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Ideas is all about ideas and programs that explore everything from culture and the arts to science and technology to social issues.
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Download episodes from this podcast for: 3 months
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Enemies and Angels
Warning: Profanity | An Iraqi soldier crawls off to die in a bunker. But he’s saved by an Iranian medic. Nearly 20 years later, and halfway around the world, they meet again in a breathtaking coincidence for another life-saving encounter. *This episode originally aired on December 23, 2014.
Download Enemies and Angels
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Ghosts of Afghanistan
Former Globe and Mail war correspondent Graeme Smith travels deep inside Taliban territory to catch a glimpse of their growing control over the country and uncovers what went wrong with the 'forever war' in his TVO documentary, Ghosts of Afghanistan.
Download Ghosts of Afghanistan
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Entre Chien et Loup: How Dogs Began
Scientists agree that dogs evolved from wolves and were the first domesticated animals. But exactly how that happened is hotly contested. IDEAS contributor Neil Sandell examines the theories and the evolution of the relationship between dogs and humans. *This episode originally aired on March 1, 2021.
Download Entre Chien et Loup: How Dogs Began
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B is for Bias
It’s easy to admit to having biases, but much harder to pin down what they are. Inspired by a recent and significant update to the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of ‘bias,’ documentary producer Tom Howell embarks on a quest to draw up a complete list of personal biases, with the aim of assessing which ones to combat, and which to indulge.
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Body Language: Face to Face in an Uncertain World
Philosopher Emmanuel Levinas believed the face-to-face encounter was the beginning of our ethical obligation to each other. In the first episode of our series Body Language, IDEAS considers the changing meaning of the face during COVID and imagines new ethical relationships for an uncertain time.
Download Body Language: Face to Face in an Uncertain World
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The Coming Zombie Apocalypse
Zombies are shuffling, moaning metaphors for all our apocalyptic fears. In this 2015 documentary, journalists Garth Mullins and Lisa Hale revisit pop culture's zombie obsession, and why it's so easy to imagine a future full of catastrophe and monsters.
Download The Coming Zombie Apocalypse
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Visions of the Apocalypse
If 2021 makes you feel like the end is near, you’re not alone. But it might help to know that history shows people have always felt the end is near. This archive episode from 1998 looks at the longevity of apocalyptic thinking.
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A Story of Joy: Jesse Wente
Writer and broadcaster Jesse Wente says that it's important to frame stories about Indigenous people in joy, even if those stories also contain other, darker emotions. In his November 2020 lecture called The Story of Joy: Reducing the Harm So We Can Heal he looks at the state of reconciliation in Canada today, and the role that joy can play in moving forward. *This episode originally aired on January 5, 2021.
Download A Story of Joy: Jesse Wente
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2020 Massey Lectures: Reset Revisited
In his 2020 CBC Massey Lectures, Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society, Ron Deibert surveyed the traps and dark corners of the internet and social media. Now, Ron looks back at the questions he raised, in the company of the team of people who were commentators in the original series — and answers listener questions sent in.*This episode originally aired on May 28, 2021.
Download 2020 Massey Lectures: Reset Revisited
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CBC Massey Lecture #6: Retreat, Reform, Restraint
In his 2020 CBC Massey Lectures, Citizen Lab founder and director Ron Deibert wants to get us thinking about how best to mitigate the harms of social media, and in doing so, construct a viable communications ecosystem that supports civil society and contributes to the betterment of the human condition (instead of the opposite). *This episode originally aired on November 16, 2020.
Download CBC Massey Lecture #6: Retreat, Reform, Restraint
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CBC Massey Lecture # 5: Burning Data
What we don’t see — because it is so carefully hidden from the public eye — is the ecological impact of our social media usage and the wasteful consumption loop we’re trapped in, as we’re pushed to constantly upgrade our devices and turn simple electronics and appliances into “smart” machines. *This episode originally aired on November 13, 2020.
Download CBC Massey Lecture # 5: Burning Data
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CBC Massey Lecture # 4: A Great Leap Forward...For The Abuse Of Power
The initial vision of the internet was that it would empower individuals and expose the wrongdoings of state and corporate interests. But now the same technologies that had been used for public uprisings against oppressive governments are now being used by those governments against political demonstrators, whistleblowers and dissidents. *This episode originally aired on November 12, 2020.
Download CBC Massey Lecture # 4: A Great Leap Forward...For The Abuse Of Power
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CBC Massey Lecture # 3: Toxic Addiction Machines
Everyone loves to hate social media, but there's a real reason it seems impossible to quit. And you might not like it. In the third instalment of the Massey Lectures, Ron Deibert exposes how social media platforms are engineered to be "addiction machines." *This episode originally aired on November 11, 2020.
Download CBC Massey Lecture # 3: Toxic Addiction Machines
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CBC Massey Lecture # 2: The Market for Our Minds
The ads that personalize our internet browsing are obvious examples of how "attention merchants" vie for our data, but the more insidious actors are the ones we don't see. In his second CBC Massey Lecture, Ron Deibert explores "the economic engine that underlies social media: the personal data surveillance economy" and what is called "surveillance capitalism." *This episode originally aired on November 10, 2020.
Download CBC Massey Lecture # 2: The Market for Our Minds
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CBC Massey Lecture # 1: Look At That Device In Your Hand
There's a problem with that device in your hand — your phone that makes you anxious when it's not near. Renowned tech expert Ron Deibert says that needs to change. The 2020 Massey Lecturer suggests we need a 'reset' and in his first lecture, Deibert sketches out the layered problem — and how he sees a way forward. *This episode originally aired on November 9, 2020.
Download CBC Massey Lecture # 1: Look At That Device In Your Hand
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Rembrandt in Amsterdam, Part Two
His early art work in the Dutch city of Leiden wasn't all that great, but soon after Rembrandt arrived in Amsterdam in 1631, he had become the most highly sought-after artist around. Rembrandt's art makes us rethink what it means to be an artist, and a consumer of art. His art looks back at us and demands: who do you think you are, looking at this? *This episode originally aired on February 10, 2021.
Download Rembrandt in Amsterdam, Part Two
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Rembrandt in Amsterdam, Part One
His early art work in the Dutch city of Leiden wasn't all that great, but soon after Rembrandt arrived in Amsterdam in 1631, he had become the most highly sought-after artist around. Rembrandt's art makes us rethink what it means to be an artist, and a consumer of art. His art looks back at us and demands: who do you think you are, looking at this? *This episode originally aired on February 3, 2021.
Download Rembrandt in Amsterdam, Part One
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The Bionic Society
Think you're Wonder Woman? Being addicted to your device can make you a little bit bionic. *This episode originally aired on January 13, 2021.
Download The Bionic Society
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The Identity of Me, The Community of Us
In this time of upheaval, what does the future look like? When we think about marginalized groups in society, and issues of gender, race, and poverty — how do we work toward making a better world? Rinaldo Walcott, Monia Mazigh and Micheal Vonn explores these questions in conversation with Nahlah Ayed. *This episode was published on September 15, 2020.
Download The Identity of Me, The Community of Us
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The Shakespeare Conspiracy
The internet is awash in conspiracy theories. In this lecture, Simon Fraser University professor Paul Budra examines conspiracy theories as an art form, using the long-running conspiracy theories over Shakespeare as a test case.*This episode originally aired on March 31, 2020.
Download The Shakespeare Conspiracy
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Myths on Screen: Hollywood at War, Part 3
Warning: Explicit Content | As the Twin Towers lay in rubble after Sept. 11, former U.S. president George W. Bush's administration leveraged the influence of Hollywood celebrities to sway the public to rally around the flag. *This episode originally aired on May 25, 2020.
Download Myths on Screen: Hollywood at War, Part 3
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Myths on Screen: Hollywood at War, Part 2
Warning: Explicit Content | America's losing the Vietnam War shattered the 'heroic myth' that Hollywood had spent decades creating, according to historians and researchers. What followed was an era of films attempting to recapture past glories. *This episode originally aired on May 18, 2020.
Download Myths on Screen: Hollywood at War, Part 2
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Myths on Screen: Hollywood at War, Part 1
The U.S. military had some little-known help in spinning public perception about it over the last seventy years: Hollywood. This series shows how movies functioned as the unofficial — but massively influential — propaganda arm of America's war efforts. *This episode originally aired on May 11, 2020.
