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Channel • 20 Shows

Society & Culture

Society & Culture

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Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated 16/05/2024
History

History

Updated 02/04/2025
Society & Culture

Society & Culture

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News

News

Updated weekly
Science

Science

Updated 22/04/2024
Science

Science

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4 DAYS AGO

Why copyright laws do more harm than good

It's getting pretty difficult to read any article online without a paywall in the way. What happened to the internet's great promise to democratize knowledge? On an individual basis, artists, writers and scientists can create without fear of theft thanks to copyright laws. But in practice copyright laws set up barriers, stifle production and prevent equal access to art and research. In this podcast, producer Naheed Mustafa explores the fate of “open access” — all in the ever-expanding universe of copyright laws, paywalls and old-fashioned bureaucratic sludge. Guests in this podcast: John Willinsky is emeritus professor of education at Stanford University with an appointment at Simon Fraser University. Lokesh Vyas is pursuing a PhD at Sciences Po in Paris working on the history of international copyright law. Thea Lim is a Toronto-based novelist, creative writing teacher, and cultural writer focussing on the intersection of power, art and personhood, and technology.

4 days ago

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54 min
1 DAY AGO

How Sudan’s generous spirit survives war and neglect

"This is a hopeless situation but we are not helpless." This is what drives Sudanese journalist Yousra Elbagir's reporting on her homeland's forgotten war. She uses what she calls "human reporting" to let the world know Sudan is more than conflict and suffering. "Sudanese generosity is our lifeblood. That's what's keeping us alive right now. We are actually surviving in forced starvation through generosity and kindness and care." Yousra Elbagir delivered the 2025 Stursberg Foreign Correspondents Lecture at Carleton University. She spoke to host Nahlah Ayed about her work and her lecture: Human reporting from Sudan and beyond — a remedy for selective empathy?

1 day ago

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55 min
05/06/2025

The famously polarizing father of capitalism

The 18th-century philosopher Adam Smith is often called “the father of economics,” and sometimes “the father of capitalism.” IDEAS contributor Matthew Lazin-Ryder examines how Smith’s name has been used and abused to both defend and attack free-market economics since his death.

05/06/2025

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54 min
16/06/2025

The making of an ‘authoritarian personality’

A groundbreaking study conducted in the wake of the Second World War by a group of scholars rocked the academic world when it was published in 1950 — but fell out of favour. Now a new generation of scholars is reviving the lessons of The Authoritarian Personality to understand who is drawn in by fascist propaganda.

16/06/2025

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54 min
18/06/2025

Inside our loneliness epidemic

Some experts are calling loneliness an epidemic in Canada and throughout much of the world. Social isolation is a public health risk with consequences for individuals, communities and for our social systems. A multi-disciplinary panel, hosted at the University of British Columbia, examine loneliness from perspectives of men's and women's health, interpersonal relations, climate change and public policy. Guests in this episode: Dr. Kiffer Card is an assistant professor at Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Health Sciences. He was the moderator of the panel presentation, All the Lonely People: the Search for Belonging in an Uncertain World. Mandy Lee Catron is from the School of Creative Writing, at UBC. Dr. John Oliffe is a professor and Canada Research Chair in Men’s Health Promotion at the School of Nursing, at UBC. Dr. Carrie Jenkins is a professor in the Department of Philosophy at UBC. Dr. Marina Adshade is an assistant professor of teaching at the Vancouver School of Economics, at UBC.

18/06/2025

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54 min
27/02/2025

Our Bodies, Our Cells: An Audio Exploration of Life's Building Blocks

Our bodies are a great paradox. We are made up of trillions of cells that are both independent and interconnected units of life. IDEAS travels into the microscopic complexity of the human body to explore sophisticated nanomachines — and probe the deep mysteries of a subatomic world. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 31, 2024.

27/02/2025

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54 min
01/10/2025

What life was like for Luke Galati in a psychiatric ward

Writer and filmmaker Luke Galati shares what it is like living with bipolar I disorder and staying in a psychiatric ward — an experience he says feels like being in a fish bowl. While being hospitalized meant he lost his sense of freedom and control, he never lost hope. Luke's documentary is both a personal essay and a series of conversations with health-care professionals and others who have bipolar disorder. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 11, 2025. Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input!

01/10/2025

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54 min
19/08/2025

#2: What we can learn from our conversations with strangers

In his second Massey Lecture, Ian Williams explores the power of conversation with strangers. He says humanity comes out when interacting with them. But how do we open ourselves up to connect with strangers while safeguarding our personal sovereignty? *The 2024 CBC Massey Lectures originally aired in November.

19/08/2025

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54 min
03/06/2025

What it means to fully embrace neurodiversity

Imagine a world without Mozart or Michelangelo, Einstein or Edison. Famous for their creativity, a "mysterious force" that psychiatrist and ADHD expert, Ed Hallowell, says is a commonality in neurodiverse people. Neurodiversity is a relatively new term, but the thinking behind it has been going on for a while. There’s increasing evidence that what we know today as Autism, ADHD, BipolarDisorder, Schizophrenia, and Dyslexia may have been a way for us to extend our species chances of survival. And yet the thinking around brain variations like ADHD is that it's a deficiency, something that needs to be fixed. Sandra Bourque's two-part series, The Myth of Normal traces the social and cultural response to neurodiversity and whether there's a way back to seeing this way of thinking as an advantage.

03/06/2025

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54 min
05/08/2025

Why philosophy needs to ditch class, and go to a pub

We tend to view philosophy as a formal endeavour. Not so, says Lewis Gordon. Yes, he's an academic but he argues that confining thinking to the academy has resulted in people forgetting that philosophy “has something important to say.” The thinker and musician sees pubs and kitchens as great places to spur thinking and philosophical conversation. At a well-known pub in St. John’s, Newfoundland called the Ship's Inn, Gordon makes the case for the everyday relevance of thinking, and reflected on the vital place of food, drink, and conversation in the making of thought. *This episode originally aired on May 26, 2023.

05/08/2025

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54 min

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