An important theme of Rupert Murdoch's 2008 Boyer Lectures is the pressing need for Australia to develop human capital. But to do this successfully our schools need serious reform, otherwise the global bar will seem set far beyond our reach. LESS

Rupert Murdoch at heart is a traditional newspaperman. But he sees the wood for the trees. In the third program of the 2008 Boyer Lectures, Mr Murdoch says, newspapers will thrive in the 21st century if proprietors fully comprehend what it means to be alive in the era of information. LESS

Rupert Murdoch asks the question, who's afraid of new technology?, in the second program of the 2008 Boyer Lectures. Technology has helped transform the world. Some say it has turned it upside down. Rupert Murdoch argues that we must not be prisoners of the past - modern day Luddites - if we are to succeed in the golden era. LESS

Hear all six Boyer Lectures on Big Ideas, starting this week. The 2008 lecture series, A Golden Age of Freedom, is presented by Mr Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive officer of News Corporation. The first lecture in the series will also be broadcast on ABC1 on 2 November 2008 at 10.15pm -- a special presentation of ABC FORA. To complememt the lectures we present, in the second half of the hour, in-depth discussions with scientists, writers, researchers, and general big thinkers, conducted by Robyn Williams. This week we meet Simon Winchester, expert on the fascinating work of China scholar Joseph Needham. LESS