Counterpoint

In recent times there has been much talk about the imminent collapse of the liberal rules based order with Russia and China citied as the main culprits for this destabilisation. Is it true? How did people in Ancient Greece cope with sickness? Can you hear any birds singing right now? Do you think that people in the ancient world heard the same kinds of birds in the same kind of numbers that we do today? When Siri or Alexa speak to you do you speak back? Might we be a little in love with your technology?

In 2018 Dr Frances Arnold was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Then she gave it back. Why At the turn of the 20th Century Australia went through a bit of a fortune telling craze. The practise was illegal and the police tried to prosecute where they could but the women survived and in some cases thrived. Alphabets are disappearing. There are between 6,000 to 7,000 languages in the world. Yet 96% are spoken by just 3% of the global population and 85% are endangered. What do barcodes and trains have in common? Without one we wouldn't have the other.

Why do regime changes rarely work? Would you buy something from a company if they didn't agree with the same causes that you do? Rules are everywhere. Some make perfect sense but others seem to be there simply to annoy us, so how do we know which ones to ignore or break and which ones to follow? Superman has saved the world countless times, he did other things too, but why are he and his superhero cohorts so popular today?

Is China the all powerful, all conquering nation that some believe it to be or is it 'in “decay” and beset by internal and regional challenges that will frustrate the nation’s grand ambitions'? Wokeness, cancel culture, and calling out have become almost a way of life in recent times. But instead of calling people out should we be calling them in? How safe are consumer goods in Australia and how can we make them safer? Just over 75 years ago the Nuremberg Trials began. How successful were they and how are they now remembered?

Australia has embraced the concept of a rules-based order but what does that actually mean? Instead of breaking up Big Tech can we create new technologies and new ways of living either with or without them? Can science measure free will? How? Alternate maps from alternate histories can teach us a lot, they're also fun. What would be your alternate map of Australia, would you change any State borders?