Tim" Soutphommasane ( ; born 1982) is an Australian academic, social commentator and former public servant. He was Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission from 2013 to 2018. He has pre ...

Neil Strauss Neil Darrow Strauss, also known by the pen names Style and Chris Powles, is an American author, journalist and ghostwriter. He is best known for his book '' The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists'', in which he describes his ...

* Lee Vinsel * Sheila Watt-Cloutier * Daniel Webb * Jennifer Whelan

2017

In 2017 the Sydney Opera House announced that it was no longer presenting the Festival of Dangerous Ideas. It announced ANTIDOTE: a festival of art, ideas and action featuring speakers such as

Janet Mock Janet Mock (born March 10, 1983) is an American writer, television host, director, producer and transgender rights activist. Her debut book, the memoir '' Redefining Realness'', became a ''New York Times'' bestseller. She is a contributing edit ...

Reni Eddo-Lodge Reni Eddo-Lodge (born 25 September 1989) is a British journalist and author, whose writing primarily focuses on feminism and exposing structural racism. She has written for a range of publications, including ''The New York Times'', ''The Guard ...

, Tamika D. Mallory (

Women's March on Washington Women's March may refer to: * Women's March on Versailles, a 1789 march in Paris * Women's Sunday, a 1908 suffragette march in London * Woman Suffrage Procession, a 1913 march and rally in Washington, D.C. * Women's March (South Africa), a 1956 ma ...

) and

Micah M. White Micah M. White is credited with being the co-creator of the original call for the Occupy Wall Street protests. His book '' The End Of Protest: A New Playbook For Revolution'' was published by Knopf Canada in 2016. Biography White "was born to ...

(

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

) and artists such as Noemi Lakmaier, Anne Collod and Kaleider.

2018

In 2018 the Festival of Dangerous Ideas was independently presented by The Ethics Centre on Cockatoo Island. It featured two days of discussions on internet sub-cultures,

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

, privacy and LSD. In addition, there was a special event at

Sydney Town Hall The Sydney Town Hall is a late 19th-century heritage-listed town hall building in the city of Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, Australia, housing the chambers of the Lord Mayor of Sydney, council offices, and venues for meetings and ...

with

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

. Speakers included

Niall Ferguson Niall Campbell Ferguson FRSE (; born 18 April 1964)Biography
Niall Ferguson

Pankaj Mishra Pankaj Mishra FRSL (born 1969) is an Indian essayist and novelist. He was awarded the Windham–Campbell Prize for non-fiction in 2014. Early life and education Mishra was born in Jhansi, India. His father was a railway worker and trade unioni ...

Megan Phelps-Roper Megan Phelps-Roper is an American political activist who is formerly a member of, and spokesperson for, the Westboro Baptist Church, a Calvinist Christian sect categorized as a hate group. Her mother is Shirley Phelps-Roper, and her grandfath ...

, Zeynup Tufecki, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz,

Ayelet Waldman Ayelet Waldman ( he, איילת ולדמן, born December 11, 1964) is an Israeli-American novelist and essayist. She has written seven mystery novels in the series ''The Mommy-Track Mysteries'' and four other novels. She has also written autobio ...

Toby Walsh Toby Walsh is a Laureate fellow, and professor of artificial intelligence in the UNSW School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales and Data61 (formerly NICTA). He has served as Scientific Director of NICT ...

, Nikki Goldstein and Xanthe Mallett. The 2018 festival also saw the inaugural Festival of Dangerous Art which included artists Betty Grumble, Garth Knight and Riley Harmon. ;Participants * Adam Ni *

Angela Nagle Angela Nagle (born 1984) is an American-born Irish academic and non-fiction writer who has written for ''The Baffler'', ''Jacobin (magazine), Jacobin'', and others. She is the author of the book ''Kill All Normies'', published by Zero Books in 20 ...

Chuck Klosterman Charles John Klosterman (; born 1972) is an American author and essayist whose work focuses on American popular culture. He has been a columnist for '' Esquire'' and ESPN.com and wrote "The Ethicist" column for ''The New York Times Magazine''. K ...

