Ideas

by CBC
200

IDEAS is a deep-dive into contemporary thought and intellectual history. No topic is off-limits. In the age of clickbait and superficial headlines, it's for people who like to think.

Recent Episodes
  • Do you truly live in a ‘free’ society? It’s complicated.
    Apr 14, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Why world maps illustrate an artificial reality
    Apr 11, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Need some Stompin' Tom right now to celebrate being Canadian? We thought so.
    Apr 10, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Democracies 'stay true to your values' tackling borders, says U.S. expert
    Apr 9, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • How a network of journalists uncovered billions and toppled world leaders
    Apr 8, 2025 – 00:54:07
  • Can you return home? This author says revision offers radical possibilities
    Apr 7, 2025 – 00:54:07
  • How a conspiracy theory becomes 'real'
    Apr 4, 2025 – 00:54:09
  • Loving Your Country in the 21st Century (Step Three)
    Apr 3, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Walk with us through a rare old-growth forest in peril
    Apr 2, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • How Galileo revolutionized science to make way for modernity
    Apr 1, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Joyce Wieland's art of nationhood embodied Canadian pride
    Mar 31, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Montreal's Confederate past revealed, from sympathizers to raids
    Mar 28, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Protecting childhood innocence is a disservice to kids, argues expert
    Mar 27, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Why a small town newspaper is thriving in a declining industry
    Mar 26, 2025 – 00:54:07
  • A School that Feels like Home: Revitalizing Mi’kmaq Language in Cape Breton
    Mar 25, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • How Iqaluit's learning institute gave a generation of Inuit adults a path back to Inuktut
    Mar 24, 2025 – 00:54:07
  • The 2024 CBC Massey Lectures | # 1: Why we need to have a conversation about conversations
    Mar 17, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • The 2024 CBC Massey Lectures | # 2: Public conversations
    Mar 17, 2025 – 00:54:07
  • The 2024 CBC Massey Lectures | # 3: Personal conversations
    Mar 17, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • The 2024 CBC Massey Lectures | # 5: Good conversations
    Mar 17, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Why Massey Lecturer Ian Williams Stays Open to All Perspectives
    Mar 14, 2025 – 00:54:07
  • Wine with lunch? What's a reasonable amount of luxury?
    Mar 13, 2025 – 00:54:09
  • We believe in artificial intelligence the same way we believe in ghosts
    Mar 12, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • A rallying cry to extend human rights to our data-generating digital selves
    Mar 11, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • How To Build An Empire: The Aeneid Guide to Understanding U.S. Politics
    Mar 10, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Believe in ghosts? Why people see spirits and sense visitations
    Mar 7, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Smell: Why This Invisible Superpower Deserves More Attention
    Mar 6, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • How Inuit Storytelling and Modern Horror Fiction Come Together
    Mar 5, 2025 – 00:54:07
  • Be Reasonable: Scholars Define Who Is and Who Is Not
    Mar 4, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • How Christian ethics can inform a peaceful resolution to Russia’s war in Ukraine
    Mar 3, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Puro Cubano: The Meaning of Tobacco in Cuba
    Feb 28, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Our Bodies, Our Cells: An Audio Exploration of Life's Building Blocks
    Feb 27, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • The UN at 80: Successes, Hopes, Failures, and Challenges
    Feb 26, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Remember the Last Time Canada Feared the U.S. Would Swallow It Up?
    Feb 25, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Why learn improv? Your unscripted mind can surprise even you
    Feb 24, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • How the Outdoors Inspired Women to Become Trailblazers
    Feb 21, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • The Passion of Émile Nelligan: Canada's Saddest Poet
    Feb 20, 2025 – 00:54:09
  • Naming Life: The Race to Classify Millions of Unidentified Species
    Feb 19, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Writer Adam Gopnik on the Evolution of Antisemitism Into Anti-urbanism
    Feb 18, 2025 – 00:54:09
  • Swinging and Singing: The Violin
    Feb 17, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Marriage and the Modern Woman: What It Takes To Say "I Do"
    Feb 14, 2025 – 00:54:07
  • IDEAS Introduces On Drugs | A Troubled Relationship With Alcohol
    Feb 13, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Rights vs Deservingness: How We Decide Who Belongs
    Feb 12, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • Dreaming of Better: Living With Bipolar Disorder
    Feb 11, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • North on North: Stories from the Only Independent Publisher in the Canadian Arctic
    Feb 10, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • From Grit to Glory: Canada’s First Black Woman Publisher
    Feb 7, 2025 – 00:54:07
  • Indigenous Journalist Calls for a Revolution of Genuine Action
    Feb 6, 2025 – 00:54:07
  • 'Here lived Chava Rosenfarb' : A Profile of the Canadian Yiddish writer
    Feb 5, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • The Many Lives of Maria Chapdelaine
    Feb 4, 2025 – 00:54:08
  • The Amazing Henry Box Brown: From Fugitive Slave to Ingenious Entertainer
    Feb 3, 2025 – 00:54:08
Recent Reviews
  • outraged American
    Alan TURING, not TURNING
    It’s Turing, not Turning! Please do your homework!
