Festival of Dangerous Ideas

The latest science suggests that it is too late to prevent human-induced climate change. Technological optimists are now turning their minds to mitigation through techniques of geo-engineering, like giant space mirrors or seeding the oceans with iron to prompt carbon-absorbing algal blooms. But projects to alter the entire planet will expose all life to massive risk. So, why not address the source of the problem and engineer humans to reduce our environmental impact and adapt? Genetic engineering could make us smaller or reduce our appetite for meat. Doses of Oxytocin could make us more sympathetic and cooperative. Such possibilities are criticised as extreme, but are they any more so than re-engineering the planet? S. Matthew Liao is a professor of philosophy at New York University.

Recorded in 2011 and the beginning of the Arab Spring, Mona Eltahawy reflects on the hunger for freedom and democracy unleashed within Arab populations living under dictatorship. This is considered alongside questions about whether Saudi Arabia's oil makes Western support for freedom and democracy melt away, and whether the west can't afford to prefer Arab democrats to Arab dictators. Mona Eltahawy is an award-winning columnist and international public speaker, renowned for her commentary on the 'Arab Spring'.

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 the science correspondent for ITV News in the UK. Before that, he did the same job at The Guardian for a decade, where he wrote news, features, comment and presented the award-winning Science Weeklypodcast. He has also reported live from Antarctica and presented many TV and radio programmes for the BBC. Alok's latest book The Water Book looks into water, a profoundly strange substance that defies the normal rules of chemistry, and how it has shaped the Earth, it's life and our civilisation.

In the late 90s, political theorists, economists and politicians were talking confidently about the “end of history” and the undisputed triumph of liberal "democratic" capitalism. Communism was written off as dead and buried. But after 9/11, the GFC, the Arab Spring, and the protests spreading over Europe, the ideological gloss of capitalism may be beginning to fade. If the alternative is Putin's muscular Tsarism or China's authoritarian capitalism, then renovating the idea of communism may matter profoundly. For philosophical rock star and brilliant iconoclast Slavoj Zizek, it is something that we should demand, no matter how impossible it seems. The only true utopia today is that things can go on indefinitely the way they are.

Compassion has become a commodity whose possession marks us as a better person, or better than other people. Writer and commentator Helen Razer diagnoses society with compassion fatigue – and the physical burn out, trauma and psychological depletion is real. Helen Razer is a writer, broadcaster and commentator who is now chiefly engaged in the work of writing on social and cultural matters. She works with Crikey, The Saturday Paper and a range of publications who permit her to say terrible things. Her fifth book, A Short History of Stupid, remains a best-seller and was recently shortlisted for the NSW State Library's inaugural Russell Prize.

Society preaches forgiveness for the rich and retribution for the poor. Entrenched inequality and its companion, poverty, are the dark side of the American dream for a citizenry united by name, but not by rules. Is the divide fair, the result of natural winners and losers, or is it built into the system? We know that inequality is bad for the rich as well as the poor, and that more equal countries are healthier and happier, but this knowledge won't bring change by itself. What can be done when those with the power to change the divide are those that benefit most from it? As long as the more equal won't let go, the less equal will suffer. David Simon is a journalist, author, and television writer/producer best known as the creator and showrunner of HBO series The Wire and Treme. He spent twelve years on the crime beat for the Baltimore Sun. He also worked on the adaptations of his books Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood for NBC and HBO respectively.

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 a fundamental way. We need to realise there is no 'right way', lose our fear of failure, embrace opportunity and take risks. We need to stop looking for leaders who can provide us with all the answers, and encourage the search for many solutions. We need to understand that to adapt to the challenges of the future, we must make mistakes, lots of them. Author and "Undercover Economist" for the Finanicial Times Tim Harford joined Festival of Dangerous Ideas to bring us wisdom from his latest best-seller 'Adapt: Why Success Always Starts With Failure.'

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 narcissism that marks our age. Our lives no longer centred on social and family groups, but have become highly individualistic. We are primed for narcissism by consumer culture, changing family dynamics and growing inequality. It’s time we looked at the sources of this epidemic and how it can be stopped. Anne Manne is an Australian writer and social commentator.

The tumultuous 17th century Enlightenment created the modern mind. What were the radical forces that shaped this intellectual world view we still share? And how is this under threat today? A.C. Grayling is the Master of the New College of the Humanities, London, and its Professor of Philosophy, and the author of over thirty books of philosophy, biography, history of ideas, and essays. His books, The Age of Genius, was published in April 2016 and The History of Philosophy was published in 2019 respectively.

We take you back to the unforgettable Christopher Hitchens. Hitch was the opening speaker at the very first Festival of Dangerous Ideas in 2009. Erudite, acerbic and incisive as ever, Hitch's talk - the original dangerous ideas - holds a very special place in our hearts.  A Decade of Danger celebrates 10 years of The Festival of Dangerous Ideas and will highlight 10 unmissable speakers from across the festival’s history. Sign up at festivalofdangerousideas.com to find out more about the lineup for FODI 2020.