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The Big Ask

Can journalist Ian Wylie reignite our curiosity and appetite for asking questions? Can he discover the 鈥榥ext level鈥 questions that unlock bigger stories and deeper conversations?

How many questions have you asked today? How many were rhetorical, 鈥渂oomer-asking鈥, passive/aggressive or just boringly functional?

Did you know that our appetites for question-asking peak at the age of five, then steadily diminish? That kids ask an average of 40,000 questions between the ages of 2 and 5, while adults ask fewer than ten questions a day? Why are we asking fewer, meaningful questions? In an age where antisocial behaviour has become normal 鈥 where it鈥檚 entirely acceptable to spend most of the time looking down at our phones, or ranting on social media 鈥 shouldn鈥檛 we be asking what we鈥檙e losing in the process?

Can journalist Ian Wylie, who uses the five Ws daily, reignite our curiosity and appetite for asking questions? And can he discover better questions that unlock bigger stories and deeper conversations? What will he learn from professional question-askers, including barrister Melanie Simpson, detective Steve Hibbit, philosopher Lani Watson and priest Leanne Roberts? Is artificial intelligence likely to discourage us from asking deep, open-ended questions? Or could it force us to ask clearer, sharper, more precise questions?

Can Ian create his documentary entirely from questions? Or will he slip up?

A Sparklab production for 成人快手 Radio 4

Release date:

28 minutes

On radio

Sun 13 Apr 2025 19:15

Broadcast

  • Sun 13 Apr 2025 19:15

Podcast