Big Ideas (Audio)

What will it mean to be human in the future? Uploading consciousness into virtual worlds and prolonging life through biotechnology are already being contemplated. Canada's leading science fiction writer, Robert J. Sawyer, offers his insights in a lecture entitled Humanity 2.0, produced in collaboration with the Literary Review of Canada.

Author, teacher and activist, Clay Shirky, discusses the visionary insights of Marshall McLuhan as well as his own ideas about the effects of new media and social networking on our society. Shirky's latest book Cognitive Surplus explores how new technology is unleashing a wave of creative production that he believes is transforming the world. Following the lecture, Shirky sits down for an interview with broadcaster Jesse Hirsh. The event was part of the McLuhan 100 series at the International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront Centre.

In a lecture entitled How Success Happens, New York Times columnist and author, David Brooks, draws from the research in his latest book The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement. His lecture was delivered at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

The Canadian Space Agency's Chief Astronaut, Julie Payette delivers a lecture entitled Canadian Space Agency Perspectives from Space: Research and Diplomacy.

Thomas Homer-Dixon answers questions following his lecture entitled Civilization Far From Equilibrium: Energy, Complexity and Human Survival.

Keith Devlin, Executive Director of the H-STAR Institute at Stanford University, discusses Leonardo and Steve: How Fibonacci Beat Apple to Market by 800 Years

Steve Paikin, anchor and senior editor of TVO's series The Agenda with Steve Paikin, delivers the 20th annual Bell lecture entitled, The Personal Price of a Political Life. The lecture was recorded at Carleton University in Ottawa on November 16th, 2011.

John Ibbitson, Ottawa bureau chief for The Globe and Mail, delivers a lecture on The Collapse of the Laurentian Consensus and the Rise of Ontario as a Pacific Province. This lecture was produced in collaboration with the Literary Review of Canada.

Moderator Mark Kingwell and panelists Michael Ignatieff and Ramin Jahanbegloo discuss the writings of political philosopher Isaiah Berlin as they pertain to Liberty and The Arab Spring

Armine Yalnizyan, senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and William Watson, McGill economics professor, debate Inequality: A Threat to Democracy? This is the 2011 Keith Davey Forum on Public Affairs, moderated by political scientist Jeffrey Kopstein.