Frances Haugen, Steven Pinker and Jacquie Lambie headline 2022 Festival of Dangerous Ideas

Critical thinking has become dangerous in an increasingly censorious cultural landscape, says the director of the provocative Festival of Dangerous Ideas.

Festival of Dangerous Ideas director Danielle Harvey, centre, with Legs On The Wall’s Tipping Point show’s Jana Castillo, left, and Isabel Estrella. Picture: Jane Dempster

Critical thinking has become dangerous in an increasingly censorious cultural landscape, says the director of the provocative Festival of Dangerous Ideas.

Danielle Harvey said the festival aimed to defend the “ever shrinking sweet spot” of the ­middle ground in an increasingly polarised world by exposing audiences to ideas with which they might not necessarily agree.

“In today’s world, critical thought can often prove very dangerous whether that’s due to a sense of persecution, issues of censorship, algorithmic siloing or just the sheer difficulty of speaking out,” Ms Harvey said.

Headlining the festival is Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who leaked thousands of internal documents and earlier in the year gave testimony against the social media giant at a parliamentary inquiry.

Psychologist Steven Pinker will defend the ideals of the enlightenment at a memorial talk for late intellectual Christopher Hitchens, and British journalist Adam Tooze will unpack why the world seems on the brink of collapse.

US historian Ruth Ben Ghiat will speak on the rise of the strongman while American tech writer Kevin Roose will talk on the encroachment of technology on our lives.

The thread connecting these speakers is the concept of consumption: what people consume and what consumes people.

Ms Harvey said the festival tried to capture ideas that were about to enter the public discourse as well as the “perennial wicked problems” that people didn’t speak about.

“I think FODI has always been very good at sitting on the gossamer line and thinking about what’s not happening right now but what’s just around the corner,” she said.

Independent senator Jacquie Lambie will give her candid opinion on the state of Australian politics, activist Sisonke Msimang will dissect white privilege and performance artist Alok Vaid-Menon will unpack shame and gender.

British historian Joanna Bourke will chart the history of humans having sex with animals.

Ms Harvey said Professor Bourke did not shy away from ­examining the spikier aspects of humanity, including war, pain, rape or sex with animals.

“She looks at this sort of enduring aspect that has been in society where loving animals crosses over and what does that mean and how do we think about those people?” Ms Harvey said. “Why do people cross that line and what’s going on?

“These are those really sharp and hard things to talk about but they exist in society.”

Author Claire Coleman will speak on the colonial narrative while ABC presenters Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens will discuss the impact of contempt on democracy in a live segment of the Radio National program The Minefield.

Ms Harvey said the festival presented an opportunity to confront ideas not chosen by algorithms or by media under increasing pressure over what they could present.