Don't miss these 7 thrilling talks and events at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas

This dinner party will be one for the ages. If you can’t simply sit back and listen while your mind is being blown, rest assured that the FODI has tailored some truly hands-on experiences so that you’re in on the provocation. With big thinkers plucked directly from the festival’s lineup as your fellow diners, don’t expect any small talk as you tuck into a three-course share menu and unlimited drinks. With every course served, a new challenging topic of conversation arises for guests to dispute, all set against the backdrop of a deliciously industrial Carriageworks. The talent is yet to be released, but tickets are extremely limited for this intimate event.

Witness magic happen in performance company re:group’s latest theatrical experiment that explores the politics of incarceration and the care industry. Theatre artist Steve Wilson-Alexander is joined by old friend Mirielle Gabriel after a six-year hiatus of making movies together. Gabriel will be locked to the confines of her bedroom via video call, while Wilson-Alexander creates a prison escape movie live on stage. With lived experiences at the NDIS, can the pair break free from the roles that society has chained them to?

Social media: interconnected networks, or ‘killing machines’? From 2011 to 2019, teen depression rates doubled in the US. Doubled. Pair that with surging suicide rates across developed nations, and it begs the question of what the hell is up? Psychologist Jean Twenge explores the very real reality that it could be our mobile phones and those (maybe not so) handy little apps installed inside. Join her in person for an exploration of the impact of our now-so deeply ingrained technology, and why policing is not greater despite their potential deadliness.

Taking into account targeted advertising, biased journalism and corrupt governments, democracy has been taking hits left, right and centre. The thoughts of the older generations, versus those of younger ones coming into their own, tends to become more divisive by the day. With wealth and power seemingly concentrated amongst those higher age brackets, it’s not uncommon for the young to feel disenfranchised. Academic David Runciman thinks he might just have the key to reviving democracy and it involves some teeny, tiny little voters.

Comedian and author David Baddiel’s book ‘The God Desire’ is a mindboggle on what it means to want, not believe in, God. Despite embracing his Jewish identity, Baddiel asserts that he’s an atheist. He explores the incredibly human desire for and pursuit of meaning and how this means we project God as a solution to our search. To experience his wit, but equally as sharp social commentary, you’ve got to catch this realisation of his written work live. We mean, he’s travelled all the way from the UK for FODI – it would be rude not to.

Audio documterary The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling received phenomenal backlash for exploring one of our time’s most equally influential, and controversial, authors. One year on from the record-breaking documentary’s production, Megan Phelps-Roper is joined by producer Andy Mills to ask the tough questions: Is empathy and dialogue with your opponent dangerous? Is our society ready to engage in difficult conversations publicly? Coming all the way from the USA, they will dissect, live, what it means to have free speech as a person of influence and power, and the fallout of such a contentious documentary.

Despite the equality gap only widening every day, there’s a whole growing middle class of Aboriginal Australians getting a taste of the power of excellence. While we’re on the brink of Indigenous excellence, our nation is pulled between partisan politics that question the feasibility of this potential, and deny its legitimacy. Wiradjuri man and academic Todd Fernado traverses the system of oppression we find ourselves in and begs the question: are we ready to accept excellence?