Download Myths on Screen: Hollywood at War, Part 1
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Common Good | Declaration for the Independence of the Mind
In 1919, Romain Rolland wrote the Declaration of the Independence of the Mind as a call to intellectuals to rise above division, censorship and nationalism of their day. Nahlah Ayed speaks to Canadian and international thinkers to consider the role of the intellectual today, and to rewrite the declaration for our own post-truth moment. *This episode originally aired on April 16, 2021 and is part of our series, The Common Good.
Download Common Good | Declaration for the Independence of the Mind
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Common Good | The World Turned Upside Down, Part Two
Perhaps no question is more important than this one: what is the common good? What can we agree on that benefits us all? IDEAS looks to the English Civil Wars from the 17th century when great questions of the common good were rediscovered, argued, and fought over changing England — and the world — forever. *This episode originally aired on April 13, 2021, and is part of our series, The Common Good.
Download Common Good | The World Turned Upside Down, Part Two
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Common Good | What If This Gets Bigger?
The rules for behaving well in a society arguably depend on the size of that society. The structures, institutions and even the logic behind human co-operation change along the axes of space, population, and time. From camping trips to climate change conferences, IDEAS examines why scale matters so much to conversations about the common good. *This episode originally aired on April 9, 2021 and is part of our series, The Common Good.
Download Common Good | What If This Gets Bigger?
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Common Good | Why Don’t We Live Together?
Many people are priced out of the urban housing market. Others are disenchanted with the four walls of the single family home. From a San Francisco commune network to co-living communities in Berlin, advocates argue the benefits of sharing domestic space. *This episode originally aired on April 8, 2021 and is part of our series, The Common Good.
Download Common Good | Why Don’t We Live Together?
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Common Good | The Value of Old Age
IDEAS producer Mary Lynk explores what is the purpose of a long life? Traditional cultures often place older people at the top of social hierarchy, but in modern Western societies there's been a profound loss of meaning and vital social roles for older adults. What happened? And what role can we reimagine for older people now? *This episode originally aired on April 7, 2021 and is part of our series, The Common Good.
Download Common Good | The Value of Old Age
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What is Common? And What is Good?
The Haitian Revolution of 1791 gave birth to ideas about Black liberation and the common good that went on to inform freedom struggles throughout the Black Atlantic. IDEAS traces that lineage and how it connects to today's Black Lives Matter movement. *This episode aired on April 6, 2021, and is part of our series, The Common Good.
Download What is Common? And What is Good?
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Common Good | The World Turned Upside Down, Part One
Perhaps no question is more important than this one: what is the common good? What can we agree on that benefits us all? IDEAS looks to the English Civil Wars from the 17th century when great questions of the common good were rediscovered, argued, and fought over changing England — and the world — forever. *This episode is part of our series, The Common Good.
Download Common Good | The World Turned Upside Down, Part One
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Common Good | Commanding Hope: Thomas Homer-Dixon
Climate activist Greta Thunberg once declared that she doesn’t want hope, unless it translates into action. Political scientist Thomas Homer-Dixon shares his ideas on how hope can galvanize concrete change. *This episode is part of our series, Common Good. This episode originally aired on November 26, 2020.
Download Common Good | Commanding Hope: Thomas Homer-Dixon
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Separated at Rebirth: Science and Religion
With the rise of mindfulness and the growth of brain research, Buddhism and science have become fast friends. Philosopher Evan Thompson is skeptical about the contemporary characterization of Buddhism. His latest book, Why I Am Not a Buddhist, offers both a critique of Buddhist exceptionalism, and a way forward for our globalized and diverse culture. This episode originally aired on October 2, 2021.
Download Separated at Rebirth: Science and Religion
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In Defence of Domestic Workers: Adelle Blackett
Professor Adelle Blackett is the chief legal architect behind the International Labour Organization's first comprehensive standards offering protections and rights to more than 60 million domestic workers. In her public lecture to Cornell University, the Canada Research Chair in Transnational Law at McGill University addresses why we urgently need to bring equality to the household workplace. This episode originally aired on February 1, 2021.
Download In Defence of Domestic Workers: Adelle Blackett
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The 99% Invisible City: Roman Mars
For the last decade, Roman Mars has been exploring the hidden stories behind architecture and design in his podcast 99% Invisible. He speaks with Nahlah Ayed about how learning to read the secret language of cities reveals reasons for delight all around us, why he sees cities as ‘evolving organisms,’ and how war and disease shape the built environment. This episode originally aired on February 9, 2021.
Download The 99% Invisible City: Roman Mars
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BBC Reith Lectures: Mark Carney, Part Three
In our final episode of Mark Carney’s 2020 BBC Reith Lectures, the economist and former governor of the Banks of England and Canada, focuses on how the ultimate test of a more fair economy will be how it addresses the growing climate crisis. This episode originally aired on February 24, 2021.
Download BBC Reith Lectures: Mark Carney, Part Three
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BBC Reith Lectures: Mark Carney, Part Two
2020 BBC Reith Lecturer Mark Carney continues his lecture series entitled, ‘How We Get What We Value.’ In this episode, the former bank governor focuses on the 2008 financial crisis and the ongoing impact of the pandemic. This episode originally aired on February 23, 2021.
Download BBC Reith Lectures: Mark Carney, Part Two
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BBC Reith Lectures: Mark Carney, Part One
Mark Carney is the 2020 Reith Lecturer, the BBC’s flagship lecture series. In his lectures entitled, 'How We Get What We Value,' he argues the worlds of finance, economics, and politics have too often prioritized financial values, over human ones. The future depends on reversing that shift. In lecture one, he addresses the changing nature of value — and how we've come to equate 'value' to what is profitable. This episode originally aired on February 22, 2021.
Download BBC Reith Lectures: Mark Carney, Part One
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The Rising Star of Judith Shklar, the skeptical liberal
Why it matters to say ‘cruelty is the worst thing that we do’ according to fans of Judith Shklar, political philosopher. This episode originally aired on January 14, 2021
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Notes From Utopia: The Arab Spring 10 years on
Ten years ago, the Middle East was in convulsions as protesters attempted revolution in several countries. Looking back, what can we learn from those experiments in human collaboration? This episode aired on January 26, 2021.
Download Notes From Utopia: The Arab Spring 10 years on
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The Buffalo, Part Three
The Buffalo — a three-part series that originally aired in 1992 — tells the story of a magnificent animal, and of the people who lived with the buffalo. It's also the story of survivors, of the Indigenous people who continue to revere the buffalo and who fight to save the one remaining herd, now threatened with extermination. The series is narrated by novelist, Thomas King. This episode aired on October 7, 2020.
Download The Buffalo, Part Three
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The Buffalo, Part Two
In the foothills of the Rockies, you'll find a cliff rising 11 metres from the ground called Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, in Alberta. For more than 5,000 years, Indigenous peoples of the plains used this site to kill buffalo. It's a place deeply connected to Indigenous history and practice. Novelist Thomas King, narrates this second in a three-part series on the Buffalo, originally broadcast in 1992. This episode aired on September 30, 2020.
Download The Buffalo, Part Two
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The Buffalo, Part One
In the mid-1870s, buffalo roamed across North America in the millions. A few short decades later, there were only 300 left. Using both science and storytelling, this series tells the story of the buffalo and its relationship to the Indigenous people who revere it. (This series originally aired in 1992 and is narrated by novelist, Thomas King.) This episode aired on September 23, 2020.
Download The Buffalo, Part One
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Cowboy's Lament, Part Two
Since the early 1900s cowboy fiction and films have played a major role in shaping popular notions of the American West. In this second of our two-part series The Cowboy's Lament, IDEAS contributor Tom Jokinen examines how the ethos of the American West is captured in film, both advancing — and complicating — the myth of the Old West.
Download Cowboy's Lament, Part Two
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Cowboy's Lament, Part One
The potent Images of the cowboy and the six shooter have shaped the myth of the American West: pioneer freedom and frontier towns. In this first episode of a two-part series, IDEAS contributor Tom Jokinen explores the myth of the West, and how the values of individual freedom and boundless conquest continue to feed America's political ideology through to today. This episode originally aired on October 15, 2020.
Download Cowboy's Lament, Part One
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Common Good | The Politics of Belonging
Left-wing and right-wing governments around the world have fallen into the same trap, a failure of leadership to inspire a cohesive vision of society that ordinary citizens can share. What is to be done? Author George Monbiot joins Nahlah Ayed to point toward a new way of conceptualizing the common good, and forging a politics of belonging. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 11, 2020 and is part of our series, Common Good.
