IDEAS is a deep-dive into contemporary thought and intellectual history. No topic is off-limits. In the age of clickbait and superficial headlines, it's for people who like to think.
To live in 2025 is to be 'datafied,' where human behaviour becomes data that is digitized, says Wendy H. Wong. She is a political scientist and winner of the 2024 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy for her book, We the Data. Wong argues for a human rights approach when it comes to how our data should be collected, and how it can be used.
For leaders who built empires throughout history, Virgil's Aeneid has been a blueprint for how to take over land that belongs to someone else. Now when empires are making a comeback, it's worth asking if the epic poem is propaganda, or does it carry a message about the horrors of empire, too?
Sometimes, ghosts 'appear' for very human reasons. Loss, change, and grief can alter our perceptions of reality. In this episode, the reasons why ghosts are seen everywhere from new high-rises in Mumbai, to urban food courts, to a gay gym in San Francisco. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 25, 2022.
Smell has been called the 'Cinderella sense,' capable of inspiring profound admiration if we stop turning our noses at it. Producer Annie Bender examines what we lose when we take our powerful — but often misunderstood — sense of smell for granted. *This episode originally aired on June 3, 2024.
Examining the parallels between Inuit storytelling and modern horror narratives, writer Jamesie Fournier explores the importance of being afraid and how the other side comes back to haunt us for our own good. This episode is part of our on-going series called IDEAS at Crow's Theatre .
From the interpersonal to the societal: what is reasonableness? And in a democracy, how reasonable can we reasonably demand that others be? Five Canadian thinkers try to define what “reasonableness” means and what it is to behave and think reasonably. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 6, 2024.
How can religion help decode the motives for Russia's aggression against Ukraine? And how can Judeo-Christian ethics inform a way forward for peace? Ukrainian Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, and historian of Central European politics Timothy Snyder explore these questions.
For many people around the world, Cuban cigars are a luxury. But for Cubans, they’ve symbolized the country’s rich history and culture. Now as an economic crisis is gripping the country and people are leaving, the cigar is a bellwether of Cuba's uncertain future. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 5, 2024.
Our bodies are a great paradox. We are made up of trillions of cells that are both independent and interconnected units of life. IDEAS travels into the microscopic complexity of the human body to explore sophisticated nanomachines — and probe the deep mysteries of a subatomic world. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 31, 2024.
In 1945, as the Second World War ended, the United Nations brought together 50 nations of the world. Their historic charter aimed to uphold international peace, security, and human rights. Today, the UN faces a lot of criticism, but Canada’s UN Ambassador, Bob Rae, still believes in it.
Four decades ago, trade negotiations in North America prompted great trepidation in Canada. IDEAS revisits a 1986 documentary by the CBC's Carol Off exploring a flurry of Canadian nationalism and patriotism brought on by fears that the U.S. was about to absorb Canada — a threat, once again, on many Canadians' minds.
Even Martin Luther King Jr. didn't know he had a dream — at least not until he improvised the most famous part of his 1963 speech. For many people, public speaking or standup comedy is horrifying. Even more so without a script. IDEAS explores the art of improv — a skill that isn't just for entertainment. It's tapping into a vast well of human potential, and maybe even making the world a tiny bit better.
Harvard historian Tiya Miles believes the more girls and women are outdoors, the more fulfilling their lives will be. In her book, Wild Girls , Miles shows how girls who found self-understanding in the natural world became women who changed America. *This episode originally aired on April 10, 2024.
Broken violins, cruel love and absent fathers... At the end of the 19th century, Émile Nelligan wrote hundreds of tragic, passionate, sonnets and rondels on these subjects and more. And yet, most English-speaking Canadians seem never to have heard of the Quebec poet. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 9, 2024.
In 2023, scientists discovered thousands of unknown life forms in the Pacific Ocean. The discovery highlighted an unsettling fact: 86 per cent of land species and 91 per cent of marine species remain undiscovered. Are we running out of time to classify the life around us?
