Unsw Centre For Ideas

As one of the world’s leading researchers in artificial intelligence, Toby Walsh has been awarded the Humbolt Research Award and elected as a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of AI. In The Shortest History of AI, Toby outlines the six key ideas for understanding artificial intelligence today.  Hear Toby trace the origins of artificial intelligence in science and culture and predict where the technology is heading in the future.  This event was presented by the Sydney Writers' Festival and supported by UNSW Sydney.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2018 Donna Strickland became the first woman in over 50 years to win the Nobel Prize in Physics, and only the third woman in history. Her award-winning work however began decades earlier. While undertaking her PhD Donna developed chirped pulse amplification – a unique way to amplify ultrashort laser pulses. This breakthrough paved not only the way for safer and more precise laser eye surgery but also improved mobile phone technology and is now helping to advance quantum science. Listen to Donna in conversation with the ABC’s Tegan Taylor, as she shares the early curiosity that fuelled her love of physics, the joy of discovery and how she became a ‘laser jock’.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adam Bayes is leader in the field of mental health, working as a clinical academic psychologist at UNSW Sydney and a senior research fellow at the Black Dog Institute specialising in mood disorders including depressive and bipolar disorders.   In this podcast Adam shares his cutting-edge research and clinical experience such as using ketamine to treat severe and treatment-resistant depression, a new development with promising results.  This event was presented by the Sydney Writers' Festival and supported by UNSW Sydney.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Soaring and crashing stock prices, resigning CEOs and out of control labour practices: what is going on with Australian businesses? Award-winning labour relations lawyer and author of Working for the Brand: how corporations are destroying free speech, Josh Bornstein and award-winning senior business writer and investigative journalist Adele Ferguson join host Richard Holden to consider the state of business. Get your head around the latest scandals, analyse business-employee relations and discover the ethical challenges shaping the future of corporate Australia.  This event was presented by the Sydney Writers' Festival and supported by UNSW Sydney. Presented in partnership with the State Library of NSW.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anne Summers’s Damned Whores and God’s Police was first published 50 years ago – a time when sexual harassment, domestic violence and date rape were unnamed and often ignored experiences for women in Australia. It would be another nine years before the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984. Hear Anne as the bestselling and multi-award-winning writer and journalist – also an Officer of the Order of Australia and inductee to the Australian Media Hall of Fame – reflect on her groundbreaking book, what she has done since and what she is doing now with host Zora Simic. This event was presented by the Sydney Writers' Festival and supported by UNSW Sydney.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Economics Professor at UNSW Sydney Richard Holden (Money in the Twenty First Century) and Parliamentarian Andrew Leigh (The Shortest History of Economics) unpack economics as a global force that impacts wars, technological innovation and social change.  In our contemporary world, what are the causes and consequences of economic inequality? And can economics be used as a tool for justice for the oppressed? This event was presented by the Sydney Writers' Festival and supported by UNSW Sydney.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Miles Franklin is a literary legend now, but her story, and those of women like her, were nearly lost to the passage of time.  Kerrie Davies unwinds the mysteries of Miles Franklin’s lost years in Miles Franklin Undercover: The little-known years when she created her own brilliant career, constructing a real-life sequel to My Brilliant Career using never-before-published material. Yves Rees dives into the early days of Australia’s relationship with America through the forgotten lives of 10 Australian women, from an artist to an advisor to JFK, in Travelling to Tomorrow: The modern women who sparked Australia’s romance with America.  Hear Kerrie and Yves in conversation with journalist and co-editor of Hazzard and Harrower: The Letters, Susan Wyndham.  This event was presented by the Sydney's Writers' Festival and supported by UNSW Sydney. Presented in partnership with the State Library of New South Wales.See omnystudio.com/listener for p

The climate crisis is vast, complex and often feels both imminent and frustratingly out of our control. With global systems slow to change and the scale of the challenge immense, it’s easy to wonder if individual action could ever be enough. On World Environment Day, Climate Warriors brought together four transformative voices; renewable energy expert and former Biden administration advisor Saul Griffith, Solar Citizen CEO Heidi Lee Douglas, climate activist Grace Vegesana along with host and journalist Craig Reucassel, to unpack the power and limitations of grassroots action, climate innovation and community-driven change.  From local initiatives to systemic shifts, they unpacked what’s working, what isn’t, and where real impact is being made. While no single effort can solve the climate crisis, collective action has the potential to tip the balance. Presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas and UNSW Engineering, in association with the Right Here, Right Now