Download Common Good | The Politics of Belonging
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Common Good | The Good Ancestor
In calling on us to be good ancestors, public philosopher Roman Krznaric is trying to give the discussion about the future a language, an address and a face: introducing us to all the people already working to formalize the practice of thinking long-term for the common good, benefiting both present and future generations.*This episode originally aired on Sept. 7, 2020 and is part of our series, The Common Good.
Download Common Good | The Good Ancestor
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Roxane Gay: A Fierce and Vital Voice
Warning: Content includes rape and profanity | Roxane Gay likes to joke that even her opinions have opinions — which comes in handy for her column in The New York Times. The Haitian-American writer is fond of dark explorations, but her work can also be funny and erotic. IDEAS Producer Mary Lynk speaks with the formidable Ms. Gay about racism, surviving rape and what she calls the 'fetishizing of forgiveness.' *This episode originally aired on November 17, 2020.
Download Roxane Gay: A Fierce and Vital Voice
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Generation Botox
*Warning: Profanity | When a woman opts to get plastic surgery, she enters complex and fraught territory. Some claim it's self-exploitation but an increasing number of younger women view plastic surgery as empowering. IDEAS contributor Maggie Reid examines the fault lines that define what she calls Botox Nation. *This episode originally aired on November 30, 2020.
Download Generation Botox
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The Complexity of Cuteness
The charms of cuteness seem obvious. Yet, from the Japanese fear of adulting to universal attractions of indeterminacy, the new field of Cute Studies reveals layers beneath a fluffy surface.*This episode originally aired on November 23, 2020.
Download The Complexity of Cuteness
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The Flip Side of History: the Aztecs through their own words
Forget history written by the victors. Cundill Prize-winning historian Camilla Townsend turned to annals kept by the Aztecs themselves to reveal a history of a vibrant, sophisticated people who valued hard word, perseverance, who were master storytellers and loved a good joke — and who 500 years ago had outdoor food courts! *This episode originally aired on December 3, 2020.
Download The Flip Side of History: the Aztecs through their own words
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Welcome to the Technate
The 20th century has seen capitalism, communism, socialism, and various other "isms" come and go. But Technocracy Inc. had its own vision to replace them: a technologically-driven society that would be perfectly egalitarian, productive and healthy. Its following was massive. Contributor Ira Basen brings us this documentary on the legacy of Technocracy Inc.
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Flow
Flow. Athletes know it: the state of mind and body when every move made is the right one. Flow can also occur in writing, or cooking, or parenting — and it can also be cultivated. But flow presents a paradox, as a state in which you lose yourself, yet become yourself. Writer and triathlete, Suzanne Zelazo, delves into the mystery at the heart of flow.
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Beware of Bitter Oranges: Ibn Khaldun and his life's work
Adam Smith may be known as 'The Father of Economics,' but 400 years before him, Muslim scholar Ibn Khaldun was putting forward economic theories that are now taken for granted. IDEAS explores Ibn Khaldun's famous book, Muqaddimah and the lessons it has for us on the philosophy of history, economics, biology, sociology, and political theory.
Download Beware of Bitter Oranges: Ibn Khaldun and his life's work
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Building a Better Gym Class
Some of us avoid exercise: why? PhysEd researcher Brian Culp says a more inclusive, less sports-oriented high school education can help. Historian Jürgen Martschukat argues that the pressure to keep fit at all comes less from us, and more from political and economic forces.
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The Long Telegram: 5,000 words that altered history
In 1946, U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan authored a secret document about Russia that would cool international relations and help launch the Cold War. Seventy five years later, Kennan's Long Telegram still echoes in Washington and in Putin's Russia.
Download The Long Telegram: 5,000 words that altered history
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The Unborn Future: Lecture # 3 | Catastrophes Big and Small
Philosopher Todd Dufresne has written a three-part lecture series for IDEAS, entitled: Climate Change and the Unborn Future: Capitalism, Philosophy, and Pandemic Politics. He argues that the way we live needs a stem-to-stern overhaul — and a new philosophy of the Anthropocene to see the world with new eyes. This is his third lecture, Catastrophes Big and Small.
Download The Unborn Future: Lecture # 3 | Catastrophes Big and Small
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The Unborn Future: Lecture # 2 | Lessons Learned
Philosopher Todd Dufresne has written a three-part lecture series for IDEAS, entitled: Climate Change and the Unborn Future: Capitalism, Philosophy, and Pandemic Politics. He argues that the way we live needs a stem-to-stern overhaul — and a new philosophy of the Anthropocene to see the world with new eyes. This is his second lecture, Lessons Learned.
Download The Unborn Future: Lecture # 2 | Lessons Learned
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The Unborn Future: Lecture # 1 | Utopic Realism
Philosopher Todd Dufresne has written a three-part lecture series for IDEAS, entitled: Climate Change and the Unborn Future: Capitalism, Philosophy, and Pandemic Politics. He argues that the way we live needs a stem-to-stern overhaul — and a new philosophy of the Anthropocene to see the world with new eyes.
Download The Unborn Future: Lecture # 1 | Utopic Realism
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Why the novel "Bear" (1976) is still controversial — and relevant
It's a novel so strange, shocking and surreal that it's hard to describe. At the surface, Bear is about a woman who develops a sexual relationship with a bear. And though the 1976 novel earned Marian Engel a Governor General's award, it's been largely forgotten. Contributor Melissa Gismondi brings Bear to life and explores its mystery, meaning and relevance today. *This episode originally aired on January 4, 2021.
Download Why the novel "Bear" (1976) is still controversial — and relevant
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Music for the Dead and Resurrected
For nearly 27 years, citizens of Belarus have lived under the thumb of Alexander Lukashenko, who is considered Europe’s last dictator. In her poetry collection Music for the Dead and Resurrected, Belarusian poet Valzhyna Mort explores collective memory, a history of both horror and joy, and how to memorialize those buried in mass graves.
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Laughing Matters: The science of laughter
Disclaimer: Profanity | What role does laughter play in the evolution of humanity? What does our laughter have in common with the way primates and even rats laugh? IDEAS contributor Peter Brown takes us on a joyride throughout our evolutionary history and shows us why laughing matters. *This episode originally aired on November 4, 2020.
Download Laughing Matters: The science of laughter
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On Time and Water: Andri Snaer Magnason
Icelandic writer and documentary filmmaker Andri Snaer Magnason speaks to Nahlah Ayed about his response to the climate crisis, in his book entitled On Time and Water. Magnason embarked on the project at the insistence of a climate scientist who was dismayed at failures of public communication surrounding the latest research.
Download On Time and Water: Andri Snaer Magnason
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Around the World in 80 Plays: Death and the King's Horseman
What happens when sacred rituals that are integral to Yoruba society are interrupted by a colonial power? Does life go on? Or will this spiritual wrong be righted? Nobel laureate and playwright Wole Soyinka answers these questions in his 1975 play Death and the King's Horseman. This is the final episode in our collaboration with Soulpepper Theatre Company, and their audio series Around the World in 80 Plays.
Download Around the World in 80 Plays: Death and the King's Horseman
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Rats: Facing Our Fears, Part Two
For millennia, rats have been portrayed as violent and disgusting. But rats have aided in our self-understanding. IDEAS contributor Moira Donovan investigates the contributions rats have made to humanity and whether co-existing with rats means coming to understand their role in our ecosystem. *This episode originally aired on October 27, 2020.
Download Rats: Facing Our Fears, Part Two
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Drawing Disaster
A few decades ago, comic books were considered an unlikely way to tell stories about conflict and war — until Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel, Maus. The book explores his parents' survival of Auschwitz. Since then, comics have become an established medium through which creators can articulate the traumas of their lives. In this age of digital access to traumatic imagery, what resistance can this unique medium offer?
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Introducing: Life Jolt
Life Jolt - prison slang for a life sentence - examines the lives of women navigating Canada’s correctional system. The team gained unprecedented access to the Grand Valley Institution prison, the federal pen for women in Ontario, for a full year. They followed women going into prison for the first time, spoke with lifers who have been there for years, and parolees as they left. Hosted by Rosemary Green, a former inmate herself, Life Jolt focuses on individual women’s stories and the realities of prison life, and explores a wide range of issues including parenting behind bars, segregation, the over-representation of Indigenous women, addiction, trauma and the many obstacles of reintegration. More episodes are available at: smarturl.it/lifejolt
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The Grand Dame of Green Design: Cornelia Hahn Oberlander
Even if you don't recognize her name, you might recognize one of Cornelia Hahn Oberlander's green designs: the green roof on the Canadian Embassy in Berlin or the grounds surrounding the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver. In 2012, IDEAS producer Yvonne Gall profiled the pioneering landscape architect who died in May 2021.