* Donna Green *

* Darren Goodsir * Haris Aziz * Jeremy Moss * Judith Sloan * Khandis Blake * Linda Jakobson * Matt Beard * Megan Phelps-Roper *

Mick Dodson Michael James Dodson (born 10 April 1950) is an Aboriginal Australian barrister, academic, and member of the Yawuru people in the Broome area of the southern Kimberley region of Western Australia. His brother is Pat Dodson, also a noted Abor ...

Niall Ferguson Niall Campbell Ferguson FRSE (; born 18 April 1964)Biography
Niall Ferguson

* Nikki Goldstein *

* Rebecca Huntley * Richard Holden * Riley Harmon * Rob Brooks * Rosalind Dixon * Seth Stephens-Davidowitz *

* Susan Dodds *

* Xanthe Mallett *

Zeynep Tufekci Zeynep Tufekci ( tr, Zeynep Tüfekçi; ; ) is a sociologist and a writer who is a columnist for ''The New York Times''. Her work focuses on the social implications of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and big data, as well as soc ...

* Zhao Hai

2020

Australia's original provocative ideas festival was set to return in 2020 for its 10th festival. It was set to be held at Sydney Town Hall and themed around "dangerous realities". In March 2020, the festival was cancelled due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

as the NSW Minister of Health issued a ban of non-essential public gatherings of over 500 people. In May, the festival launched FODI Digital. Speakers included

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

, Daisy Jeffrey, David A. Sinclair, Eleanor Gordon-Smith, Stan Grant, and

. A second series of FODI Digital conversations were launched in September 2020 featuring

Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American and naturalized Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and su ...

Marcia Langton Marcia Lynne Langton (born 1951) is an Australian academic. she is the Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne. Regarded as one of Australia's top intellectuals, L ...

, and David Wallace-Wells.

2022

In 2022 the Festival of Dangerous Ideas returned live and in person at

Carriageworks Carriageworks is a multi-arts urban cultural precinct located at the former Eveleigh Railway Workshops in Redfern, Sydney, Australia. Carriageworks showcases contemporary art and performing arts, as well as being used for filming, festivals, fa ...

, presented by The Ethics Centre. Occurring over two days in September, the program featured over 72 speakers and artists, including 8 international guests, with discussions on

authoritarianism Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political '' status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic vot ...

social networks A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

and algorithms, gender, and

the Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

. Speakers included

Frances Haugen Frances Haugen (born 1983 or 1984) is an American data engineer and scientist, product manager, and whistleblower. She disclosed tens of thousands of Facebook's internal documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission and ''The Wall Street Jo ...

Jacqui Lambie Jacquiline Louise Lambie (born 26 February 1971) is an Australian politician who is the leader and founder of the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN). She is a Senator for Tasmania since 2019, and was previously a Senator from 2014 to 2017. Lambie, an ...

Kevin Roose Kevin Roose is the author of three books and a technology columnist for ''The New York Times''. He wrote a book about Liberty University, an evangelical Christian university known for strict rules imposed on students. He was named on ''Forbes'' " ...

Alok Vaid-Menon Alok Vaid-Menon (born July 1, 1991) is an American writer, performance artist, and media personality who performs under the moniker ALOK. Alok is gender non-conforming and transfeminine, and uses the singular ''they'' third person pronouns. As ...

Adam Tooze John Adam Tooze (born 1967) is an English historian who is a professor at Columbia University, Director of the European Institute and nonresident scholar at Carnegie Europe. Previously, he was Reader in Twentieth-Century History at the Universit ...

Ruth Ben-Ghiat Ruth Ben-Ghiat is an American historian and cultural critic. She is a scholar on fascism and authoritarian leaders. Ben-Ghiat is professor of history and Italian studies at New York University. Biography Born in the United States to an Israeli ...

and

Badiucao Badiucao (; born c. 1986) is a Chinese political cartoonist, artist and rights activist based in Australia. He is regarded as one of China’s most prolific and well-known political cartoonists. He adopted his pen-name to protect his identity. E ...

