Discourse ZA Discourse ZA

Bronwyn Williams & Gareth van Onselen | The Small Print
In this episode, Bronwyn speaks to political analyst Gareth van Onselen. They discuss his recent essay, in which Gareth challenges the common and popular narrative that suggests declining youth registration and voting patterns in South Africa are best attributed to disillusionment rather than apathy.
Essay
Bronwyn Williams is a futurist, economist, trend analyst and host of The Small Print. Her day job as a partner at Flux Trends involves helping business leaders to use foresight to design the future they want to live and work in. You may have seen her talking about Transhumanism or Tikok on Carte Blanche, or heard her talking about trends on 702 or CNBC Africa where she is a regular expert commentator. When she's not talking to brands and businesses about the future, you will probably find her curled up somewhere with a (preferably paperback) book. She tweets at @bronwynwilliams.
Twitter
Flux Trends
Website
Gareth van Onselen is the CEO of Victory Research and the editor of Inside Politics. He studied at Wits University, obtaining a masters degree in sociology before entering the world of politics in 2001. Up until 2012, he worked for the Democratic Alliance in various different capacities, most of which involved communications and political analysis. Subsequently, he worked for the Sunday Times as a Senior Reporter and the Institute of Race Relations as Head of Politics before joining Victory Research.
Twitter
Victory Research
Inside Politics
Subscribe to our Substack.
 
Follow us on Social Media:
YouTube
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
 
Subscribe to the Discourse ZA Podcast:
iTunes
Stitcher
Spotify
RSS feed
 

Bronwyn Williams & Ray Hartley | The Small Print
In this episode, Bronwyn speaks to Research Director of the Brenthurst Foundation, Ray Hartley. They discuss South Africa’s upcoming election, the Bernthurst Foundation’s recent polling results, the likelihood of a coalition government, whether will Ramaphosa side with the centrists or the populists, the quick rise of the MK party and the possibility of them merging with the EFF, the DA’s electability problem, and more.
Bronwyn Williams is a futurist, economist, trend analyst and host of The Small Print. Her day job as a partner at Flux Trends involves helping business leaders to use foresight to design the future they want to live and work in. You may have seen her talking about Transhumanism or Tikok on Carte Blanche, or heard her talking about trends on 702 or CNBC Africa where she is a regular expert commentator. When she's not talking to brands and businesses about the future, you will probably find her curled up somewhere with a (preferably paperback) book. She tweets at @bronwynwilliams.
Twitter
Flux Trends
Website
Ray Hartley is an author and the Research Director of the Brenthurst Foundation. Ray has a postgraduate honours degree from Rhodes University where he studied African politics and journalism. Ray was an anti-apartheid activist in the United Democratic Front while serving on the executive of the National Union of South African Students. After a stint as the boxing correspondent of the then Weekly Mail, he joined Business Day and then the Sunday Times. He has edited several prominent South African newspapers and online publications, including the Sunday Times, The Times, Rand Daily Mail and BusinessLIVE.
Twitter
Book
The Brenthurst Foundation
Subscribe to our Substack.
 
Follow us on Social Media:
YouTube
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
 
Subscribe to the Discourse ZA Podcast:
iTunes
Stitcher
Spotify
RSS feed
 

TK Pooe & Koffi M. Kouakou | The TK Show
In this episode, TK speaks to Foresight and Scenario Planning Strategist Koffi M. Kouakou. They discuss Koffi’s upbringing in Côte d'Ivoire, how he became interested in scenario planning, food security in Africa, China’s success with central planning, the need for African countries to free themselves from the yoke of colonialism, the various revolutionary movements happening across Africa, the phenomenon of resource nationalism, and why Africa struggles to produce a better class of political elites.
TK Pooe (PhD) is a senior lecturer at the Witwatersrand School of Governance; his main fields of research are Public Policy themes such as Local Economic Development, Law and Development, Scenario Planning and Thinking, and Failure Analysis. Over the last ten years, he has lectured and consulted for various institutions like the North-West University’s Government Studies Programme, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Gordon Institute of Business Science (University of Pretoria) and the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute. Before joining academia, he worked in various government institutions as a Public Policy research consultant.
Twitter
LinkedIn
Koffi M. Kouakou is a Foresight and Scenario Planning Strategist and a sessional lecturer at the Tayarisha Research Group at the Wits School of Governance, Johannesburg, South Africa. He is also a senior research fellow at the Centre for Africa China Studies at the University of Johannesburg; managing director of Stratnum Futures, a scenario planning, foresight, strategy advisory firm based in Pretoria; and a director of the South Africa Node of the Millennium Programme, based in Washington, D.C. He is also an alumnus of the Oxford University Said Business School Scenarios Programme and the Global Business Network Developing and Using Scenarios (DUS).
LinkedIn
Twitter
Subscribe to our Substack.
Follow us on Social Media:
YouTube
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
 