Download The Grand Dame of Green Design: Cornelia Hahn Oberlander
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Love, Beauty and Salvation: The poetry of Michelangelo
*Warning: profanity | Michelangelo was dubbed the ‘divine Michelangelo’ in his day for his stunning works of art. But his poetry reveals a deeply troubled and dissatisfied soul — he never felt his work was good enough, and was plagued by feelings of guilt for his earthly desires.
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Around the World in 80 Plays: She Mami Wata & The PxssyWitch Hunt
In Jamaica, life for queer people often consists of navigating a society where both church and state reject the LGBTQ community. In her play She Mami Wata and the Pxssywitch Hunt, Jamaican-Canadian playwright and dub poet d'bi.young anitafrika untangles this complex state of affairs. This is the latest episode in our collaboration with Soulpepper Theatre Company, and its audio drama series Around the World in 80 Plays.
Download Around the World in 80 Plays: She Mami Wata & The PxssyWitch Hunt
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Rats: Haunting Humanity’s Footsteps - Part One
Despite their admirable qualities, rats have long been reviled as disgusting and aggressive animals. IDEAS contributor Moira Donovan explores how rats have come to occupy a position as cultural villain — and how they’ve shaped human history along the way. *This episode originally aired on October 26, 2020.
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Justicia Canadiana: Jean Teillet
Preliminary findings on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. reveal the remains of 215 Indigenous children. The news cuts into an exposed nerve on the body politic of this country: the state of justice for First Nations people in Canada. Justice is not blind in Canada’s legal system, argues Métis lawyer Jean Teillet. She says it needs to view Indigenous people fully to render justice fairly. *This episode originally aired on May 6, 2020.
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The Last Bohemian: Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s death this year at age 101 marks the end of a colourful, artistic life, aligned with the Beat generation. But the poet and publisher’s bookstore, City Lights, survives as a hub of rebellious ideas for all. We revisit Ferlinghetti and friends in San Francisco in this 2003 episode.
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Around the World in 80 Plays: The Parliament of the Birds
The 12th century Persian poem, Conference of the Birds, tells the extraordinary story of a group of birds setting out in search of God only to realize after much struggle and hardship, that God was always within. This episode of IDEAS is in collaboration with Soulpepper Theatre Company, and their audio drama series, Around the World in 80 Plays.
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Good News for Nihilists
Philosophers Tracy Llanera and James Tartaglia offer their cheerful defence of nihilism, the easy-to-carry, portable, multi-purpose, and aerodynamic attitude to life, the universe, and pretty much everything. To achieve it, they take up the classic objections to nihilism in turn, and attempt to make each of them disappear into... nothingness!
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An Evening with Chickens
Chickens have followed humankind around the world, giving us eggs and meat, and also spiritual and social comfort. And it’s the living animal who stars in this podcast by IDEAS producer, Tom Howell. Spend an hour with this helpful creature and hear its tales of adventure from dinosaur times to the modern city. *Originally aired on October 19, 2020.
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Fire and Blood: The Paris Commune of 1871
It was 150 years ago when citizens of Paris rose up against the government and declared independence. The Paris Commune of 1871 was a model for the revolutions of the 20th century — but the violence it unleashed, the use of propaganda, and the demonizing of the "other" all foreshadowed the abuses of state power to come. *This episode originally aired May 28, 2015.
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Moment of Encounter: Maaza Mengiste
In her lecture for the Global Centre for Pluralism, writer and Booker Prize nominee Maaza Mengiste turns to photographs from the war between Ethiopia and Italy in the 1930s to explore how historical narratives are constructed, what they overlook, and the murky realities in between.
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Around the World in 80 Plays: Hayavadana
Hayavadana tells the story of three friends caught in a love triangle that leads to an intense identity crises after the heads of two of them are switched. It is considered one of the most important Indian plays of the 20th century. This is our latest installment of our collaboration with Soulpepper Theatre Company and their audio series Around the World in 80 Plays.
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The Mystery of Louise Labé
Stakes are high for readers and scholars as the identity of a groundbreaking poet, Louise Labé, is debated in France and beyond. Sexy, wry, and bold, her poems cut across time. They also upend assumptions about how female desire was expressed in the past. *This episode originally aired on October 1, 2020.
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Music on Mars
If you thought space was silent, think again. NASA's latest Mars rover carries an acoustic microphone. For the first time, anyone can hear the sound of the Martian wind. IDEAS tunes in to the sounds of space and the people working to make music from the beauty of the cosmos.
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Reading With a Grain of Salt, Part Three
Writer Barbara Nichol continues exploring shared assumptions about reading with original thinkers — writers, critics, scholars and journalists. This is the final part in a three-part series called Reading with a Grain of Salt. *This episode originally aired on June 26, 2020.
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No Feeling Is Final: The Wisdom of Rainer Maria Rilke
In his letters and poetry, Austrian writer Rainer Maria Rilke urged readers to “love the questions” instead of searching for answers, and to “sing out” with pain solitude causes them. His writing seems tailor-made for our own era — a dark interval of uncertainty, solitude, and grief.
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Around the World in 80 Plays: The Seagull
The playwright Anton Chekhov wrote to a friend that he was writing a play with "a great deal of conversation about literature, little actions, tons of love." The Seagull is not unlike our own lives, where there isn't a ready-made plot with a neat ending. This episode is the fourth collaboration between IDEAS and Soulpepper Theatre Company's audio drama series Around the World in 80 Plays.
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Inside the Teenage Brain
Teenagers can be erratic and emotional. But recent science may just have the answer to why teenagers are the way they are — and it's not just about hormones. This new understanding is changing the way some societies see teens and it may just lead to changing the boundary between teenager and adult. *Originally broadcast on January 28, 2020.
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Unsound: The Legacy of Alexander Graham Bell
You hear the name ‘Alexander Graham Bell,’ and you think ‘inventor of the telephone.’ But he devoted much of his life to the ‘education’ of deaf people. Bell’s fraught legacy with the deaf community is explored in Veronica Simmonds' documentary, Unsound: The Legacy of Alexander Graham Bell.
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Reading with a Grain of Salt, Part Two
Writer Barbara Nichol continues exploring shared assumptions about reading, readers and books with original thinkers — writers, critics, scholars and journalists. This is part two in a three-part series called Reading with a Grain of Salt. *This episode originally aired on June 19, 2020.
Download Reading with a Grain of Salt, Part Two
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Feline Philosophy
Unlike humans, cats aren't burdened with questions of love, death and the meaning of life. They have no need for philosophy at all. English philosopher John Gray explores this "unexamined" way of being in his book, Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life.
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Around the World in 80 Plays: Six Characters in Search of an Author
Six characters whose story was never written take matters into their own hands by gatecrashing a theatre rehearsal, turning reality on its head. From Soulpepper Theatre Company’s Around the World in 80 Plays, the metatheatrical masterpiece of Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author.
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Forgetting and Remembering a Pandemic
How could these times ever be forgotten? Historian Esyllt Jones explains why we don’t know more stories from an even more devastating global health catastrophe — the Great Influenza of 1918 — but how its complex toll is captured in a moving short story by Alice Munro. This is the annual Avie Bennett Historica Canada Lecture, recorded at York University in March 2021.
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“You Might Need Some Richard Rorty”
"He is a nemesis to many, and is claimed as a friend by only very few," wrote Eduardo Mendieta about Richard Rorty, the most quoted, most criticized, and most widely read of recent U.S. philosophers. Rorty died in 2007, but a passionate crew of 'Rortyans' now devote themselves to keeping his name alive, challenging what they see as the many misinterpretations of his work. *This episode originally aired on December 6, 2019.
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Reading with a Grain of Salt, Part 1
We tend to think that reading is a sign of intelligence, that we’re improved by it. But are our assumptions well-founded? Not really, according to an array of literary front runners. Writer Barbara Nichol explores assumptions we have about reading, readers and books in a three-part IDEAS series. *Originally broadcast on May 13, 2020.
Download Reading with a Grain of Salt, Part 1
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Saving Liberal Democracy: How the humanities can help humanity
Liberal democracy is in trouble. But the liberal arts — the humanities — can help save it. That’s what novelist and essayist Charlie Foran argues: the humanities strengthen the defining dynamics of a vibrant democracy.
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Around the World in 80 Plays: The Walls
* Warning: Explicit Language * In her 1963 play about truth, lies and state violence, Griselda Gambaro predicted the dark period Argentina was hurtling towards. As part of a collaboration with Soulpepper Theatre Company, we bring you inside a room where innocence doesn’t exist and even the walls themselves can’t be trusted.
