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Ideas

CBC Podcasts & Radio On-Demand

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.

Location:

Canada, ON

Description:

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.

Twitter:

@CBCradio

Language:

English

Contact:

Ideas CBC Radio P.O. Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6 (416) 205-3700


Episodes
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We believe in artificial intelligence the same way we believe in ghosts

3/12/2025
Hidden in the 1950 academic paper that launched the famous 'Turning Test' of machine intelligence, is a strange mystery. Cryptographer Alan Turning argued that humans might always be able to outsmart machines, because we have supernatural powers like ESP, telepathy, and telekinesis. His belief in the paranormal is just one part of the spooky side of artificial intelligence. Like hauntings or seances, AI is an exercise in self-deception; we imagine intelligence from computation and data, just like we imagine ghosts from strange lights and bumps in the night.

Duration:00:54:08

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We the Data: Human Rights in the Digital Age

3/11/2025
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.

Duration:00:54:08

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How To Build An Empire: The Aeneid Playbook for U.S. Politics

3/10/2025
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?

Duration:00:54:08

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How Inuit Storytelling and Modern Horror Fiction Come Together

3/5/2025
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.

Duration:00:54:07

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How Christian ethics can inform a resolution in Russia's war in Ukraine

3/3/2025
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.

Duration:00:54:08

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The UN at 80: Successes, Hopes, Failures, and Challenges

2/26/2025
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.

Duration:00:54:08

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Remember the Last Time Canada Feared the U.S. Would Swallow It Up?

2/25/2025
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.

Duration:00:54:08

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Say Yes: Improvisation in Art and Life

2/24/2025
For many people, public speaking is horrifying. Imagine trying to make people laugh. 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.

Duration:00:54:08

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What's In A Name?: The Race to Classify Millions of Unidentified Species

2/19/2025
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?

Duration:00:54:08

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Writer Adam Gopnik on the Evolution of Antisemitism Into Anti-urbanism

2/18/2025
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.

Duration:00:54:09

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IDEAS Introduces On Drugs | A Troubled Relationship With Alcohol

2/13/2025
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

Duration:00:54:08

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Rights vs Deservingness: How We Decide Who Belongs

2/12/2025
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.

Duration:00:54:08

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Dreaming of Better: Living with Bipolar Disorder

2/11/2025
Writer and filmmaker Luke Galati lives with bipolar disorder. He shares the realities of his mental health struggles and what it's like living in a psychiatric hospital in his documentary — both a personal essay and a series of conversations with health care professionals and others who have bipolar disorder.

Duration:00:54:08

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North on North: Stories from the Only Independent Publisher in the Canadian Arctic

2/10/2025
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.

Duration:00:54:08

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Indigenous Journalist Calls for a Revolution of Genuine Action

2/6/2025
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.

Duration:00:54:07

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The Many Lives of Maria Chapdelaine

2/4/2025
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.

Duration:00:54:08

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The Amazing Henry Box Brown: Escaping Slavery By Mailing Himself to Freedom

2/3/2025
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.

Duration:00:54:08

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Loving Your Country in the 21st Century (Step Two)

1/30/2025
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.

Duration:00:54:09

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Becoming Aaju Peter: A Guardian of Inuk Language and Culture

1/29/2025
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.

Duration:00:54:08

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PT 2: What Lies Beneath the Surface: Anthropologist Wade Davis

1/28/2025
Is it too late to save the planet? Anthropologist Wade Davis doesn't think so — he's inspired by the ability of nature to adapt, and he thinks people can change, too. He says that means looking for all the information we can get. Part two of IDEAS producer Philip Coulter’s conversation with Wade Davis.

Duration:00:54:08