Artificial intelligence’s collision with human creativity is one of the most important stories of our time.  With the accelerating impact of AI, so much of what we understand about being human is being re-written.   Acclaimed writer Jeanette Winterson (12 Bytes: How artificial intelligence will change the way we live and love) sees AI changing our lives in unprecedented ways. Academic and researcher Toby Walsh (The Shortest History of AI) predicts the place AI will have in our futures.    Hear Jeanette and Toby bring the perspectives of an artist and a scientist together in this important contemporary conversation. With an introduction from Verity Firth.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Acclaimed Indonesian author Norman Erikson Pasaribu and award-winning Australian writer Dylin Hardcastle explore the joy, tenderness and triumphs of queer storytelling.   Norman, best known for Happy Stories, Mostly, and their latest book My Dream Job, crafts tender yet sharp narratives about identity, faith and belonging, challenging the expectations of queer life in Indonesia. While Dylin, acclaimed for A Language of Limbs, offers an Australian perspective on intimacy, loss and transformation. Together their work embraces and reclaims; highlighting how storytelling becomes an act of survival and resistance for lives too often kept in the margins.    Hear Norman and Dylin, alongside UNSW’s Christy Newman, as they explore how literature creates space for voices long silenced – and how the most powerful stories are the ones that heal.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Beneath the ocean’s surface, fibre-optic cables pulse with the entirety of our human existence – memes and messages, stock trades and state secrets. But when these fragile threads break, so too can the connections that bind us.  Hear award-winning author Colum McCann join The Daily Aus’ Sam Koslowski to explore truth, misinformation and human connection in a world driven by technology, and his latest book Twist.  Together they unpack the power of fiction to reflect societal truths, rupture, repair and resilience in an age of hyper-communication, asking: how do we navigate a world where information is abundant, but authenticity is elusive? And in an era of digital disarray, can we still mend the severed connections of our society?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Holden | Alan Kohler Australia, a land of sweeping plains, has one of the lowest population densities on the planet. So, how did we end up with a housing shortage? In conversation with economist and author Richard Holden, veteran finance journalist Alan Kohler’s new Quarterly Essay, The Great Divide: Australia’s Housing Crisis and How to Fix It, investigates where things went wrong at the start of the 21st century with escalating property prices leading to a rental crisis, a dearth of public housing and a mortgage crunch.  This event is presented by the Sydney Writers' Festival and supported by UNSW Sydney. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Machines lead the charge on today’s battlefields, but what does this mean for the people caught in the crossfire? Learn from journalist Antony Loewenstein, whose Walkley Award-winning investigation, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, uncovered the widespread commercialisation and global deployment of Israeli weaponry tested in Palestinian territories. Antony is joined by AI expert Toby Walsh, whose new book, Faking It: Artificial Intelligence in a Human World, explores how AI impersonates human intelligence.  Listen to this vital conversation with host Michael Richardson about the intersection of technology, conflict, occupation and surveillance.This event is presented by the Sydney Writers' Festival and supported by UNSW Sydney. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How did sex begin? How did it evolve to become so varied and complex in humans? And what could sex look like for future generations? Hosted by evolutionary biologist Rob Brooks, this blush-worthy panel discussion features sex historian Esmé Louise James and historian David Baker. Esmé adapted her wildly popular TikTok series into a book, Kinky History: The Stories of Our Intimate Lives, Past and Present, and David’s Sex: Two Billion Years of Procreation and Recreation charts sex’s evolution from early life to sexbots.Listen now to bone up on carnal knowledge across the centuries and find out what the future of fornication holds.  This event was presented by the Sydney Writers' Festival and supported by UNSW Sydney. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Economist John N. Friedman has made a career researching the causes of inequality and its long-term consequences for children in the US. His findings are grim. Social mobility is in sharp decline. Where you live and go to school increasingly determines your success and future. Joining fellow economist, Richard Holden, Friedman will explore how policy can harness schools, neighbourhoods, universities, and social capital to reverse this trend, and revive a fading “American Dream” of progress and social mobility. Explore what this could mean in a country like Australia. Presented as part of The Ethics Centre's Festival of Dangerous Ideas, supported by UNSW Sydney.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brigitte Gerstl | Luara Ferracioli | Mianna Lotz | Chaired by Kathryn MacKay Is the emergence of artificial wombs and womb transplants a ‘boon’ or a ‘bane’ for women? Listen now to explore the transformative possibilities for reproductive autonomy that could redefine the very essence of motherhood.  This session is presented as part of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, and supported by UNSW Sydney.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The late philosopher and scientist, Daniel Dennett talked about ‘counterfeit people’ as one of the great dangers of AI – but are we now willing to court the same dangers through our adoption of multiple identities across the metaverse. Moving from the confinement of physical reality to the landscape of the metaverse, where looks, preferences, and genders are limitless, we can each acquire many digital selves. Is a ‘virtual you’ a truer reflection of your deepest self – revealing desires and aspects that otherwise remain hidden? What is the human cost of leaving the physical world behind? Hear Lizzie O'Shea, Patrick Stokes, Emily van der Nagel and Rob Brooks discuss.  Presented as part of The Ethics Centre's Festival of Dangerous Ideas, supported by UNSW Sydney.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over 40 years ago, Deborah Lawrie broke barriers to become Australia’s first female commercial airline pilot. Her path wasn’t easy — she battled a landmark High Court case to challenge gender discrimination in employment and prevailed, all while facing blatant prejudice and unapologetic misogyny. Deborah’s determination didn’t just open cockpit doors; it helped pave the way for equal opportunity across male-dominated industries, opening economic doors for women Australia wide. Hear Deborah Lawrie in conversation with journalist Sarah Malik, on her story and how we can accelerate action for gender equality through education, allyship, and the dismantling of systemic barriers. Presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas and supported by UNSW Aviation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a timely and thought-provoking discussion, essayist and author of the recently released The World After Gaza, Pankaj Mishra reflects on the ongoing war in Gaza, examining how competing narratives of colonialism, national identity and justice collide with tragic consequences for all. In a conversation with philosopher and Executive Director of The Ethics Centre Simon Longstaff, Mishra delves into the historical, political and ethical forces shaping our world, the waning influence of the Global North and the role of journalism in actively constructing and distorting reality.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More than one in four women in Australia have experienced domestic or family violence, and one in five have experienced sexual violence. Yet, despite survivors increasingly speaking out, systemic barriers to addressing gender-based violence persist.   In a powerful and necessary conversation, internationally acclaimed lawyer Jennifer Robinson, NSW’s inaugural Women’s Safety Commissioner Hannah Tonkin and UNSW academic BJ Newton joined forces to examine how legal, institutional and cultural systems suppress the voices of women and the far-reaching impact this has on our society.   Chaired by journalist Nour Haydar, this discussion explored the growing use of legal threats and actions to silence survivors, outdated gendered views and systems, and the rise in online misogyny and abuse, and asked; how we can dismantle structures that protect perpetrators? Presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas and UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture.See omnystudio.com/listener for p