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Ideas from the Trenches: The Taboo Relic
It's a relic deemed so taboo, that the Vatican threatened excommunication to anyone who speaks of it or writes about it. But for nearly a thousand years the 'holy foreskin' of Jesus Christ was widely considered to be the holiest of relics. University of Alberta PhD student James White is researching the relic's history, with an eye to understanding Medieval logic and concepts of the body.
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Zone of Absolute Exclusion: Chernobyl at 35
On the night of April 26, 1986, a routine test at the RBMK #4 reactor in Chernobyl, Ukraine, went badly wrong: in a fatal convergence of bad design and operator error, the reactor core overheated and exploded, scattering radioactive debris into the sky, from where it eventually spread over most of Europe. *This episode originally aired on April 26, 2006.
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I Will Never See The World Again: Ahmet Altan
Celebrated Turkish writer Ahmet Altan was freed on April 14, after international pressure helped secure his release. He’d spent four years and seven months in prison. This episode by IDEAS producer Mary Lynk recently won an Amnesty International Canada Media Award for outstanding human rights reporting. It first aired in June 2020.
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Time Does Not Exist: Carlo Rovelli
In Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli's world, time does not exist. Nor, he argues, does it in our own world. We human beings, he suggests, may be the universe's only real time machine. Rovelli has spent years writing and lecturing about time, and a whole host of complex scientific conundrums — all in an effort to share the beauty he sees in uncertainty.
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Around the World in 80 Plays: Moonlodge
IDEAS begins our series “Around the World in 80 Plays.” While international travel is on hold, Soulpepper Theatre Company is taking audiences across the globe with eight international audio plays. And IDEAS will be your travelling companion. Moonlodge is the first play of the series.
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The Flapper and the Modern Girl
In the 1920s a new style icon arrived: flappers. They had bobbed hair and penchants for smoking, drinking, and dancing. In Matthew Lazin-Ryder's documentary you'll hear how the spectre of the flapper became a moral panic in Canadian society, and dredged up fears of unhinged sex and drugs. *Originally broadcast on February 4, 2020.
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Frank Lloyd Wright, the New York Years
Renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright decried New York as a carcass, parasite and "incongruous mantrap of monstrous dimensions." Yet the city offered him refuge as his personal life was in shambles. Architect Anthony Alofsin and others guide us through Wright's New York years and the important role the city played in his legacy.
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The Dandy Rebel
Over the last two centuries, the figure of the Dandy has been a provocateur, someone who pushes against the boundaries of culture, masculinity and politics. From Beau Brummell to Oscar Wilde to contemporary Black activists, IDEAS contributor Pedro Mendes tracks the subversive role the Dandy plays in challenging the status quo.
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Love on Drugs
As the science of love comes into greater focus, researchers are beginning to explore potential drug treatments for everything from heartbreak to PTSD in relationships. But for traditionalists, romantic love is ineffable, even spiritual — and certainly not to be tampered with by doctors. IDEAS teases out the complicated relationship between chemicals and romance — and ask how drugs could reshape the future of love.
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The Rise of the Glorified Spinster
Throughout history, single women have been vilified, ostracized and shamed. And while there are more single-person households in Canada than ever before, that lingering stigma still follows the single woman. CBC producer Alison Cook explores the social history of these ‘deviant’ women in her documentary, The Rise of the Glorified Spinster. *Originally aired on May 21, 2020.
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Shakespeare's Richard III shows us how to resist tyranny
In Richard III, Shakespeare shows us how easy it is to fall under the spell of a tyrant. IDEAS explore the parallels between Richard III and the Trump era, and the play’s eerily prescient lessons about complicity, conscience and speaking truth to power.
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The Greenest Metaphor
Some people describe it as a war. To others, it’s a race. Maybe it’s a sickness that needs to be cured, or a puzzle that needs to be solved. There are a lot of metaphors for the fight against climate change, and picking the right one might be the key to making real progress.
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Environmentalists: what are we fighting for? An environmentalist argues it's not clear
Environmental problems are well-known and have been for decades, so why are we still edging towards a global catastrophe? Environmentalist Graham Saul believes it comes down to a message problem — mainly because environmentalism doesn’t have a single, coherent, unified message that people can grasp. *This episode originally aired on November 23, 2018.
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The Past is Present: The Problem of Presentism
The stories that make up the history of a nation and the account of its birth are increasingly contested, and newer narratives are being pitted against the old. What is the role and responsibility of the historian in managing the chaos and keeping scholarship above the fray of political wrangling?
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Black Myths on Screen: Hollywood and a Century of Race, Part Three
Since its beginnings, Hollywood has portrayed African Americans in a variety of ways: as primitive beings in Birth of a Nation, as happy former slaves in Gone With the Wind, as an earnest gentleman in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and as hypersexual heroes during the 1970s "blaxploitation" era. Filmmaker Julie Dash says, "it's like we were props in their movies." In this three-part series, IDEAS explores a century of racial politics in Hollywood.
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Black Myths on Screen: Hollywood and a Century of Race, Part Two
Since its beginnings, Hollywood has portrayed African Americans in a variety of ways: as primitive beings in Birth of a Nation, as happy former slaves in Gone With the Wind, as an earnest gentleman in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and as hypersexual heroes during the 1970s "blaxploitation" era. Filmmaker Julie Dash says, "it's like we were props in their movies." In this three-part series, IDEAS explores a century of racial politics in Hollywood.
Download Black Myths on Screen: Hollywood and a Century of Race, Part Two
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Black Myths on Screen: Hollywood and a Century of Race, Part One
Since its beginnings, Hollywood has portrayed African Americans in a variety of ways: as primitive beings in Birth of a Nation, as happy former slaves in Gone With the Wind, as an earnest gentleman in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and as hypersexual heroes during the 1970s "blaxploitation" era. Filmmaker Julie Dash says, "it's like we were props in their movies." In this three-part series, IDEAS explores a century of racial politics in Hollywood.
Download Black Myths on Screen: Hollywood and a Century of Race, Part One
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Feminist City: Leslie Kearn
Historically, cities have been planned, designed, and built by men. Yet there has always been more than one kind of city resident. That's why consciousness is growing around making urban spaces more inclusive of others. Vienna, for instance, has improved safety and convenience for women through the design of its housing, parks, sidewalks and street lighting. Geographer and author Leslie Kern explains why a "feminist city" benefits us all, in this talk for Carleton University's Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism.
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The First Good Poem in English
Several English-language literary works survive from the first millennium A.D. and it's still uncertain which is the oldest. However, a short elegy called The Wanderer stands out as English's oldest-surviving good poem, according to IDEAS producer Tom Howell. Experts in Old English help explain the appeal and the complexity of this ancient yet strangely accessible work.
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I Travel Therefore I Am: The Philosophy of Travel
Philosophy of travel isn't a thing, but philosopher Emily Thomas says it should be. As most of the world is grounded by COVID, we take a journey of the mind through the past and present to ask the question: what is the meaning of travel? How does it change us — and how does it help us understand our own minds?
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Lessons of Doris Lessing, Part Two
Writer Doris Lessing grew up in white Southern Rhodesia where she became an astute observer of the ways ordinary people learn to cling to extreme beliefs. In her 1985 CBC Massey Lecture, the Nobel laureate shares her insights on identity politics, highlighting divisions we can still see all around us.
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Northrop Frye: The Educated Imagination Reconsidered (Pt. 2)
Northrop Frye viewed literature as a vast structure of the human imagination. He taught that imagination can broaden our beliefs and encourage tolerance. As readers, we are meant to ‘disappear’ into literature as a whole. But what happens to our bodies, our histories, and us as real individuals? *Originally aired on June 25, 2020.
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Northrop Frye: Return to the Educated Imagination (Pt 1)
What good is the study of literature? Northrop Frye’s 1962 CBC Massey Lectures were his attempt to answer that age-old question. Frye scholar and friend Deanne Bogdan revisits the lectures and helps us map Northrop Frye’s expansive vision of literature, life, and human nature. *Originally aired on May 27, 2020.
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On Property: Rinaldo Walcott
Rinaldo Walcott argues that the fight to abolish slavery is still unfinished — and that the ultimate project of abolition will require abolishing the idea of private property itself. He speaks with Nahlah Ayed about how a history of being bought and sold shapes Black people's relationship to the notion of property today.