. The lineup also offered a range of art and experiences including Scott Campbell's Whole Glory, Counterpilot and

Legs on the Wall Legs on the Wall is an Australian physical theatre company based in Sydney. Formed in 1984, Legs on the Wall's performances combine acrobatics with dance, circus skills and technology. It creates aerial outdoor shows and theatre productions, perfo ...

. ;Participants *

Brook Andrew Brook Andrew (born 1970 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian contemporary artist. Work Andrew has exhibited internationally since 1996. His work focuses on Western narratives, especially relating to colonialism in the Australian context, and ...

Joanna Bourke Joanna Bourke, (born 1963) is a British historian and academic. She is professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London. Biography Born to Christian medical-missionary parents, Bourke was brought up in New Zealand, Zambia, Solomon Island ...

* Daniel Browning * Nick Bryant * Scott Campbell *

* Damien Cave * Corrie Chen * Claire G. Coleman * Counterpilot *

Geraldine Doogue Geraldine Frances Doogue (born 29 April 1952) is an Australian journalist and radio and television presenter. Career After graduating from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Doogue intended to train as a scho ...

* Stan Grant *

Osher Günsberg Osher Günsberg (born Andrew Jonas Günsberg), recognised by his former stage name Andrew G, is a British-Australian television and radio presenter and journalist. He is the host of the reality TV series '' The Bachelor Australia'', ''The Bachel ...

Jess Hill Jesse Terrill Hill (January 20, 1907 – August 31, 1993) was an American athlete, coach, and college athletics administrator who was best known for his tenure as a coach and athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC). His c ...

Narelda Jacobs Narelda Jacobs is an Australian television journalist with Network 10 and NITV in Sydney. Prior to her January 2020 appointment as a panellist and reporter on the morning talk show ''Studio 10'', she had been a news presenter for '' 10 News Firs ...

* Lydia Khalil *

* Simon Longstaff * Hamish Macdonald *

David McBride David B. McBride (born June 23, 1942) is an American politician who served in the Delaware General Assembly for forty-two years. After serving one term in the Delaware House of Representatives from the 15th district, he was elected to the Delawa ...

Kylie Moore-Gilbert Kylie Moore-Gilbert is an Australian-British academic in Islamic studies. She was a lecturer at the University of Melbourne's Asia Institute and has carried out research into revolutions in the Middle East, in particular Bahraini politics and prot ...

* Ann Mossop *

Sisonke Msimang Sisonke Msimang is a South African writer, activist and political analyst based in Perth, Western Australia, whose focus is on race, gender, and politics. She is known for her memoir ''Always Another Country: A memoir of exile and home'' (2017) ...

* Saxon Mullins * Lucy Peach *

* Yasmin Poole *

Don Weatherburn Donald James Weatherburn PSM (born 14 May 1951) was Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research in Sydney from 1988 until July 2019. He is a professor at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New Sou ...

Cathy Wilcox Cathy Wilcox (born 1963) is an Australian cartoonist and children's book illustrator, best known for her work as a cartoonist for ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' and ''The Age'' newspapers. She has also twice won the Australian Children's Book Cou ...

Podcast

In February 2022, FODI released a bold new podcast FODI: The In-Between, an audio time capsule recording a moment in-between two eras. Eight conversations between 16 of the world’s biggest thinkers, with guest speakers including

Roxane Gay Roxane Gay (born October 15, 1974) is an American writer, professor, editor, and social commentator. Gay is the author of ''The New York Times'' best-selling essay collection ''Bad Feminist'' (2014), as well as the short story collection ''Ayiti ...

Peter Singer Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher, currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular, ...

and more, FODI: The In-Between tackles the big issues of the world and future, from climate change and global politics to artificial intelligence, truth, and social media.

References

External links

*
YouTube channel

Sydney Morning Herald 27 September 2011
Audio Coverage in BBC's The Forum
11 October 2009.

Steph Harmon, Guardian Australia
{{Sydney events Dangerous Ideas Dangerous Ideas Recurring events established in 2009 2009 establishments in Australia