Satyajit Das (2016) | The Bill Is Due

Satyajit Das (2016) | The Bill Is Due

Author: Festival of Dangerous Ideas May 17, 2021 Duration: 51:45

Today the human race faces existential challenges. Our prosperity has been built on unsustainable economic and environmental practices — but our social and political processes seem incapable of fixing anything. Why are we unable to even acknowledge the truth of our predicament?

Chaired by Rebecca Huntley.

Satyajit Das is a former financier. He anticipated the 2008 financial crisis and has been prescient in outlining subsequent developments. In September 2014, Bloomberg included him as one of the 50 most influential people in international finance.


For more than a decade, the Festival of Dangerous Ideas has curated a space where provocative thinking isn't just welcomed, it's the entire point. This podcast is a direct line to that stage, offering an archive of talks that deliberately unsettle comfortable opinions and interrogate the stubborn problems we often agree to ignore. Each episode captures a live conversation from Australia's original disruptive ideas festival, presenting arguments that can be exhilarating, uncomfortable, and vitally important. You’ll hear from a compelling roster of festival alumni-including leading experts, intellectual troublemakers, and visionary authors-who share perspectives that conventional discourse frequently sidelines. The discussions here aren't theoretical exercises; they grapple with the pressing and difficult issues shaping our society and culture right now. Tuning in means granting yourself access to a decade-long tradition of intellectual courage, where the core assumption is that some truths are only reached by first entertaining a dangerous idea. It’s a chance to listen as boundaries are pushed, not for shock value, but for clarity. The result is a consistently challenging and refreshing audio experience that complicates simple narratives and expands what feels possible to talk about.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Festival of Dangerous Ideas
Podcast Episodes
FODI: The In-Between | 01.5 | Light Shines | B-Side [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 4:56
Sydney-based writer Tasnim Hossain records her written take on the meandering histories of Enlightenment discussed by Joya Chatterji and Stephen Fry, and the experimental sounds of the first known recordings of the human…
FODI: The In-Between | Trailer [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08
FODI: The In-Between is an audio time capsule recording this moment in time. It asks: Are we in-between two eras? And if so, what does this mean about the past and the future? 8 conversations between 16 of the world's bi…
Elizabeth Pisani (2014) | Corruption Makes the World Go Round [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:54
When it comes to good governance, conventional wisdom has it that less corruption would translate into more economic growth, a healthier body politic and reduced likelihood of conflict. But what if this isn't always the…
A.C. Grayling (2015) | Bad Education [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:24
A.C. Grayling says "to read is to fly". The distinguished philosopher who has dedicated his life to examining knowledge believes we need a revolution in education. But many of us grapple with the question: what is educat…
Chris Berg (2015) | Nanny State [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:20
If we don't think our fellow citizens are capable of making the right choices about what they eat and drink, why do we think they are capable of voting? Since researcher Chris Berg presented this 2015 FODI talk, this que…
Erwin James (2013) | A Killer Can Be a Good Neighbour [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:21
When someone commits a crime, we want them punished. If wrongdoers go to prison more often and for longer, everyone seems happy. But we live in a system where people do eventually come out of prison and rejoin the commun…
Lionel Shriver (2016) | Break A Rule A Day [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:19
When you're on a bicycle at a red light with no car or pedestrian in sight, do you still wait for the green? Do you obey every single law? Surely fearful compliance with every niggling regulation defies the much-vaunted…