Jon Faine on whether culture or technology is the answer
Progress, it turns out, is neither inevitable nor linear, but surely we shall overcome … Overcome the trolls, populists and neo-fascists.
– Jon Faine
About this video
Please note: This video contains coarse language
Watch Jon Faine deliver his lecture Stale pale male whale yells ‘FIRE’ in crowded theatre for the 2019 Stephen Murray-Smith Lecture.
Faine – a self-professed public provocateur – explores the deeply personal and vexing question of whether humanity can nudge its way back from the brink of democratic disaster, and wonders whether culture rather than technology is the answer.
About the Stephen Murray-Smith Lecture
This annual memorial lecture commemorates the contribution to Australian intellectual life made by Stephen Murray-Smith, founding editor of Overland magazine. The lecture promotes research and debate in the broad areas of Stephen's interest and influence.
About Jon Faine
Jon Faine presents Mornings and The Conversation Hour on ABC Radio Melbourne. Known for his probing debate and willingness to ask the stickiest of questions, Jon investigates the issues and stories affecting Melbourne – all without taking life too seriously. After seven years as a lawyer, he entered radio broadcasting in 1989 to produce and present RN's Law Report, before moving on to 3LO's Mornings and Afternoons programs. Jon worked on ABC TV's Investigators, First Edition and Wise UP and has been presenting the Mornings program on ABC Radio Melbourne since 1997. In January, he announced that this would be his last year on air.