Podcast
The Minefield
Episodes — page 8
When is it right to call some act – or someone – “evil”?What are we trying to convey when we reach for a word like “evil”? Is it something about a person’s actions or character? Is it what they do or the manner in which they do it?
From Beyoncé to Taylor Swift — what’s behind the mass appeal of live music events?It is worth reflecting, not just on what is singular about Taylor Swift at this particular cultural moment — why she attracts both the loyalty and the animus that she does — but on…
What is the harm in “deepfakes” — and what are they doing to democracy?Over the last 18 months, enormously powerful generative AI tools have been placed in the hands of anyone who wants them; as a consequence, the internet and our social media feeds h…
How can trust be cultivated in a time of pervasive suspicion?Because it is sustained by nothing more substantial than a weave of trusted institutions, shared habits and moral commitments, democracies are highly susceptible to the corrosive e…
What do we lose by succumbing to conspiracy-mindedness?Ours is a time when institutional distrust, digital disinformation and mutual suspicion have become pervasive — but can democracy withstand epistemic and social fragmentation of th…
- In a screen saturated age, is literacy 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 do we lose when we lose the capacity for boredom?
It is fair to say that boredom is a distinctly modern terror. But, as Stan Grant discusses with Waleed and Scott, what if existential boredom points us to our deeper need?
- Goya’s “Saturn” and its moral challenge
Spanish painter Francisco de Goya’s depiction of Saturn eating his son is a haunting portrait of lust and the fear of one’s own finitude. Christos Tsiolkas joins Waleed and Scott t…
- Politics, farce ... and Fawlty Towers
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 are playlists doing to our ability to listen to music?
Platforms like Spotify have transformed the way people listen to music through their use of recommendation algorithms and customised playlists designed to cater to either a particu…
Dickens’s philosophy of generosity: Revisiting “A Christmas Carol”, 180 years onAustralian novelist Briohny Doyle joins Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens to examine Charles Dickens’s unforgettable tale of misanthropy and remorse, and discover how its aesthetic tec…
How much should we expect from the state?What is a state for? How does its nature, actions, and limits differ from other corporate bodies? Is the relationship of a state to its citizens fundamentally that of a service pro…
Should drivers of electric vehicles be taxed more to use the roads?If we are not careful, the use of incentives to encourage people to purchase electric vehicles could backfire by offending our sense of fairness.
What is social cohesion, what cultivates it, and what undermines it?The latest Mapping Social Cohesion report from the Scanlon Foundation paints a complex picture that helps us understand the conditions within which social cohesion is able to stren…
What is the moral case for a ceasefire in Gaza?Calls for an end to the devastation of Gaza, and the death and displacement of its residents, reached a crescendo on Remembrance Day. While the moral case is compelling, it raises…
What’s behind the anger? On Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own”Nearly a century after its publication, Australian novelist Charlotte Wood joins Waleed and Scott to discuss what Virginia Woolf’s essay tell us about egotism, contempt, creative f…
Do we know what the result of the Voice referendum means?Because referenda are zero-sum contests, the message they convey is paradoxically both obscure and unambiguous — which is to say, their meaning is open to interpretation and uninte…
Is it time to reconsider Australia’s bipartisan commitment to “stopping the boats”?Australia recently marked ten years since the introduction of Operation Sovereign Borders — a policy whereby refugees entering Australian waters by boat were met with unwavering, m…
Some deaths matter more to us than others — but should they?The civilian massacres in Israel on 7 October and the devastation inflicted on residents of Gaza both make claims on our humanity, on our capacity to recognise and respond to the d…
Can young people stay politically engaged without becoming disillusioned with democracy?One of the great paradoxes of democracy is that those who will have to bear the consequences of the political decisions we make now have little-to-no say in the decision-making pro…
