Big Ideas

The dramatic reduction in Covid-19 cases is very reassuring. But the virus is still out there and there’s the risk of a second wave. So we need people to recognize the symptoms and doctors need tests which deliver results quickly. Some people can have no symptoms or mild symptoms so they can transmit the virus without being aware of it. To limit the spread we're being asked to limit our freedom of movement and to let the government know where we're going and with whom. Does that make you feel safer or uncomfortable that Big Brother is watching you?

Should police be able to shut down protest marches because of Covid-19? The Black Lives Matter protests tested the reach of public health directives and the right to protest prevailed. It’s just one of a number of freedoms challenged by emergency powers. So will these powers disappear with the virus or continue in one form or another? And will the response to Covid-19 reshape our federal system?

State schools are providing pupils, as young as seven, with iPads, or asking parents to buy digital devices for them. Writer and parent, Anna Krien, has many reservations about Big Tech, and screen-based learning, in primary school.

We hope the world of the future will have less disease and disability thanks to gene and cell therapy. With the ability to manipulate DNA we’re now shaping our own evolution. So how did we crack the DNA code?

This is the story of the race to discover the shape of DNA and to understand how our genetic code creates the building blocks of life. And DNA is revealing the million-year story of Homo sapiens and the many other human species who’ve walked the earth.

What if UN peacekeepers sent into a conflict by the international community bring rape and sexual abuse to the local women and children – instead of peace?

It happens on a regular basis and even through organised networks.

Hear about the accounts of victims and witnesses. How does such behaviour impact the peacebuilding process and the legitimacy of the UN in the eyes of local and global populations?

The coronavirus forced businesses to close their doors and 700,000 Australians lost their jobs. So what’s on the other side of this pandemic? Will the old jobs still be there or will wages and conditions change with workers being offered reduced hours, more casual work or a revamped award system ? The government wants unions and business to negotiate a new deal as the economy gets back on its feet.

During the Great War, Australia imposed a regime of draconian laws restricting basic freedoms, like the right to protest and freedom of speech. What can we learn, a century later, from the actions of a wartime government, as we battle another crisis.

Confirmation bias. It’s enemy number one of all balanced and evidence-based debate. This urge to believe what you’re already convinced of, regardless of the facts.

The solution is ‘critical thinking’ – the skill to discern emitted variables and wrong causalities, to look at all sides of an issue.

And then to align your point of view with the evidence.

We know computers are smart but they usually excel in a particular skill like chess or understanding speech . How close are we to building a machine which, like the human brain , has the flexibility to problem solve across a range of cognitive tasks?

Computer scientists are hard at work trying to create artificial general intelligence and , if they succeed , who knows what conscious machines might decide to do?

To deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, governments have curtailed freedom of movement and enforced new rules on social distancing and quarantine. They've closed borders and shutdown workplaces and venues where crowds gather.

And to trace the spread of the virus we’ve all been encouraged to download the CovidSafe App. What have we lost and what have we gained in the name of public health? Could government surveillance and reduced individual freedoms become the new normal?