Ideas
Channel Details
Ideas
IDEAS is a place for people who like to think. If you value deep conversation and unexpected reveals, this show is for you. From the roots and rise of authoritarianism to near-death experiences to the history of toilets, no topic is off-limits. Hosted by Nahlah Ayed, we’re home to immersiv...
Recent Episodes
454 episodes
For 40 years trains brought classrooms to children
They were known as School Cars and Schools on Wheels. Trains that chugged along the railroads and brought schooling to children living in the isolated...
Confronting the escalating attacks on universities
The Trump administration has been targeting higher education for some time now — freezing grants and filing lawsuits against leading universities. But...
Should homework be banned for students?
A hundred years ago homework was described as a 'sin against childhood.' But the practice is still a staple of our education system. Some parents like...
How hashish may have helped a philosopher envision our future
What happens when original artworks become endless copies? German philosopher Walter Benjamin called it the death of "aura," and his concept predicted...
How the principles of St. Augustine guide the Catholic Church
Pope Leo XIV has been deeply influenced by St. Augustine, and so, the fourth-century titan of Western thought has re-entered the global conversation....
How an 'untouchable' inspired resistance against inequality in India
In pre-independence India, activist B.R. Ambedkar said India would never be free unless caste was eradicated. Today, India is rife with an aggressive...
Why Gandhi's vision for an inclusive India never materialized
Gandhi envisioned a free India as a place of communal harmony where each person understood duty and sacrifice. Today, India is rife with an aggressive...
The suffragist who was too radical for Susan. B. Anthony
You likely have never heard of Matilda Joslyn Gage. Gloria Steinem calls her “the woman ahead of the women who were ahead of their time.” Matilda work...
What water can teach us about hope in hard times
In an era of political polarization and fatigue from ongoing crises, hope is critical. But it's not something you have; it's something you do, argues...
The common ground of fact and fiction can be powerful
Fact and fiction may seem poles apart but writers Esi Edugyan and Tiya Miles find the two intertwine perfectly in their award-winning storytelling. Bo...
Turn to the power of 'freudenfreude' in times of despair
The world is feeling darker and darker these days. So this podcast might be a much-needed balm. It's about hope — a practice that scholar Shannon Murr...
David Bowie took his own death as a creative catalyst
Throughout his career, it wasn't unusual for David Bowie to sing about death. But the musician used his own mortality as a theme for a final album tha...
How to brace for a world of unheard-of conditions
Alain Deneault has a philosophical cure for eco-angst. He proposes turning the angst into actions in the face of unprecedented, unpredictable times. T...
Bringing a farm — and its philosophy — back to life
Growing up with food insecurity, Julian Napoleon yearned to be a farmer. His great-grandparents once farmed on the Saulteau First Nations reserve in n...
Walk with us through a rare old-growth forest in peril
The Wabanaki-Acadian old-growth forest is endangered — only one per cent of its old growth is left. The ancient forest, which stretches from parts of...
How the Anthropocene is changing the elements — and us
Our relationship with earth and water is changing in the Anthropocene, says renowned author Robert Macfarlane. Humanity has become a transformative fo...
What emerges from the ashes after a wildfire? (Pt 3)
The summer of 2026 has been defined by the smoke — and the horror — of wildfires around the world. But what comes after one of these fires? "That isn'...
How Indigenous ecology is reviving land destroyed by wildfires
What happens to the land after a brutal wildfire? IDEAS visited St'át'imc territory near Lillooet, B.C., to follow land guardians and scientists from...
How brutal wildfires are 'killing' Indigenous ways of life
In 2021, a deadly heat dome produced a devastating wildfire season across British Columbia. While immediate media coverage often focuses on evacuation...
A book prescription for mental health?
On the surface, bibliotherapy might sound like another personal wellness trend, but it definitely isn’t. In fact, it’s an approved form of mental heal...
Protecting childhood innocence is a disservice to kids, argues expert
We should move away from this idea that childhood should be filled with innocence, safe from the knowledge of difficult things argues Critical Cultura...
Eugenic thinking has never gone away
Eugenics is seen as a 19th-century idea put into horrific 20th-century practice. But the attraction to breeding “better” humans has a long and persist...
Wait, so addiction might not be a brain disease?
That’s what Hanna Pickard argues. After analyzing the scientific research, and working with those who’ve stopped self-destructive drug and alcohol use...
Are psychopaths real? A review of the science says, no
Thanks to Dexter and Hannibal Lecter you may think you know what a psychopath is. But a critical review of the science suggests that 'psychopath' as a...
Why we should 'fight like hell' against Big AI
"We need to separate AI from empire," says tech journalist Karen Hao who used to work in Silicon Valley as an engineer. Now she’s an outspoken critic...
We believe in artificial intelligence the same way we believe in ghosts
Hidden in the 1950 academic paper that launched the famous 'Turing Test' of machine intelligence, is a strange mystery. Cryptographer Alan Turing argu...
With a decline in reading is our capacity to think eroding?
Thanks to AI, it's easier than ever to avoid reading books — but that convenience may come with a cost. IDEAS explores how our digital landscape, coup...
What if AI had empathy and 'maternal instincts'?
If AI continues to develop without appropriate guardrails, a worst-case scenario could lead to human extinction, warns the 'godfather of artificial in...
Artificial Intimacy: Love, Grief, and AI Chatbots
Millions of people are using AI to “talk” to the dead. The phenomenon has left cyberpsychologist Elaine Kasket asking what happens when we rely on for...
How leaders in the former Yugoslavia forged peace in 1995
For almost four years, the Bosnian War in the former Yugoslavia was characterized by ethnic hatreds, atrocities, and a refugee crisis. So when leaders...
Lessons from last century’s failed Mideast peace deal
When Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat met in Washington to sign the first Oslo Accords...
# 1: What it took to end a 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland
The process of making peace is often imperfect, and can shape the future in both positive and destructive ways. In a five-part series called Inventing...
With a decline in reading is our capacity to think eroding?
Thanks to AI, it's easier than ever to avoid reading books — but that convenience may come with a cost. IDEAS explores how our digital landscape, coup...
Buttons give the illusion of power but hide the consequences
Whether mechanical or digital, a button delivers the promise of power — but it's far from simple. The small and mighty technology has a riveting histo...
Blue jeans have a dark secret
Jeans are a quintessential fashion staple for the Canadian tuxedo — and a symbol of rebellion. But the world's most popular garment comes at an enviro...
Love or hate math, geometry is embedded in daily life
"Geometry is the cilantro of math. People are not neutral about it," says Jordan Ellenberg. The mathematician is aware not everyone loves math like he...
How casino culture plays with our brains
If the house always wins, why do we play? This documentary asks experts and observers to reflect on the casino as reality and metaphor. Skill versus l...
How Brutalist architecture goes beyond aesthetics
Brutalism has become the subject of architecture tours, a coffee-table art book darling, and a highly sought-after living environment. But concrete is...
Redeeming swamps from their wasteland reputation
Bogs, marshes, and swamps have long been cast as toxic wastelands, from the dead marshes in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings to the vegetal monster from th...
The fear of fire is taking control of us
Humans used fire as a tool. Now we fear its destruction. But we're responsible for changing the climate, argues John Vailliant, "in a way that favours...