Anarchy, resentment and an urge to smash the system are spreading. What caused this age of anger? How can we understand it? And what kind of transformative thinking will help us find our way out of it? Author and academic Pankaj Mishra presents a keynote at the 2018 Festival of Dangerous Ideas on Cockatoo Island. The session is chaired by Simon Longstaff.

Insights from big data can cure diseases, control epidemics, end congestion in our cities and aid the just distribution of natural resources. If withholding access to personal data undermines these social goods, does that make privacy selfish? Zeynep Tufekci and Seth Stephens-Davidowitz hash it out at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2018 on Cockatoo Island. The panel is chaired by Marc Fennell. 

In the internet culture wars, the ascendant alt-right confronts a complacent left obsessed with identity politics. Has the worst of the internet become reality? Author and writer Angela Nagle presents a keynote at the 2018 Festival of Dangerous Ideas on Cockatoo Island. The talk is chaired by Kym Middleton.

Australian politics is in a maelstrom, fake news has taken root and increasingly, democracy is looking decidedly unwell. Does this have anything to do with our highly concentrated media ownership and vigorous partisan players? What are the costs of a polarised, opinion-driven media and the 24-hour news cycle? Dee Madigan, John Hewson and Rebecca Huntley discuss at the 2018 Festival of Dangerous Ideas on Cockatoo Island. The panel is chaired by Darren Goodsir.

As China’s rise continues and the US retreats, do our strategic interests lie in a positive alignment with our region’s traditional power? Could an alliance between Australia and China be founded on shared interests – despite underlying cultural and political differences? Zhao Hai, Linda Jakobson, Adam Ni put these questions to debate at the 2018 Festival of Dangerous Ideas on Cockatoo Island. The panel was chaired by Jason Yat-sen Li.

Addictive technology is on the march – from poker machines to smartphones. And it is stealing something even more valuable – our attention – in order to sell it to the highest bidder. Is it too late to get it back? Techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufekci presents a keynote at the 2018 Festival of Dangerous Ideas on Cockatoo Island. The talk is chaired by Ann Mossop.

Controversial feminist Germaine Greer, LSD advocate Ayelet Waldman and ex-Westboro Baptist Church member Megan Phelps-Roper discuss the ethics of free speech in the age of growing intolerance. Their talk was recorded on Cockatoo Island at the 2018 Festival of Dangerous Ideas. The panel was chaired by Hamish Macdonald.

AI will bring about a seismic shift in politics, equality, work and the psyche of mankind. How brave is our new world going to be? Australian AI expert Toby Walsh presents a keynote at the 2018 Festival of Dangerous Ideas on Cockatoo Island. The talk was chaired by Lyria Bennett Moses.

Stephen Fry conjures the lost art of fabulous disagreement at a special Sydney Town Hall event. Presented as part of the 2018 Festival of Dangerous Ideas, the keynote talk was given in honour of the first ever FODI speaker and Fry's late friend, Christopher Hitchens. The event was welcomed by Uncle Allen Madden.

Author, writer and pop culture expert Chuck Klosterman presents a keynote talk at the 2018 Festival of Dangerous Ideas on Cockatoo Island. If retrospect teaches us how clueless humankind has been over most of its history, he asks, how can we be so sure about anything in the present? The session is chaired by Marc Fennell.