Festival of Dangerous Ideas

The festival of innovative, provocative and in some cases straight-up crazy ideas returns

First published on 22 Dec 2010. Updated on 1 Oct 2012.

This event has finished

The 2012 Festival of Dangerous Ideas programme has just been announced and it looks like the Sydney Opera House will be causing a stir once again when some of the world's most controversial thinkers come together for a festival of innovative, provocative and in some cases straight-up crazy ideas.

To open the festival, neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris will be shaking up your ideas on social and political freedom during The Delusion of Free Will.

Other highlights are sure to include controversial Isreali-born author and academic Illan Pappe speaking during Israel is an Apartheid State; Julian Porteous, priest for the Archdiocese of Sydney, speaking in The Devil is Real; and CNN live event China Love America, which will feature James Fallows, Geoffrey Garrett, Eric Knight and Jianying Zha discussing the changing relationship between the two global powerhouses.

Interesting futurist debates come courtesy of philosopher Mathew Liao, who is proposing we Engineer Humans to Stop Climate Change; Jason Silva, who will speak on technological advances giving people god-like power in We Are the Gods Now; and author and economist Chris Leithner, who will propose a new economic model to give the market even more freedom during Let the Banks Fail.

The programme gets hot and weird with psychology professor Jesse Berring's take on sexual 'norms' in We are all Sexual Perverts, and experimental social psychologist Simon Laham's exploration of The Joy of Sin.

And also on the bill are feather-ruffling ladies including icon of feminism Germaine Greer, award winning investigative journalist Eliza Griswold, and comedy writer Jane Bussmann.

And that's just the beginning... For the full line-up visit the Festival of Dangerous Ideas website.

Multipack tickets will go on sale on Fri Jul 27, and single events will go on sale on Mon Jul 30.