Questions:
Do you hate America? We live in an era of rational scientific inquiry and The Enlightenment, so why then has religion failed to disappear? Can a movie literally change the world? What does music mean? Is recycling a waste of precious time? Is it desirable to modify and change human behaviour for the sake of the environment? Is it ethical to have babies? Can particle physics be sexy?

Answers:
I haven't really got a clue - but those culturally astute people from the Institute of Ideas in London will endeavour to get to the bottom of some of these grand questions and themes in their forthcoming festival entitled The Battle of Ideas.

The Battle of Ideas is a two day festival which promises to assemble some of the worlds most emanate professors, academics, cultural experts and journalists to initiate open-ended discussion on some of the hottest ethical and political issues of our times. The author of Culture of Fear: Risk Taking and the Morality of Low Expectation, the controversial British sociologist Frank Furedi, and broadcaster and journalist David Aaronovitch are just two of many speakers in attendance. Apparently, even Patrick Cox, the designer of the infamous 2012 London Olympic Games logo is due talk at the festival in one of the many sessions.

Last years event was a total sell-out, with 750 tickets sold, so if you fancy yourself as a budding intellectual, or would just like to come along, sit back and listen to some highly stimulating debates, or ask probing questions, then the Battle of Ideas 2007, which is hosted at the prestigious Royal College of Art, is certainly for you.