  • AhHmm4
    Humboldt’s Ghost
    A comprehensive exploration of historical ideas about the value, purposes and models of universal education. A glaring omission is any reference to half of those potential students: girls and women.
  • 1666!.
    Great Show
    Always enjoy topics presented and great interview partners are picked. I’ve learned a lot from various episodes. Listening from Germany.
  • sidneyhart
    Sidney Hart
    We are stuffed to our gills with podcasts these days but IDEAS, which I guess is a radio show on Canada and is available everywhere else as a podcast, is one of the oldest and still one of the most thought provoking in its choice and treatment of subjects. Perhaps Canada doesn’t have much to show for itself in glorious civilization achievements but this modesty has been turned to its advantage because it can approach other cultures’ achievements with an open mind. I am particularly struck role played by the Palestinian-Canadian host Nahlah Ayed. She brings a Muslim sensibility and a Muslim bias to so many of the topics. I can think of no other country’s flagship radio station that has given so much prominence to Islamic culture and thought. I mean that as a compliment.
  • Winston2356
    Broad generalities
    Lots of good ideas but light on details and support. Some are science by anecdote and others are just feelings.
  • cochineal.moon
    Architecture of war and peace
    Excellent story told thru the lens of many.
  • Briseis27
    Wow!
    Kind of blown away by the elegance with which this team has managed to integrate very rich and in-depth reflections on themes like authoritarian personality with narratives that bring the issues to life. Hollywood and war is eye opening and I am teaching and researching in these areas — definitely an incentive to up my game in the classroom and a very valuable and mesmerizing resource for us all.
  • MHD Traverse City
    Ideas
    If only American public radio had the same freedom of expression.
  • saabrian
    Five stars
    This is by far the most consistently thought-provoking podcast I have found.
  • Jwd51
    Ode to Failure
    This was a thoughtful and interesting episode. The idea that identity and achievement should be separate is profound even if it sounds simple. I would quibble though that we (Americans, at least) should get off the success/failure see-saw. What about « the timid souls » anyway, and what really is success? In America it’s hard to see the case for it being other than money, credentials, and expensive possessions. The woman with the failed start-up reminded me, by complete contrast, with Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos fame whose moral failings are on trial. The former woman is a moral success. I have spent my life feeling that I failed at most things I tried, that I have too few presentable achievements. But I turned 70 and realize it hardly matters; in spite of whatever is lacking I do have an identity built on books, travel, questions, curiosities, and relationships. It’s not bad for a life.
  • a64736362
    Interesting
    There are so many thought provoking episodes! I feel like I’ve come across an intellectual gold mine. Thank you to the CBC for creating such a great podcast. They are really doing the public an important service by providing such fascinating and nuanced conversations in a time of knee jerk reactions and hot takes.
  • Potter Matt
    Thought provoking but uncritical
    Giving voice to the dispossessed and disgruntled alike. Charming until they suggest seizing all property.
  • JennyEfff
    Most intelligent, thought-provoking show out there
    I’ve been a huge fan of Ideas for years and I’m thrilled that it’s now available as a podcast. It’s consistently the most intelligent and thought-provoking show on the radio.
  • Sunfish Moon Light
    Stellar show with a great new host
    ‘Ideas’ has been and continues to be the best show produced by the CBC, and one of the few places where Canada has produced a program that the US has no answer for. Keep it up!
  • marketpop
    Leonardo
    Wonderful show! Thanks!