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Imagining Extinction
Religious and mythological visions of the end of the world may be common, but the scientific concept of human extinction has a more urgent history. IDEAS explores the link between imagining extinction and acting to avert it — from Mary Shelley's pandemic novel, The Last Man (1826), to visions of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War, to cli-fi (climate fiction) of today.
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Ideas from the Trenches: The Resilience of Incarcerated Women
PhD student Rachel Fayter was incarcerated for more than three years. She draws from her experience and the relationships she formed in jail to inform her ‘groundbreaking’ research into the resilience of criminalized women. *This episode originally aired on September 24, 2020.
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Women and Machines: How technology has shaped gender roles
In her new book Work Mate Marry Love, Harvard professor Debora Spar argues that nearly all the decisions we make in our most intimate lives — whom we marry, how we have children, and how we build families — are driven by technology. She explains how these changes in technology have also affected the role of women in society throughout history.
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Pt 2: Rethinking Policing
*A warning, this episode contains descriptions of graphic violence.* In part two of our series looking at the role of police in society, IDEAS contributor Kyle G. Brown examines the use of police surveillance on citizens, the increased use of military tactics, and its struggles when responding to mental health emergencies.
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Behind the Lines, Part Two
What kinds of responsibility does a Black writer have? Is it enough to just write whatever inspires you, or is there an obligation to take on the big questions of culture, class, colour? In part two of a two-part series, Black Canadian writers George Elliott Clarke, Afua Cooper and André Alexis discuss why they write and the importance of ‘home’ in their work.
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Beethoven's Scowl
Beethoven turned 250 this past year. Since his death, he’s been used as a symbol of big ideas, from liberalism to nationalism to manliness. This documentary examines the shifting image of Beethoven, and his malleability as a symbol. *This episode originally aired on September 21, 2020.
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The Forever Protest
Some protests hit with lightning speed and bring quick change in dramatic ways. But often the push for change takes much longer — decades, even generations. The change comes not from dramatic events but from a slow transformation of people, of culture, and society itself. IDEAS contributor Guy Dixon looks at the perpetual protest.
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Behind the Lines, Part One
What kinds of responsibility does a Black writer have? Is it enough to just write whatever inspires you, or is there an obligation to take on the big questions of culture, class, colour? In part one of a two-part series, Black Canadian writers Canisia Lubrin, Nigel Thomas and Téa Mutonji discuss why they write and how they deal with the power — and the burden — of making art with language.
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The Long Arm of Ayn Rand, Part Two
Ayn Rand's books, especially her two major works, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, continue to sell millions of copies. And her influence on politics and popular culture is stronger than ever. Contributor Sandy Bourque outlines the philosopher's improbable rise to fame and influence, and the surprising Canadian connection which helped secure her place in the history of ideas.
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The Long Arm of Ayn Rand, Part One
The intelligentsia mocked her writings and lampooned her philosophy, which she called Objectivism. But Ayn Rand's books, especially her two major works The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, continue to sell millions of copies. There are Ayn Rand think tanks, academies, even dating sites. And her influence on politics and popular culture is stronger than ever. Contributor Sandy Bourque outlines Rand's improbable rise to fame and influence, and the surprising Canadian connection, which helped secure her place in the history of ideas. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 1, 2018.
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'I love you': the most treasured (and misunderstood) expression of all time
I love you: those three magic words are the most powerful and misunderstood words in the English language, according to writer and contributor Marianne Apostilides. She draws from Shakespeare, Freud, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton and other greats to parse how "I love you" can be enriching, manipulative and even empty.
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The Travels of Mirza Saleh Shirazi
In the 18th and 19th centuries, a series of Persian travellers from Iran and India to visit cities all over the world. They wrote popular travelogues describing the cultures and ideas they encountered and asked the questions fundamental to all of us: who am I? What is our relationship to each other, and to the world? * Originally broadcast on March 9, 2020.
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The Evolution of Policing, Part One
In part one of a two-part documentary series on policing, contributor Kyle G. Brown traces its history, from the watchmen of the pre-modern era, to colonial forces — to the increasingly militarized police of today.
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Love Tunnels: Getting Married in Las Vegas
Contributors David Zane Mairowitz and Malgorzata Zerwe recount their odyssey throughout the southwest United States, as they ponder wedding services that range from mere kitsch to the truly bizarre. Their journey culminates, naturally, in Las Vegas, where they tie the knot at a drive-through chapel in a minutes-long ritual.
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Stranger in a Strange Land: Larry Madowo
Covering the chaos of the last national election in his home country of Kenya gave Larry Madowo solid experience as a journalist reporting on an outcome that not everyone agrees on. As a North American correspondent for the BBC, he takes us inside his experience as a Black man reporting on the U.S. election in a deeply divided country.
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The Story of Rice
Half the people on the planet eat it once a day. And it's one of the world's fastest growing food staples. But rice is more than food. It's folklore, culture, and history. Iris Yudai revisits her 2002 documentary exploring the power and meaning of rice. *This documentary originally aired on November 26, 2002.
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Tangled Roots: A History of Black Hair
From pre-colonial Africa till now, Black hair has shifted in its meaning and become highly politicized, particularly in Western society. And today, Black women's hair continues to have an enormous bearing on how they are able to move through the world. We're taking a look back at the story of Black hair, and what it tells us about the Black female experience throughout history.
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Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi
Living in modern society is hard and so people often turn to the "mystical marketplace" where Westerners consume Eastern traditions to find some kind of healing balm for the ailments of modernity.
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Science and Society: Frédéric Bouchard
In his lecture, and in a conversation with host Nahlah Ayed, philosopher of science Frédéric Bouchard explores our current relationship with scientific expertise and why we trust — or don’t trust — the experts.
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The Rise of H.P. Lovecraft
American short story writer H.P. Lovecraft died in 1937. Now he's more popular than he was in his lifetime. IDEAS examines why his brand of “cosmic horror” resonates in the 21st century, and how new writers are dealing with his racist legacy.
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A Baldwin Revival: In Good Times and In Bad
On February 18, 1965, the writer, poet and civil rights activist James Baldwin was invited to Cambridge University for a debate on whether the American dream is "at the expense of the American Negro." He marshalled a devastating argument and won. The themes in his historic speech echo in our times today with both prescience and frustrating familiarity. *This episode originally aired on June 24, 2020.
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Everything at Once
Out of synch? No wonder: the pandemic clock is messing with us. Taking measure of a strange moment, with writers, sociologists, a therapist, and a mathematician.
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The Black Jacobin: Part Three
This final episode explores C.L.R. James coming to America, his influence on the Black Power movement, meeting up with Trotsky in Mexico, to his final days in England.
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The Warfare State: Col. Lawrence Wilkerson
When critiques are made of the military-industrial complex in the U.S., they usually come from left-wing thinkers. But Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, a lifelong Republican and career army officer, believes that military spending has become an ideological article of faith on the political Right. And it's both bankrupting America and making the world a dangerous place. *This episode originally aired on September 28, 2020.
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The Desert: a well-spring of the imagination
Deserts cover nearly one-third of the earth's landmass of the earth, but we're still unsure what to make of them. Sometimes we consider them empty wastelands, other times we see them as beautiful landscape. IDEAS producer Matthew Lazin-Ryder explores our historically complicated, and yet intimate, relationship with deserts. *Originally broadcast on November 22, 2019.
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The Black Jacobin: Part Two
Advisory: some of the language in this episode reflects the historical realities of the slave trade and the institution of slavery. | The second episode in this three-part series explores C.L.R. James leaving Trinidad for England and the story behind some of his acclaimed books, including his classic study of the Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins.
Download The Black Jacobin: Part Two
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Rethinking menopause: Authors argue dreaded life change has an upside
Is The Change always “women’s hell?” Is it possible that the negative way we think about menopause has an effect on how women actually experience menopause? Writer Darcey Steinke and historian Susan Mattern reframe an often-dreaded transition and reclaim the power of post-reproductive life. * Originally aired on September 5, 2019.
Download Rethinking menopause: Authors argue dreaded life change has an upside
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From Iceland to the Red Planet: The Mars Mission 2020
* Warning: Explicit Language * Iceland’s terrain — and mythology — yield surprising insights into potential past life on Mars, and sobering lessons on Earth’s future. *Originally aired on June 11, 2020.
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The Black Jacobin: Part One
This episode explores his Trinidadian upbringing, and how cricket became the inspiration for his ideas about the human condition.
