Sydney Ideas

The international panellists who are at the forefront of current debate on rational discourse and the post-truth crisis, dissect the current state of public discourse around truth, evidence, and reason, and associated questions including trust, faith, and identity.

They discuss their answers to the question “who can we believe?” and show how truth is intertwined with complex questions ranging from knowledge to authority to reality.

SPEAKERS:

- Sarah Haider is an American writer, speaker, and activist. In 2013, she co-founded Ex-Muslims of North America (EXMNA)

- Tom Nichols is Professor of national security affairs at the United States Naval War College, and author of the recent book The Death of Expertise: The campaign against established knowledge and why it matters (2017)

- James A Lindsay is an American thinker, not a philosopher, with a doctorate in math and background in physics. He is the author of four books, most recently Life in Light of Death (2016)

- Dr Caroline West is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Sydney

Held as part of the Sydney Ideas Post Truth Initiative series on 20 November 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/post_truth_initiative_series_2017.shtml

Elizabeth Harrower’s writing has engaged and challenged her readers since she began publishing in the late 1950s. Her work is concerned with the moral and existential challenges that arise from experiences of romance, family life, and personal aspiration. Her narratives blend together the private and public, bringing together the shared public spaces of the contemporary postwar world with the intense interior lives of her characters.

New Sydney University Press publication celebrates Elizabeth Harrower’s work. Listen to the readings of Harrower’s fiction by writers and contributors.

Conventional treatment for obesity assumes that all calories are alike, and that to lose weight one must simply “eat less and move more.” However, this prescription rarely succeeds over the long term.

According to an alternative approach, the metabolic state of the fat cells plays a key role in determining body weight. From this perspective, conventional calorie-restricted, low fat diets amount to symptomatic treatment, destined to fail for most people. Instead, a dietary strategy aiming to lower insulin secretion promises to increase the effectiveness of long-term weight management and chronic disease prevention.

Hear from endocrinologist and researcher, Professor David S Ludwig, who was described as an “obesity warrior” by Time Magazine. Dr Ludwig is author of the recent #1 New York Times bestseller 'Always Hungry? Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose Weight Permanently'.

This lecture was held as part of the Sydney Ideas program, co-presented with the Charles Perkins Centre on 14 November 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/professor_david_ludwig.shtml

The just-held 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has conferred President Xi Jinping with unprecedented authority. He is now the Party’s second more powerful leader after Mao Zedong. Xi has solid control over the Party, the State and the People’s Liberation Army. It looks probable that Xi will remain China’s paramount leader at least until 2027, if not 2032.

Questions remain, however, as to whether Xi, who is an arch-conservative and unabashed Maoist, will use his powers for political, social and economic reforms. Given his top priority of maintaining the CCP as China’s “perennial ruling party” – and in light of his insistence on the Party’s control over key economic sectors as well as the civil society – what are the prospects for thorough-going reforms?

Dr Willy Lam (Chinese University of Hong Kong and The Jamestown Foundation) looks into these questions and addresses Xi’s ambitious foreign-policy agenda, including likely changes in Beijing’s policy toward the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong.

This lecture was held as part of Sydney Ideas program on 8 November 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/dr_willy_lam.shtml

A recent report by Deloitte Access Economics found that some 40% of Australians experience some form of inadequate sleep. Sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnoea, insomnia, restless legs syndrome, and shift work disorder, are also highly prevalent but are amenable to treatment. The flow on effects of inadequate or disordered sleep for the individual, society, and the economy are enormous. It is time for everyone to wake up to the importance of sleep.

SPEAKER

Professor Allan Pack, Professor of Medicine, Chief, Division of Sleep Medicine and Director, Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology, at the University of Pennsylvania. His clinical expertise is in sleep disorders with a particular focus on diagnosis and management of obstructive sleep apnea.

Water, energy and food security are fundamental strategic challenges for India and its neighbours. In this Sydney Ideas conversation Professor Brahma Chellaney from the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi and Professor Bill Pritchard from the University of Sydney discuss the contentious politics and economics of water, energy and food in the Indian subcontinent. International and national regulatory regimes play an important role in the way water and energy resources are distributed across South Asia.

Held as part of Sydney Ideas on 8 November 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/professor_brahma_chellaney.shtml

Protesting police brutality, mass incarceration and racial disparities in all areas of American life, Black Lives Matter has spanned two very different presidencies, transforming political debate and making visionary demands for justice.

The founders of the Black Lives Matter Global Network, in Australia to accept the 2017 Sydney Peace Prize, join the ABC's Stan Grant for an intimate conversation about the birth of the protest movement, the future of black lives under President Trump, and what lessons Australians can learn from the American experience.

Speakers

- Patrisse Cullors (Founder, Black Lives Matter Global Network)

- Rodney Diverlus (Founder, Black Lives Matter Toronto)

- Stan Grant (journalist, ABC)

A Sydney Ideas event co-presented with the US Studies Centre on 3 Nov 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/black_lives_matter_forum.shtml

The United States, like Australia and other countries with modern economies, gets played by multinational corporations who earn profits in their country, but siphon profits out as tax-deductible expenses – expenses companies pay to themselves. It is as if individuals could get a tax break by moving money from their right pocket to their left.

These tax breaks are not based on real expenses, or economic reality, but on shams and faux calculations. They rest on nothing more substantial than moving symbols around on pieces of paper. And these tax breaks certainly are not honest, legal though they may be.

Even in Trump’s America, there are powerful new solutions to unreal and unfair tax systems.

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of 'The Making of Donald Trump', David Cay Johnston outlines ways to ensure that taxation of corporations is accurate, honest and fair for citizens.

Held as part of Sydney Ideas program on 1 November 2017. Co-presented with Sydney Democracy Network and supported by the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/david_cay_johnston.shtml

One of the best kept secrets about mathematicians is that we are often at the tip of the spear in the struggle for social/political causes. We are inspired by the mathematical hell raisers of previous generations, but we are also shaped by their personal tragedies.

In 1800 France, Sophie Germain had to publish her works using a male pseudonym. Only recently, Maryam Mirzakhani, an Iranian born mathematician, became the first female recipient of The Fields Medal, the highest honour in mathematics. In between lies a rich and poignant history of mathematical scientists confronting prejudices, injustices, and social stigmas, sometimes with tragic outcomes.

Mathematics comes with its own stories of defeats and victories, not always brought about by its widely publicised intellectual challenges.

SPEAKER: Nassif A Ghoussoub, Professor of Mathematics and a Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia.

Held as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 31 October 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/professor_nassif_ghoussoub.shtml

The forum brings together expert First Nations Community and University speakers to discuss the importance of increasing awareness about mental illness within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Joe Williams, a First Nations mental health campaigner and former elite athlete, shares his story and discusses his current work in the keynote address. He is joined in a panel discussion by University of Sydney and community members Dr Vanessa Lee , Percival Knight and Will Muwadda. Facilitated by actor Luke Carroll.

A Sydney Ideas event on 26 October 2017. More information http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/aboriginal_torres_strait_islander_mental_health_forum.shtml