2011 - Planning for Uncertainty

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    The Evolution of Stories
    (Radio Adelaide, 2011) Boyd, Brian ; Adelaide Festival Corporation
    Adelaide Festival of Ideas session, Hetzel Lecture Theatre, 2:30pm, Saturday 8th October, 2011. Chaired by Robert Phiddian, poetry read by Erica Jolly. Art and literature are, by definition, artificial things. People lavish a lot more effort and attention on them than really makes sense in practical terms. Are they just extras, mere entertainment designed to fill a bit of time? Or are they adaptations that, through play, help the human mind develop power and complexity, even wisdom? How do stories play a role in human evolution?
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    Immortality... Reality?
    (Radio Adelaide, 2011) Savulescu, Julian ; Wood, Fiona ; Partridge, Brad ; Willis, Paul ; Adelaide Festival Corporation
    Adelaide Festival of Ideas session, Adelaide Town Hall, 1:30pm, Saturday 8th October, 2011. Chaired by Paul Willis. Cambridge researcher Aubrey de Grey believes the first human to live to 150 has already been born, and the first human to live to 1000 will probably be born within 20 years. Is it really possible to live to 1000? But more importantly - would you want to? Human cells can divide a limited number of times before their DNA becomes corrupt, but could advances in genetic technology allow cells to divide infinitely? Hosted by Paul Willis, RiAus Director & ABC Catalyst presenter, our expert panel will discuss the implications for our bodies, minds and society. Would you want to be immortal?
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    Kicking the Infrastructure Habit
    (Radio Adelaide, 2011) Gardner-Stephen, Paul Mark ; Mackie, Greg ; Adelaide Festival Corporation
    Adelaide Festival of Ideas session, Elder Hall, 1:15pm, Saturday 8th October, 2011. This is the Jim Bettison Memorial Oration, chaired by Greg Mackie.. Modern communications systems use extensive and expensive infrastructure to deliver services we could only dream of a few decades ago. This works for those who enjoy peace and sufficient wealth, but fails to reach the last billion people in poorer countries, as well as those in remote, emergency or disaster situations. Now modern mobile phones have the potential to communicate directly, to form networks without reliance on any infrastructure. The Serval Project based at Flinders University is turning this dream into a reality. It is working to make communications available to everyone, anywhere, any time - especially to those who need it most.
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    Inaction Will Cost Us Our Future
    (Radio Adelaide, 2011) McKenzie, Amanda ; Adelaide Festival Corporation
    Adelaide Festival of Ideas session, Old Methodist Meeting Hall, 1:00pm, Saturday 8th October, 2011. Chaired by Barbara Hardy. In a recent survey 7 out of 10 members of Generation Y believe older Australians are shifting responsibility for action on climate change into the future. Ninety per cent believe they will have to pay a high price to address climate change. So often, young Australians have heard themselves labeled the ‘Me Generation’. But the irony of that tag is now nowhere more obvious than through the self-interest on display from older generations of decision-makers on climate change. The real question from young Australians is: why not act? We take sensible precautions to protect life and property from the possibility of fire, so why would we not take sensible precautions on pollution and climate change?
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    Drift into Failure
    (Radio Adelaide, 2011) Dekker, Sidney ; Adelaide Festival Corporation
    Adelaide Festival of Ideas session, Hetzel Lecture Theatre, 1:00pm, Saturday 8th October, 2011. Our technologies have got ahead of our theories. The growth of complexity in society has outpaced our understanding of how complex systems work and fail. While pursuing success in a dynamic environment, with goal conflicts and limited resources, many small decisions can eventually produce massive breakdowns — the GFC, Montara. We drifted into failure. Yet afterwards we hunt for broken parts, fixable properties, and responsible people. Our analyses of complex system breakdowns remain depressingly linear, depressingly componential — imprisoned by Newton and Descartes. Sidney Dekker thinks we can use complexity theory to better understand how our systems fail, and perhaps find new ways of managing their drift.
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    Hypocrisy Rhymes with Democracy
    (Radio Adelaide, 2011) Eltahawy, Mona ; Adelaide Festival Corporation
    Adelaide Festival of Ideas session, Bonython Hall, 1:00pm, Saturday 8th October, 2011. Chaired by Andrew Jaspan. The Arab Spring has unleashed the hunger for freedom and democracy of Arab populations living under dictatorship. As Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen come to terms with their post-dictator future, and serious western intervention in Libya creates a stalemate, in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia profoundly un-democratic and repressive regimes endure with western connivance, and brutal repression in Syria is met to date with tokenistic sanctions. If Saudi Arabia’s oil makes our support for freedom and democracy melt away, does this mean the West can’t afford to prefer Arab democrats to Arab dictators?