Judging by it’s title you’d be forgiven for thinking this was an East London hipster circle-jerk event. It is however, taking place at the Sydney Opera House, and on closer inspection is pretty damn amazing.
The Festival Of Dangerous Ideas is in it’s third year, running during 2012 from the 28th of September to the 30th. Starting on the Friday night with the opening talk form Sam Harris the lectures and panel talks work because they’re backed with some of the most interesting characters who strike that magic balance of ranting whilst making valid intellectual arguments, possibly even allowing us a few more first-world problems to worry about. If nothing else, it’ll be an education in how to communicate your most unpopular ideas.
Topics range from the comically on point Bono & Bob: Get Out Of Africa and My Workplace Is A Cult to the more serious Anzac Day: Best We Forget (and before you get outraged you should know Peter Fitzsimmons is co-hosting this one) and the proper intellectual balance with Jason Silva’s We Are The Gods Now (tip!) or The Delusion Of Free Will. Every one of the 30 talks seems as if it would be a pleasure to sit through, but at around $30 a ticket you’re unlikely to see more than a few clustered together.
We could go on for days about our fan-boy love for some of the speakers, but instead you can check out the full schedule yourself here: http://fodi.sydneyoperahouse.com/
A few of the top sounding ones are sold out already, though surprisingly still available are tickets for the hour hosted by Germaine Greer, of (in our opinion and forever) Oz magazine fame. It’s her third consecutive appearance at the festival and while she may be getting slammed as being a little off-point of late, at least you’re guaranteed some entertainment.
Big ups to the organisers for getting something like this off the ground, can’t wait to see how it turns out. There’s a full PDF schedule here: Check below for some speakers videos for a preview of what’s to come.