Download The Black Jacobin: Part One
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Just one story: Joseph Campbell and 'The Hero’s Journey'
For 70 years, a book by American academic Joseph Campbell called The Hero With A Thousand Faces has shaped western storytelling, from comics to novels to videogames to movies -- including Star Wars, which was directly inspired by it. In particular, the book outlined the steps of a universal heroic narrative, something he called "The Hero’s Journey." But after seven decades of the book’s massive influence, is it now time to leave the hero’s journey behind? This documentary "Just One Story" probes the appeal and the limits of the story we’ve been telling ourselves for nearly a century. *Originally aired on September 3, 2019.
Download Just one story: Joseph Campbell and 'The Hero’s Journey'
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New Year's Levee
In a time-honoured IDEAS tradition, Nahlah Ayed hosts a New Year's levee, giving us a taste of what to expect this coming year. We'll hear from the show's producers and contributors about everything from the cultural history of Black hair, to lessons on marketing a 'green' movement, to the revival of a controversial Canadian novel about a bear.
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Why too much logic leads to irrationality: Justin E. H. Smith
The Parisian-American philosopher Justin E. H. Smith argues that attempts to impose the victory of reason always lead to explosions of irrationality, whether in our individual lives or at the level of society. His book is called Irrationality: a History of the Dark Side of Reason. *Originally aired on October 22, 2019.
Download Why too much logic leads to irrationality: Justin E. H. Smith
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Reconciliation, Part 3: Back to the Land
Indigenous people say there can never be reconciliation with Canada if the question of land remains unaddressed. This is the last of a 3-part series on genocide, truth, and reconciliation.
Download Reconciliation, Part 3: Back to the Land
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How to avoid conflict: Lessons from 16th century Italian duels
York University PhD student and master fencer, Aaron Miedema has been researching over 300 cases of duels from the 16th and 17th century. Turns out there are lessons for us from 500 years ago which may prove useful in today's climate of public blaming and shaming. *Originally aired on Dec. 20, 2019.
Download How to avoid conflict: Lessons from 16th century Italian duels
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Christmas Philosophy 101
Heat the cocoa, stoke the fire, and settle in for some good ol' fashioned philosophy. Christmas is a minefield of deep philosophical quandaries, like — is it ethically correct to lie to children? Who does a gift really benefit the giver, or receiver? How do we really know Santa exists, or doesn't? Join us on a dramatic journey through the philosophy of Christmas.
Download Christmas Philosophy 101
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Reconciliation, Part Two: No Way Home
In Bosnia, there are facts about the genocide but little acceptance of their truth by Serb aggressors. For Bosniaks, genocide denial means they are stuck in a violent past with little prospect for release. This is part two of a three-part series on genocide, truth, and reconciliation.
Download Reconciliation, Part Two: No Way Home
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Ordinary Magic: The Musical Genius of Jerry Granelli
*Warning: Profanity | A profile of the legendary jazz drummer and composer Jerry Granelli, on the eve of turning 80. He has accompanied many of the greats, including: Mose Allison, Sly Stone and The Grateful Dead. And most famously, he is the last surviving member of the Vince Guaraldi Trio that recorded the iconic album: A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Download Ordinary Magic: The Musical Genius of Jerry Granelli
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Frank Zappa: Dangerous Kitchen, Part Three
Frank Zappa redefined what it was to be a composer in our time. But what was his impact on those who worked most closely with him? In this three part-documentary series about the legendary musician, hear from family members, musicians and others who worked with him, as well as excerpts from a CBC interview with Zappa, recorded the year before his death.
Download Frank Zappa: Dangerous Kitchen, Part Three
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Fireside & Icicles — poems for winter
A childhood full of Christmasses in Wales has left IDEAS producer Tom Howell pining for a certain kind of nostalgic poem this winter. So he turns to poets to put into words a strange feeling of homesickness, nostalgia, and yearning in his documentary, Fireside and Icicles.
Download Fireside & Icicles — poems for winter
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Ursula Franklin Massey Lecture # 4
IDEAS revisits the 1989 Massey Lectures of physicist and humanitarian Ursula Franklin. Influencing a whole generation of tech thinkers, The Real World of Technology analyzes technology in the broadest sense: as a human system, rooted in power and responsibility.
Download Ursula Franklin Massey Lecture # 4
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Reconciliation, Part One: When the Killing Ends
Any talk of post-conflict reconciliation quickly turns to Rwanda. Post-genocide, Rwandans have moved forward but arriving at a collective truth has meant accepting the relationship between truth and fact is not always clear and straightforward.
Download Reconciliation, Part One: When the Killing Ends
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God: Leibniz vs Voltaire
Is the concept of God useful at a time of crisis? German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and French writer and philosopher Voltaire had different views on that question.
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Frank Zappa: Dangerous Kitchen, Part Two
Frank Zappa redefined what it was to be a composer in our time. But what was his impact on those who worked most closely with him? In this three part-documentary series about the legendary musician, hear from family members, musicians and others who worked with him, as well as excerpts from a CBC interview with Zappa, recorded the year before his death.
Download Frank Zappa: Dangerous Kitchen, Part Two
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The Dirt on Handwashing: The Legacy of Dr. Semmelweis
The resistance Ignaz Semmelweis encountered to his life-saving ideas would ultimately lead to his tragic end. With handwashing in the midst of a renaissance in the era of the coronavirus, Dr. Semmelweis deserves at least some of the credit. *This episode originally aired on May 28, 2020.
Download The Dirt on Handwashing: The Legacy of Dr. Semmelweis
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Ursula Franklin Massey Lecture # 3
IDEAS revisits the 1989 Massey Lectures of physicist and humanitarian Ursula Franklin. Influencing a whole generation of tech thinkers, The Real World of Technology analyzes technology in the broadest sense: as a human system, rooted in power and responsibility.
Download Ursula Franklin Massey Lecture # 3
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Ursula Franklin Massey Lecture # 2
IDEAS revisits the 1989 Massey Lectures of physicist and humanitarian Ursula Franklin. Influencing a whole generation of tech thinkers, The Real World of Technology analyzes technology in the broadest sense: as a human system, rooted in power and responsibility.
Download Ursula Franklin Massey Lecture # 2
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A continent of stories: slaying the dragons of hate with words
Deborah Ahenkora has long believed there's a 'book famine' throughout Africa. The most acute shortage is in books written by Africans for Africans — especially children's books in which African children can see themselves reflected. So she decided to rewrite that history to ensure African stories are both told and read. *Originally aired on February 5, 2020.
Download A continent of stories: slaying the dragons of hate with words
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Frank Zappa: Dangerous Kitchen, Part One
Frank Zappa redefined what it was to be a composer in our time. But what was his impact on those who worked most closely with him? In this three part-documentary series about the legendary musician, hear from family members, musicians and others who worked with him, as well as excerpts from a CBC interview with Zappa, recorded the year before his death.
Download Frank Zappa: Dangerous Kitchen, Part One
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Ursula Franklin Massey Lecture #1
Revisiting the 1989 Massey Lectures of physicist and humanitarian Ursula Franklin. Influencing a whole generation of tech thinkers, The Real World of Technology analyzes technology in the broadest sense: as a human system, rooted in power and responsibility. Episode 1: technology as practice.
Download Ursula Franklin Massey Lecture #1
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Bridging Divides In The Wake of a Global Pandemic
Vaccine nationalism. Isolationism. Rising poverty and unequal access to health care. The divides marking the experience of living through this pandemic are so stark you can trace them on the world map. To discuss how to address growing global inequality, Nahlah Ayed is in conversation with African Development Bank Group president Akinwumi Adesina, former minister of environment in Morocco Hakima El Haité and Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell.
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What's in a Name?
*Warning: Examples discussed in this episode is disturbing | In order to identify and hunt them down during the Holocaust, Nazi authorities declared that all Jews must only bear names selected from a sanctioned list. University of Cologne professor Iman Nick has spent years studying these naming tactics — and their frightening similarities to the world we live in today.
Download What's in a Name?
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Peace, Order, and Good Geometry
The story of geometry is bound up in the Renaissance, the rise of nation states, and the expression of absolute power. Geometric designs came to represent order in the universe. But order’s war with chaos continues — just compare the geometric plans for Washington, D.C., with the lived reality. Historian Amir Alexander traces the rise of geometry from Euclid to the United Nations.
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The Cult Movie Canon
They’re weird. They break the rules. They’re kinda bad. They are cult movies. Dive into the stories of films from ‘Troll 2’ to ‘The Last Dragon’ to the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ to learn what drives people to watch these oddball films again and again. Producer Matthew Lazin-Ryder looks at the history, future, and function of cult movies. *Originally aired on May 19, 2020.