The current wave of anti-elitism, and anti-urbanism we’re seeing from authoritarian leaders and their followers may seem to have erupted out of nowhere. But for New Yorker writer and former CBC Massey Lecturer, Adam Gopnik, what we see now stems from historic antisemitism.
For musician David Schulman, the violin can swing and sing like nothing else. Schulman travelled to the north of Italy to try and discover the original trees from which Antonio Stradivari made his masterpieces. It’s a journey of surprise and delight. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 28, 2023.
Marriage is on the decline in Canada. And in heterosexual unions, it’s women who more often initiate divorce, and wait longer to remarry. Why is marriage not working for women? And what fundamentally has to change for women to continue saying "I do”? *This episode originally aired on Feb. 21, 2024.
For years as host of the CBC podcast On Drugs , Geoff Turner has examined the history, culture, science and religion of drugs, from ancient Berzerkers and their mushroom rituals, to the German army’s use of amphetamines, to the caffeine in millions of people’s morning coffee. In this episode, Turner gets personal. For more episodes: https://link.mgln.ai/TKNpBc
With increasingly diverse societies, the sorting of people into "us" and "them" is inevitable. This sorting brings with it a social and cultural assessment of who does, and does not, deserve social benefits and political rights. The so-called 'deservingness ladder' is shifting as democracies around the world turn towards right-wing populist leaders.
Writer and filmmaker Luke Galati says "living with bipolar disorder is tough." He shares the realities of his mental health struggles, what it's like living in a psychiatric hospital and finding a path to wellness. His documentary is both a personal essay and a series of conversations with health-care professionals and others who have bipolar disorder.
Inhabit Media are at the forefront of a new era of Inuit literature and film. Since 2006, it’s been working to ensure Arctic voices are heard across Canada. From Iqaluit, IDEAS producer Pauline Holdsworth speaks with writers and illustrators about telling the stories of their home and finding creativity from the land.
In 1853, Mary Ann Shadd Cary became the first Black woman publisher in Canada with her newspaper, The Provincial Freeman. As a lawyer, publisher, and educator, she laid the groundwork for Black liberation in Canada. Descendants and other guests share her remarkable story. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 7, 2023.
Award-winning journalist and author Brandi Morin says reconciliation in Canada is on life support. She's calling for a revolution against the apathy and ignorance that she says keeps Indigenous people from healing and succeeding.
Chava Rosenfarb, Holocaust survivor and Canadian Yiddish writer, was born 100 years ago in Łódź, Poland. In 2023, Łódź celebrated “The Year of Chava Rosenfarb." In this episode, producer Allison Dempster revisits a 2001 IDEAS documentary that profiles Rosenfarb’s legacy and the politics of Holocaust remembrance in Poland today. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 29, 2024.
Maria Chapdelaine — the fictional character from rural Quebec became a global phenomenon in the 1920s, and has inspired movies, plays — even an opera. Yet the book remains far less known in English Canada and the English-speaking world. IDEAS examines the many lives that Maria Chapdelaine has lived, and continues to live.
Enslaved in 1840s Virginia, Henry Brown has himself nailed into a postal crate and mailed to a free state. But that’s less than half his story. In freedom, he becomes Henry Box Brown, and uses his escape box as the basis for a subversive magic act that sees him tour the stages of the UK and Canada — his final home.
Is group therapy underused in treating mental health? Psychiatrist Molyn Leszcz calls it an “incredibly powerful” approach, where patients heal each other and themselves through support and, sometimes, challenge. Scholar Jess Cotton agrees, tracing the radical roots of an idea that she thinks could hold a greater place today. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 18, 2023.
As Canadians once again find themselves explaining why their country deserves to exist, a group of proud Quebecers brave the winter in Sherbrooke to raise their nation’s largest-ever flag. IDEAS' Tom Howell joins in, as he continues his series on where the patriotic spirit belongs in people’s lives today.
Aaju Peter was 11 years old when she was taken from her Inuk community in Greenland and sent away to learn the ways of the West. She lost her language and culture. The activist, lawyer, designer, musician, filmmaker, and prolific teacher takes IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed on a tour of Iqaluit and into a journey to decolonization that continues still.
