Australia needs to reduce the growing inequality in our country. Many economists agree on that. Not only for the sake of ‘a fair go’ and social welfare, but also for the good of the economy. Extreme inequality slows economic growth. A panel of economists talk about measures that governments can take to close the divide between very rich and very poor.

Classical physics goes some of the way to explaining physical reality but the rules change when you get down to the smallest particles -the quantum world of atoms. And that’s the world of Michelle Simmons , Professor of Quantum Physics at the University of New South Wales.

Michelle and her team have already built the first single atom transistor and are now trying to build a silicon quantum computer. That's a computer at warp speed, able to solve a complex problem in minutes which would take years on a conventional computer.

Last year, national and state elections were held in both America and Australia, against the backdrop of a deadly pandemic. You might think that is where any similarity ends.  But, aside from obvious differences, the polity of both countries faces some similar issues: the dissemination of political mistruths, the influence of money and donations over politicians and decision making, and challenges around the conduct of free and fair elections.

The negative implications of social media are increasingly acknowledged and well documented. But what to do about them is a different matter. Ron Deibert suggests that restrain is the way forward and the solution to construct a viable communications ecosystem that supports civil society and contributes to the betterment of the human condition - instead of the opposite.

Due to copyright reasons there is no podcast or stream for these lectures on the Big Ideas website. Please head to the CBC Massey Lecture website.

The fifth CBC Massey Lecture describes the ecological myth of the digital age, wherein "the grimy, exhaust-filled industrial era would be overtaken by digital technologies that are clean, infinitely reusable, and virtual." But Ron Deibert calculates that sending 65 emails is roughly equivalent to driving one kilometre in a car.

Due to copyright reasons there is no podcast or stream for these lectures on the Big Ideas website. Please head to the CBC Massey Lecture website.

The initial vision of the internet was that it would empower individuals and expose the wrongdoings of state and corporate interests. But the same technologies that had been used for public uprisings against oppressive governments are now being used by those governments against political demonstrators, 

whistle-blowers and dissidents.

Due to copyright reasons there is no podcast or stream for these lectures on the Big Ideas website. Please head to the CBC Massey Lecture website.

For years, headlines about social media have been dominated by its adverse effects on society: From the virulent spread of misinformation, to the way your 

data is tracked and mined. You would think that if users were so unhappy, they would just quit. But social media are engineered to be ‘addiction 

machines’.

Due to copyright reasons there is no podcast or stream for these lectures on the Big Ideas website. Please head to the CBC Massey Lecture website.

The economic model of social media is organized around personal data surveillance. And that has consequences. These systems that claim to capture our reality are actually shaping our reality and our understanding of the world. Ron Deibert presents the second CBC Massey lecture with a focus on surveillance capitalism. Social media are not only used to sell products, but also to push ideologies.

Due to copyright reasons there is no podcast or stream for these lectures on the Big Ideas website. Please head to the CBC Massey Lecture website.

There are dire consequences to living in an always-on, hyper-connected digital society. Digital technologies have created a new machine-based civilization that is increasingly linked to a growing number of social and political maladies. Accountability is weak and insecurity is endemic. Ron Deibert exposes the disturbing impact of the internet and social media on politics, the economy, the environment and humanity.

Due to copyright reasons there is no podcast or stream for these lectures on the Big Ideas website. Please head to the CBC Massey Lecture website.

Ageing gets a bad wrap in our youth obsessed society but Ashton Applewhite says we're saddled with outdated ideas. Our attitudes to growing older come from a time when lifespans were so much shorter. She promotes positive ageing and campaigns against age discrimination.