The Minefield

23

In a world marked by wicked social problems, The Minefield helps you negotiate the ethical dilemmas, contradictory claims and unacknowledged complicities of modern life.

Recent Episodes
  • Is a “digital duty of care” enough to protect young people from social media’s harms?
    Nov 21, 2024 – 0:54:23
  • How much control should corporations have over the speech of their employees?
    Nov 14, 2024 – 0:53:58
  • The return of Donald Trump — do we know what it means?
    Nov 7, 2024 – 0:54:09
  • Is the concept of “evil” worth retaining?
    Oct 31, 2024 – 0:54:10
  • Should revenge have any place in our politics?
    Oct 24, 2024 – 0:54:19
  • Can democracy survive the perfect storm of disinformation?
    Oct 17, 2024 – 0:53:22
  • What is “populism” – and what kind of problem does it pose?
    Oct 10, 2024 – 0:54:08
  • What is it that makes “negative gearing” such a divisive tax policy?
    Oct 4, 2024 – 0:53:30
  • “Truths that lie too deep for taint”: Wilfred Owen’s war poetry in our blood-soaked present
    Sep 26, 2024 – 0:53:18
  • Can modern politics avoid propaganda?
    Sep 19, 2024 – 0:53:38
  • Will Australia’s proposed cap on international students do more harm than good?
    Sep 12, 2024 – 0:54:12
  • Festival of Dangerous Ideas: Is Australia breaking?
    Sep 5, 2024 – 0:54:05
  • “Freedom!”: Why can’t US politics agree on the meaning of its most basic principle?
    Aug 29, 2024 – 0:53:57
  • Coleman Hughes, “colourblindness”, and the contentious politics of race
    Aug 22, 2024 – 0:53:24
  • “We live in a society!”: Seinfeld’s “Bizarro” comedy of morals
    Aug 15, 2024 – 0:53:48
  • “I don’t want to join any club that would have me as a member”: How funny is irony meant to be?
    Aug 8, 2024 – 0:53:21
  • “Time now for just a bit of fun”: Shaun Micallef on the importance of being silly
    Aug 1, 2024 – 0:54:01
  • “And now for something completely different”: Why do surprises provoke laughter?
    Jul 25, 2024 – 0:53:34
  • Political violence — why is it so corrosive to democratic life?
    Jul 18, 2024 – 0:53:49
  • “There’s a crack in everything”: Richard Fidler on the art of absurdity
    Jul 11, 2024 – 0:53:21
  • In a bespoke and individualistic age, are we losing a sense of “the common”?
    Jul 4, 2024 – 0:53:35
  • Beatlemania at 60: Why was the band so popular before they were even great?
    Jun 27, 2024 – 0:54:01
  • Right verdict, wrong case? The political dangers of Trump’s felony conviction
    Jun 20, 2024 – 0:53:59
  • Is the rise of the far right in Europe inevitable? It’s complicated
    Jun 13, 2024 – 0:54:30
  • Is it wrong to "rank" works of art?
    Jun 6, 2024 – 0:54:30
  • Is international law powerless in the face of conflicts like Gaza?
    May 30, 2024 – 0:53:50
  • If chatbots are polluting the commons of human communication, what are the moral consequences?
    May 23, 2024 – 0:53:45
  • What are the ethical, and legal, limits of protests at Australian universities?
    May 16, 2024 – 0:53:42
  • The decency of everyday life — are unwritten rules enough to sustain a good society?
    May 9, 2024 – 0:54:07
  • What will endure? The ethics of “Groundhog Day”
    May 2, 2024 – 0:55:15
  • After the stabbings in Sydney — Grief? Anger? Revenge?
    Apr 25, 2024 – 0:53:13
  • What’s fueling the tension between the courts and the media?
    Apr 18, 2024 – 0:53:56
  • What would the moral obligation to avoid civilian deaths look like in Gaza?
    Apr 11, 2024 – 0:53:13
  • Ramadan — the rediscovery of society
    Apr 4, 2024 – 0:53:54
  • Ramadan — the importance of friendship
    Mar 28, 2024 – 0:53:25
  • Ramadan — the discipline of solitude
    Mar 21, 2024 – 0:53:27
  • Ramadan — the necessity of withdrawing
    Mar 14, 2024 – 0:54:01
  • Q+A on “the wisdom of crowds”
    Mar 7, 2024 – 0:53:19
  • How much credence should we give to “the wisdom of crowds”?
    Feb 29, 2024 – 0:52:47
  • When is it right to call some act – or someone – “evil”?
    Feb 22, 2024 – 0:53:34
  • From Beyoncé to Taylor Swift — what’s behind the mass appeal of live music events?
    Feb 15, 2024 – 0:54:21
  • What is the harm in “deepfakes” — and what are they doing to democracy?
    Feb 8, 2024 – 0:53:31
  • How can trust be cultivated in a time of pervasive suspicion?
    Feb 1, 2024 – 0:53:48
  • What do we lose by succumbing to conspiracy-mindedness?
    Jan 25, 2024 – 0:53:28
  • In a screen saturated age, is literacy under threat?
    Jan 18, 2024 – 0:53:30
  • What do we lose when we lose the capacity for boredom?
    Jan 11, 2024 – 0:53:54
  • Goya’s “Saturn” and its moral challenge
    Jan 4, 2024 – 0:53:32
  • Politics, farce ... and Fawlty Towers
    Dec 28, 2023 – 0:53:25
  • What are playlists doing to our ability to listen to music?
    Dec 21, 2023 – 0:53:20
  • Dickens’s philosophy of generosity: Revisiting “A Christmas Carol”, 180 years on
    Dec 14, 2023 – 0:53:54
Recent Reviews
  • Mpg don't
    Worthwhile listening.
    I listen regularly but Scott Stephens tends to dominate the conversation and I want him to stop talking and let the guest and Waleed Aly speak more. He makes valid points but he takes so long to make them.
  • FeeSilke
    Insightful and unique analysis
    This is a fantastic podcast covering current hot topics from a unique and insightful way. Love RN
  • seaburns8
    Mindfield
    I wish this show was called the mindfield. Nonetheless it’s a fantastic programme. Thanks guys.
  • Alan Bajandas
    Unsubscribe
    Listen to the satisfying crack as the most insufferable, anti-empirical blowhards on the planet break their own arms pleasuring themselves. Their toothy, crypto-Christian blowholes spew moral superiority, rarefied jargon, and self-congratulation. There was never a concrete example they could not disdainfully, joyously pirouette beyond, unexamined. They are sanctimonious, generalizing, and entirely unworldly-each a self-mounted butterfly he nonetheless presents, homosocially, to the other. Too tediously intellectual to be TED speakers, but to intellectually irresponsible to be radio hosts, even, they have nonetheless bribed and blown their way into a show. Do yourself a favor. Don't listen to it.
  • TimmyTahu
    Great podcast
    This is absolutely the most engaging, thoughtful and insightful half hours of my week. In a world of anti-intellectualism and one where we are walled of from others’ predicaments, this program promotes an active look at the issues of the day. Thank you, Scott and Waleed!
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