Subscribe to the Discourse ZA Podcast:
iTunes
Stitcher
Spotify
RSS feed
 

Bronwyn Williams & Tessa Dooms | The Small Print
In this episode, Bronwyn speaks to author Tessa Dooms about her latest book, “Coloured.” They discuss how “Coloured” communities are often sidelined in South Africa as people with no clear heritage or culture, why Coloured South Africans should embrace and celebrate their identity, and how her book was received both in South Africa and abroad. They also talk about the future of South Africa’s democracy, including the issue of low voter turnout, the risk of poor voter education, why young men are drawn to populism, and how the 2024 elections could be the most consequential in recent history.
Bronwyn Williams is a futurist, economist, trend analyst and host of The Small Print. Her day job as a partner at Flux Trends involves helping business leaders to use foresight to design the future they want to live and work in. You may have seen her talking about Transhumanism or Tikok on Carte Blanche, or heard her talking about trends on 702 or CNBC Africa where she is a regular expert commentator. When she's not talking to brands and businesses about the future, you will probably find her curled up somewhere with a (preferably paperback) book. She tweets at @bronwynwilliams.
Twitter
Flux Trends
Website
Tessa Dooms is a Director at the Rivonia Circle. She is a sociologist, political analyst, and development practitioner with 15 years’ experience. She holds a Master of Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand. Tessa is a trustee of the Kagiso Trust.
Book
Twitter
Rivonia Circle
Subscribe to our Substack.
 
Follow us on Social Media:
YouTube
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
 
Subscribe to the Discourse ZA Podcast:
iTunes
Stitcher
Spotify
RSS feed
 

Bronwyn Williams & Adriana Marais | The Small Print
In this episode, Bronwyn speaks to theoretical physicist Dr. Adriana Marais. They discuss her plans to launch Africa's inaugural mission to the moon, how exploring uncharted territories breeds new ways of thinking and technological innovation, the phenomenon of resource extraction in space, the idea of colonizing Mars, and how space exploration can provide us with a sense of wonder and much-needed perspective.
Bronwyn Williams is a futurist, economist, trend analyst and host of The Small Print. Her day job as a partner at Flux Trends involves helping business leaders to use foresight to design the future they want to live and work in. You may have seen her talking about Transhumanism or Tikok on Carte Blanche, or heard her talking about trends on 702 or CNBC Africa where she is a regular expert commentator. When she's not talking to brands and businesses about the future, you will probably find her curled up somewhere with a (preferably paperback) book. She tweets at @bronwynwilliams.
Twitter
Flux Trends
Website
Dr. Adriana Marais has a background in theoretical physics, with her Ph.D. and postdoctoral research focusing on quantum effects in biology and the origins of the building blocks of life in space. Currently, Adriana is a researcher at the University of Stellenbosch and the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences. She is also a faculty member at Singularity University. Additionally, Adriana serves as a director at the Foundation for Space Development Africa, where she is actively involved in preparing Africa's inaugural mission to the Moon—the Africa2Moon Project.
Website
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
Subscribe to our Substack.
Follow us on Social Media:
YouTube
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
 
Subscribe to the Discourse ZA Podcast:
iTunes
Stitcher
Spotify
RSS feed
 

Bronwyn Williams & Josh Gellers | The Small Print
In this episode, Bronwyn speaks to Professor Josh Gellers about everything that is wrong with AI ethics discourse. Why are so many ethicists against AI? And why are they so thin-skinned? They discuss the need to embrace complexity in ethics, how bad incentives are hurting academia, the problem of paying too much attention to the loudest voices within a certain field, the importance of challenging dominant narratives, and more.
Bronwyn Williams is a futurist, economist, trend analyst and host of The Small Print. Her day job as a partner at Flux Trends involves helping business leaders to use foresight to design the future they want to live and work in. You may have seen her talking about Transhumanism or Tikok on Carte Blanche, or heard her talking about trends on 702 or CNBC Africa where she is a regular expert commentator. When she's not talking to brands and businesses about the future, you will probably find her curled up somewhere with a (preferably paperback) book. She tweets at @bronwynwilliams.
Twitter
Flux Trends
Website
Josh Gellers is an Associate Professor and Director of the MA in International Affairs program in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of North Florida, Research Fellow of the Earth System Governance Project, Expert with the Global AI Ethics Institute, and former Fulbright Scholar to Sri Lanka. His research, which focuses on environmental governance, rights, and technology, has been published in many peer-reviewed journals and cited in high-level reports.
Website
Twitter
LinkedIn
Book: Rights for Robots 
Notable papers:
AI ethics discourse: a call to embrace complexity, interdisciplinarity, and epistemic humility
Open Letter, Closed Minds: Explaining the Response of AI Ethicists to the Call for a ‘Giant Pause’
Subscribe to our Substack.
Follow us on Social Media:
YouTube
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
 
Subscribe to the Discourse ZA Podcast:
iTunes
Stitcher
Spotify
RSS feed