Podcast
The Minefield
Episodes — page 10
What is the human cost of success? Revisiting HBO’s SuccessionAs the fourth and final series of the HBO television show “Succession” approaches its finale, Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens revisit the first three seasons. Why does this show matt…
What is the phenomenon of “bigness” doing to human agency?We live in an era dominated by vast digital platforms, what David Auerbach calls “meganets” – the sheer volume of data they trade in and numbers they produce seem to render them un…
Is loneliness a problem that can be solved?Hyperconnectivity has coincided with an epidemic of loneliness — but is loneliness simply part of the human condition? Samantha Rose Hill joins The Minefield to discuss whether we…
Martial virtues, military conditioning, and moral damageCan soldiers be trained to kill their fellow human beings without that training doing irreparable damage to the moral lives of the soldiers themselves?
“An eye that cannot weep” — What does compassion demand of us?In the final episode of our Ramadan series, we explore the roots of our occasional heedlessness when confronted by the plight and pleas of another person: What could make us callou…
“Knowledge that does not benefit” — On the uses and abuses of informationIn the fourth instalment of our Ramadan series, we discuss whether “knowledge” which is wielded in a way that demeans others, or which is accumulated as a form of vanity, can reall…
“A soul that will not be satisfied” — The problem of human restlessnessFor this third show in our Ramadan series, we’re asking what it is about the human condition that seems to drive it to perpetual discontentment? What is the virtue of repose, and w…
“A prayer that is not heard” — The dangers of ego-centric speechEgo-centrism is a form of inattentiveness, a failure to be responsive to the moral reality of another person. In this second instalment in our Ramadan series, we explore how such i…
“A heart that cannot humble itself” — The virtue of intellectual humilityWhat does it mean to be intellectually humble? How might such humility be cultivated? What are its benefits — both to ourselves and to those around us?
Should Fawlty Towers’ farcical vision of Britain be “rebooted”?Now that John Cleese has announced that the iconic series will return, it’s worth examining what made Fawlty Towers a masterpiece — and whether its interaction with the political c…
What does the failure of Robodebt tell us about the government’s “duty of care”?What made the Online Compliance Initiative — better known as the Robodebt scheme — so egregious is the way it was designed to treat those purported to be “welfare cheats” with utte…
What does it mean to be a moral parent?Even though we rarely frame it in these terms, it is hardly inappropriate to refer to the relationship between a parent and a child as a moral relationship. Professor Luara Ferraci…
Should early childhood education be compulsory?There are good political and philosophical reasons for seeing free and equal access to early childhood education as an expression of our shared commitment to justice.
Sports betting: Is it corrupting what it means to be a fan?Dr Lauren Gurrieri joins Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens to discuss the sophisticated ways sports gambling operators are targeting new clientele — through targeted ads and by parasit…
What is generative-AI doing to our capacity to write — and think?Professor Naomi Baron joins Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens to discuss whether ChatGPT and its soon-to-be-released competitors, with their lure of efficiency and ease, are threatenin…
What does it mean to be “literate” — and is it under threat?Professor Maryanne Wolf joins Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens to discuss whether we are entering an age of widespread moral illiteracy — an incapacity to engage in the processes that…
What’s at stake in this year’s constitutional referendum?Professor Mark McKenna discusses with Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens why any proposal to change the Australian Constitution must navigate Australians’ conservative disposition and u…
- What’s the point of political comedy?
While political comedy has long been a distinguishing feature of truly democratic cultures, one of the more notable shifts over the past two decades has been the merger of comedy i…
- The ethics of shame
Perhaps no “moral emotion” in our time is more reviled than shame. It is regarded, certainly in the West, as uniquely destructive to a healthy sense of self, as psychologically dam…
- Is anger corrosive to the moral life? A conversation with Christos Tsiolkas
There is no doubt that emotions like anger can be a proper response to the persistence of injustice or inequality or prejudice or cruelty in the world. But it can also be exhaustin…
