Ideas

Brain variations which were once advantages are now seen as burdens and disorders that beg for remedies. In this two-part series, IDEAS traces the social and cultural response to brain variation and whether there's a way back to seeing them as advantages. *This episode originally aired on April 29, 2022.

Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel fears that we’ve turned from a market economy into a market society, where just about everything is for sale. His book, What Money Can’t Buy, was a big success 10 years ago. He joins Astra Taylor and Michael Ignatieff to discuss why his book is even more relevant today.

American writer Wallace Stegner fought hard to protect the land and resources in the Wild West. But he had crucial blind spots about the history of Indigenous people. IDEAS goes to Eastend, Saskatchewan in search of what Stegner's writings on conservation mean today, in a place where the grasslands are still under threat.

We continue our series with a rare glimpse into seven decades dedicated to rebuilding society. Three titans of the civil rights movement, Angela Davis, her sister Fania Davis and Margaret Burnham, come together to discuss transforming racial justice, as part of an event organized by the Restorative Lab at Dalhousie University's Schulich School of Law and the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia.

The pandemic upended much of our normal way of interacting with others. Intuitive activities like hugging loved ones and bonding over shared meals had to stop because of distancing protocols. Contributor Johnny Spence explores the emotional and neurological impact of touch deprivation, especially as it pertains to healthcare practitioners. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 14, 2022.

Failure. It's the worst. Or is it? In the last decade, efforts to reframe failure have pushed it to the surface of popular culture. People like Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and Oprah Winfrey are all hawking failure as the secret to 21st-century success. Was Samuel Beckett right: fail again, fail better? *This episode originally aired on Dec. 15, 2021.

Mock guillotines regularly show up at protests, from both the political right and left. This documentary by Matthew Lazin-Ryder traces the history of the guillotine as a symbol, from its bloody history during the darkest days of the French Revolution to its reinvention as an emblem of equality. *This episode originally aired on November 2, 2021.

IDEAS offers a rare glimpse into seven decades dedicated to rebuilding society. Three titans of the civil rights movement, Angela Davis, her sister Fania Davis and Margaret Burnham, come together to discuss transforming racial justice, as part of an event organized by the Restorative Lab at Dalhousie University's Schulich School of Law and the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia.

Religious and mythological visions of the end of the world may be common, but the scientific concept of human extinction has a more urgent history. IDEAS explores the link between imagining extinction and acting to avert it — from Mary Shelley's pandemic novel, The Last Man (1826), to visions of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War, to cli-fi (climate fiction) of today. *This episode originally aired on March 4, 2021

The UN was created partly to prevent war yet war's the one thing it hasn’t been able to prevent. Still despite its flaws, Canada’s ambassador to the UN, Bob Rae says it's a good place to start. Rae makes an impassioned plea for engaging with a world in turmoil.