Big Ideas (Audio)

Big Ideas presents Brian Dalton on his Mr. Deity podcasts, the amorality of Christianity and the morality of atheism

Journalist and author Chris Hedges delivers a lecture based on his book Death of the Liberal Class. Hedges argues that there are five pillars of the liberal establishment - the press, liberal religious institutions, labor unions, universities and the Democratic Party - but that these institutions have failed the constituents they purport to represent.

University of Toronto professor and clinical psychologist, Jordan Peterson, delivers the 2010 Hancock Lecture entitled The Necessity of Virtue. He discusses virtue from a contemporary perspective that both encompasses and extends beyond moral and religious contexts. Through compelling stories and research, Dr. Peterson illustrates the necessity of virtue both for the individual and for society at large.

Journalist, broadcaster, and bestselling author, Simon Winchester, tells the remarkable story of Joseph Needham, an eccentric English chemist who wrote a vast book on Chinese science which remains the longest book about China ever written in the English language. Winchester 19s lecture on The Man Who Loved China was delivered at the Royal Ontario Museum on October 14, 2010.

Educator and author, Camille Paglia, discusses The Future of Education at the 2010 Globe and Mail Open House Festival in Toronto. The event moderator is broadcaster, Valerie Pringle.

Sean M. Carroll of CalTech discusses how the direction of the arrow of time was defined by the Big Bang. He also speculates about what might have come before the Big Bang. The lecture is entitled The Origin of the Universe & the Arrow of Time.

German psychoanalyst, Werner Bohleber, on The Phenomenon of Adolescent Violence.

Craig Kaplan discusses origami, tiling patterns and other areas of art where mathematics and computers have had a significant impact. The lecture, entitled Mathematical Art and Artistic Mathematicians, was deliverd at the Quantum to Cosmos Festival.

Art historian Francis Broun presents his lecture entitled Genius Denied: The Art of Sir Edwin Landseer. It was recorded at the Women's Art Association in Toronto on May 24th, 2010.

Indiana University professor of History and Philosophy of Science, William R. Newman presents his lecture, entitled Why Did Isaac Newton Believe in Alchemy? Through historical documents and experiments that demonstrate alchemical processes, this lecture explains why one of the most insightful scientists in history was convinced that alchemical transformations were scientifically plausible. It was delivered at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario, on October 6th, 2010.