Download The Cult Movie Canon
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Thucydides, Part 2: Lessons from the plague of Athens
The plague of Athens struck in 430 BC, violently killing up to half of the Greek city's population. Thucydides was on hand to document the grim symptoms, as well as the social and psychological fallout. His vivid account holds enduring lessons for us during pandemic times today.
Download Thucydides, Part 2: Lessons from the plague of Athens
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Thucydides, Part 1: The First Journalist
About 2,500 years ago, Thucydides travelled ancient Greece, gathering stories about a brutal war that plunged the ancient world into chaos. He set high standards for accuracy, objectivity and thoroughness in his reporting. IDEAS producer Nicola Luksic explains why his account of the Peloponnesian War is relevant today. *Originally aired on Jan. 7, 2011.
Download Thucydides, Part 1: The First Journalist
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Render Unto Caesar: Render What? Unto Whom?
"Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." It's a lasting phrase that has touched off church-and-state and tax debates. This riposte to the religious authorities transcends mere matters of money, and agitates the hearts of believers: What ultimately belongs to God, and how does that question resonate in a secular age?
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Mapping the Heavens: Yale astrophysicist Priya Natarajan
In 2019, the first up-close image of a black hole was recorded. And yet, so much about them, their bizarre properties and the role they play in the universe remains a mystery. The distinguished Yale astrophysicist Priya Natarajan dives into black holes and dark matter in her lecture and book: Mapping The Heavens.
Download Mapping the Heavens: Yale astrophysicist Priya Natarajan
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The Long Conversation: Why public broadcasting is more crucial than ever
In a public talk she gave in 2018, journalist Sue Gardner argues that we’ve returned to the same set of ominous social conditions which led to the creation of public broadcasting in the first place — and that now is the time to recommit to public service journalism.
Download The Long Conversation: Why public broadcasting is more crucial than ever
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Money Rules: Is Capitalism Destroying Democracy?
We are used to hearing how capitalism goes hand-in-hand with freer, more democratic societies. But it's not always so. Investigative journalist Bruce Livesey reveals historical examples that show when wealth becomes concentrated among the very few, the stage can be set for totalitarianism, and for the destruction that totalitarianism inevitably brings.
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LaFontaine-Baldwin 2020: Pathways to Renewal
In the midst of a pandemic is it too soon to talk about renewal? For some, it’s well past time. Previous LaFontaine-Baldwin lecturers and emerging leaders gather to look upon the fault lines COVID-19 has exposed, and what needs to be done in the aftermath.
Download LaFontaine-Baldwin 2020: Pathways to Renewal
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The Conspiracy Rush
Conspiracy theories may be ultra divisive today, but there was a time when they were an acceptable form of knowledge. They are powerful in political battle — and even more so in the age of rising populism. But if you think we're in a golden age of conspiracy theories, think again.
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The Forest Floor of the Art World: Marc Mayer at MOCA
We’re dazzled, and sometimes frazzled, by our encounters with contemporary art. Marc Mayer, former director of the National Gallery of Canada, draws back the curtain to show what’s behind the art that seduces — and confounds — us.
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The Pulpit, Power and Politics: Evangelicalism's thumbprint on America
The grip conservative evangelicalism has on American social and political life is hard to overestimate. Committed Christian and author Jemar Tisby was joined by historians of religion John Fea and Molly Worthen to help answer the question: what exactly is the relationship between conservative evangelicalism and America today? *Originally broadcast on December 4, 2019.
Download The Pulpit, Power and Politics: Evangelicalism's thumbprint on America
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The Rhythm Section: How Beats and Grooves Define Us
Rhythm is of course a fundamental part of music. But neuroscience is revealing that it’s also a fundamental part of our innermost selves: how we learn to walk, talk, read and even bond with others. From heartbeats heard in the womb, to the underlying rhythmic patterns of thought, rhythm — as one researcher puts it — is life.
Download The Rhythm Section: How Beats and Grooves Define Us
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An Unequal World
Humans have a strong sense of fairness, and we know that the good things in life are unequally divided among us. We’ve justified inequality by creating concepts of class, race, gender and so on. It’s only in the last century that the concept of universal human rights has taken hold, and we’re still struggling to make an equitable world a reality. So where do we go from here?
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The lasting legacy of the 1970 FLQ manifesto
Fifty years ago this October, the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), escalated their separatist campaign by kidnapping British diplomat James Cross, and Quebec Deputy Premier Pierre Laporte, sparking what came to be known as the October Crisis. In return for releasing Cross, the FLQ had seven demands, one of which was to have its manifesto broadcast - and CBC/Radio-Canada complied. Geoff Turner examines the impact and legacy of the manifesto, and the relevance it still has today.
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Meet the winners of the 2020 Canada Council Killam Prizes
The Canada Council Killam Prize recognizes and celebrates inspiring scholars and eminent thinkers. Nahlah Ayed spends time with each Killam Prize winner to learn about their cutting-edge work in engineering, the humanities and the sciences: natural, health and social.
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The Democracy of Suffering: Todd Dufresne
We’re all in this together, suffering equally, as the planet struggles through the Anthropocene age — an era created by human activity. It’s why the author of The Democracy of Suffering, Todd Dufresne, calling on philosophy — and all of us — to revolutionize what it means to be human. *Originally aired on April 8, 2020.
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Ought vs. Is: Reclaiming nature as a moral guide
Throughout the centuries, politicians, theologians and philosophers have pointed to nature as a way to guide our actions and beliefs. The equivalence between "unnatural" and "bad" seems to be as durable as ever. But philosophical anthropologist Lorraine Daston doesn't think using "nature" as a guide is necessarily all bad. *Originally aired on Dec. 5, 2019.
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The Idea of India: Gandhi vs Ambedkar, Part Two
In 2019, the Indian government passed legislation amending its citizenship laws. Many people argued it targeted the country's Muslim minority. Protesters held up images of B.R. Ambedkar, the Dalit icon who claimed India could never be free unless the caste system was eradicated. Can his idea of true equality offer a way back to unity?
Download The Idea of India: Gandhi vs Ambedkar, Part Two
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The Idea of India: Gandhi vs Ambedkar, Part One
In December 2019, the government of India passed legislation amending its citizenship laws. Critics, activists, and ordinary people pushed back, arguing the law was targeting the country's Muslim minority. Many protesters held up images of Gandhi and urged a return to Gandhian values. But does Gandhi and his values still have a place in today's idea of India?
Download The Idea of India: Gandhi vs Ambedkar, Part One
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The Death of Leisure
As soon as the inbox is cleared and the dishes are put away and the report is submitted and laundry is done, only then can we think about how to pursue the things we value. So how do we reconfigure our relationship to the time we have and open it up so we can pursue the good life? *Originally aired on February 20, 2020.
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Dear Leader: Notes from the time of cholera
Leading in the time of COVID-19 is to lead when a virus is calling the shots. In 1892, Hamburg had its own devastating cholera outbreak. According to historian Sir Richard Evans, how authorities navigated the pandemic offers surprisingly relevant lessons for leaders today. *Originally aired on April 28, 2020.
Download Dear Leader: Notes from the time of cholera
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Into the Wild: Anthropologist Wade Davis
Ancient wisdom in the modern world can save us from the dangers of climate change, argues Wade Davis. The Canadian anthropologist has spent a lifetime looking into what Indigenous peoples of the world can teach us. Now, 10 years after his 2009 Massey lectures called 'The Wayfinders,' he looks back on what has changed on our planet — for better and for worse. *Originally aired on February 18, 2020.
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The History of Serial Killers: Peter Vronsky
What goes on in the mind of a serial killer? After two random encounters with serial killers, historian and professor Peter Vronsky is trying to answer that very question — who they are, what motivates them, and in the age of true crime fanaticism — why we're so obsessed with them.
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How jeans became one of the most polluting garments in the world
Blue jeans evolved from being the uniform of cowboys to a symbol of rebellion, and are now the most popular — and possibly the most polluting — garment in the world. Ideas contributor and fashion expert Pedro Mendes explores the 150-year history of jeans and the 'authenticity' they are supposed to represent.
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The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism: Anne Applebaum
The left may be dominant in cultural spheres. But the right is dominant in politics, where real power is exercised. That dominance, however, has derailed political conservatism throughout the Western world, where authoritarian "strong man" leadership and values have become increasingly mainstream. Historian Anne Applebaum, author of Twilight of Democracy joins host Nahlah Ayed to talk about how the right went wrong.
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