Bella's Share: The Cure, by FODI

From Bella: On the weekend I attended the Ethics Centre’s ‘Festival of Dangerous Ideas’. One session was particularly inspiring. It was titled "The Cure: Five competing remedies for a sick civilisation. Everyone knows what’s wrong with the world. The harder question is what should be done about it? Five speakers take the stage with a single challenge: present the one idea they believe would most improve humanity’s future.” The recording is available to purchase and playback until 5 September 2026.

I loved that it wasn’t a panel discussion or debate, so there was no attempt to find a common thread amongst the speakers’ views or dilution that comes with that. Each speaker had 10 minutes to present their argument and each came at the topic from a different angle. Stan Grant’s address was one of the most moving and inspiring speeches I can recall hearing (ever!), so he had my vote, but they were each compelling.

For Stan Grant (an indigenous Australian, journalist and author), the problem was human beings’ tendency throughout history to fall into "us" and "them" camps. So, his solution was breaking free from this mindset. He suggested we should all become (or dedicate ourselves to protecting) "the Nobodies". Grant described encountering Nobodies while covering war zones as a journalist – people who managed to show him kindness while going through extraordinary suffering themselves..

For Jess Hill (a Walkley award-winning investigative journalist, author and educator, and one of Australia’s most recognised and respected thinkers on gendered violence) the problem was violence in our communities, which she sees as caused by child neglect / violence. Her solution was gentle parenting and, for those damaged by neglect or violence in their own childhood, to do the work of healing in order to not pass the violence on. She challenged the current approach to gendered violence, which puts the onus on the children themselves through education programs. She pointed out that a child’s nervous system is not built at school but at home, and argued that if you want people to tackle violence, you need them to have been shown gentleness.

For Singer (famed philosopher and animal rights advocate) framed the problem as one of poverty, brought about by our current brand of capitalism. He acknowledged that capitalism as a general framework is probably our best option (noting that poverty is now at an all time low in history). However, if we want to do even more good, we should develop a better kind of capitalism – one where private companies are set up to pass on all or a portion of their profits to charity.

For Scott Stephens (the ABC’s Religion and Ethics online editor and author) I wasn’t entirely clear on his characterisation of the problem, but his solution was human connection and small, personal acts of decency. To illustrate his point he referred to two dystopian works - Albert Camus’ The Plague and Blindness by Jose Saramago – both stories about plagues and how society responds to them. Stephens spoke about how the message of both stories was that the best way to live through the ordeal was through human connection and kindness.

For Hannah Diviney (a writer, disability advocate, actress, screenwriter, speaker, author and media personality) the problem was everyone’s increasing “nonchalance”. She spoke about an apathy epitomised in the surrender of opportunities for human connection to AI. She also railed against the nastiness of the online world and the echo chambers we all seem so happy to live in. Diviney spoke with concern about teachers (whose job it is to show children how to problem solve) relying on AI for their own work. Her solution was storytelling (books, theatre, film, art). She argued it is particularly important to seek out stories from people we don’t normally hear from, turning off (or ignoring) Google's AI search results, and paying artists a living wage like in Ireland.

Having heard these takes, how would you summarise the main ‘problem’ of modern society and what would you propose as a solution?   

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Remember, you don’t need to be an expert to join the conversation. Questions, reactions and different perspectives are all welcome. Comment below👇🏻