Asked by:How can we foster a culture of respectful, critical, fruitful conversation on important social issues where we feel strongly and disagree?
Public discourse on politically contested matters—like climate change, refugees, distribution of resources, etc.—seems to be at a low ebb. We need to find ways to address these issues constructively if we are to have any hope of meeting the challenges of the coming years. But how can we be a part of the solution and not just a part of the problem?
Asked by:In your opinion what is the difference between muffins and cupcakes?
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the scariest monster of them all?
Asked by:How much of what we define as mental illness is actually a difficult personality?
There are varying degrees of mental illness – some are profoundly affected where others are not. In the lesser cases, some of these people display signs of a difficult personality or difficult behaviour, but use the label of mental illness. How do we define which is which, and navigate the tricky terrain where their behaviour affects families, workplaces and relationships?
How far are we from a borderless, visa-less world?
I’m a traveller, and as an Indian, I find travelling beyond India quite challenging due to Visa restrictions. This is a symptom of a larger problem. Till the time there are boundaries, there are going to be conflicts. The direction of history has been towards unification, we have far less independent political sovereignities today in the world than ever in history, but world unification still seems elusive. Is it going to happen anytime soon?
Asked by:What lies in the future of Australia if we do not want to rely on mining, overseas students and toursim?
Asked by:Is democracy in danger of becoming irrelevant?
People are increasingly concerned that it does not matter who you vote for, it often does not change anything. There is a crisis of satisfactory leadership throughout the world, where vested interests control things behind the scenes rather than governments, eg. Wolfgang Scheuble: ‘Elections change nothing.’
When further growth becomes impossible on our planet, what will replace growth as the great economic driver?
The huge increase in standard of living for two centuries has been driven, and is measured by, economic growth. To continue to progress without destroying the planet we need a replacement or significant morphing of growth.
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