The Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas ARCHIVE 2022

Take three top academics, some dangerous ideas, add one comedian and it’s the force of nature that is the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas (CODI). Hosted by comedian Susan Morrison, and now in its eleventh year, CODI is ninety minutes of rapid-fire research from some of the finest minds in the country.

 Has Your Phone Replaced Your Brain? What if your mind is not only ‘in’ your brain? How exactly would your mind extend across brain, body and beyond? Philosopher Dave Chalmers claims that if his iPhone were implanted in his head, it would just speed up processing; it is already part of his mind. Claims about ‘the extended mind’ have been around for a long time: for the Romans your iPhone equivalent was your slave. We are all out of our heads, argues Miranda Anderson (University of Stirling; The University of Edinburgh), and we always have been

Become a sexy refugee in 5 easy steps! Are you outraged by the double standards at the UK border and in Western media’s single-minded reporting on refugees? If so, this show is for you. If not, this show is definitely for you. Join Dr Lina Fadel (Heriot-Watt University) to challenge pernicious stereotypes and ask uncomfortable questions about our cultural conversations and research about migrants and refugees, where they come from and who is given a platform to speak about or for some of the most marginalised and silenced people in our society.

You can’t say that! Chipotle. Anemone. Soliloquy. Milngavie. Gezellig. Tzatziki. What do all these words have in common? If you’ve ever read an unfamiliar word and thought “I can’t say that!” you are not alone -- and you’re probably wrong. But are there words that are really hard to say? And if so, what makes them hard (or easy)? Why do foreign words feel so difficult and how does spelling play into the whole thing? Rebekka Puderbaugh (University of Edinburgh) will show you the limits of your speech and how you might be able to say more than you think!

CODI is curated by the University of Edinburgh as part of Beltane Public Engagement Network and produced by Fair Pley.