  • jbyrd2973
    Peeking over the border
    I am honestly so jealous of Canada, although I know it’s expensive there. Throughout the CBC they spend a lot of time breaking down the giant garbage heap that is my home country, and they make me feel sane. Ideas is always spot-on, thoughtfully progressive, and very niche. I’ve only skipped a handful of episodes that were too niche for me. Sean Foley is an amazing contributor, and while I was worried when the fantastic Paul Kennedy retried, once Nala took over the podcast remained just as wise and insightful. Thank you all at Ideas for your amazing work!
  • Cozzum
    Traveling mind
    I like getting out of the U.S. to have a look around the globe occasionally, to see how others outside my local realm are viewing their lives and the world around them. "Ideas" plays it's part in giving me another lens through which to view the bigger picture.. Over the last few years this program has covered a lot of ground across a broad range of subjects, landscapes, and perspectives. The program has a new presenter as of this summer. She is doing a great job in continuing the exploration and discussions.
  • JamesSloan
    Race mongering gibberish
    Such a hate filled and race baiting episode. Does no one at CBC edit or review content before publication anymore?
  • Jack_McCoy
    Fantastic Show
    An excellent long-running Canadian show that features panel discussions, lectures, and most enjoyably original audio documentaries about any number of fascinating topics. You can go from one episode exploring the history of hotels — as a concept, as a business, as a unique headspace — to another about the future extinction of the human race or some unexplored facet of world history. This show is a gem.
  • Wesley Cheney
    It’s the Radiolab of Canada!
    And Robert Kennedy sounds like he’s Robert Krulwich on tea, instead of coffee. Seriously, were the two Robert K’s separated at birth? Just as Radiolab plays with and explores ideas, this show does the same, but unplugged. It doesn’t have Jad Abumurad’s textured production, but it’s still really good.
  • cherry pie 1
    Superb and Deeply Human
    Its been said that poets expose us to things we never realized were important. Ideas from CBC Radio is like that. For example, I never thought about what might come after atheism until I listened to the Ideas mini-series on that topic. I was blown away. I recommend this podcast highly.
  • Ellamaria Maria
    Best!!!
    I like this radio amazing stories from different country and culture ... Best keep going
  • jim in Smithfield, VA
    Outstanding Material and Recordings
    I listen to thousands of podcasts and always include practically all of those from this source in my must-hear list. They provide in-depth perspective, insight and background to local and international life. Thanks from the States to some very competent and intelligent Canadians.
  • winstonsmyth
    Regardless of the subject matter this is always thought provoking
    Earnest, honest, clear-thinking. It is intelligent yet accessible without being condescending. I might not always be interested in the subject matter but when I am it's a joy to listen to. CBC has always given people the opportunity to explore without agenda. A rare thing today. For current events try The Current, for something akin to Garrison Keillor try Vinyl Cafe.
  • Booskeezie
    Docu-radio at its best!
    THE best program on radio. Too bad so few episodes are available on Podcast, though...
  • incognito82
    Very thought-provoking and informative program
    I really love this show. I love listening to stories - ordinary people who show extraordinary power in difficult situations.
  • Stranger N Fiction
    Insightful, intelligent, thought-provoking
    One of the best radio shows in existence finally is available on podcast. Eaqch Ideas episode explores a question or topic from many different perspectives, usually interviewing major figures in the relevant fields. If (like the other reviewers) I had to compare to other podcasts, it's very similar in style and in subject matter, to WNYC's RadioLab. Ideas was a weekday evening highlight when I lived in Canada. Having some of the best shows available on podcast is like having that really intelligent, thoughtful, funny friend who you dearly miss since they moved away a few years ago, move back to town, and finding them even more enjoyable company than before!!
  • ursaminor
    Hardball?
    The previous review compares this show to Hardball...you mean the chris matthews show? wow-- it is absolutely nothing like that--far superior. It is nothing like any american television, except perhaps the new Bill Moyers program on "Public" TV [which is no longer really public, but largely coopted by corporate sponsors]. Some of our public radio is good, [Speaking of Faith by Krista Tippet for instance] but not widely distributed. Now you can get the podcast. You are lucky to have this kind of quality program in Canada. It might not hold everyone's interest...it goes into great depth on a given subject, and the subjects are interesting but not "glamorous". It takes a developed attention span. However there are those of us starved for this kind of thoughtful program since we are bombarded with such superficial stuff 95% of the time. For that audience it is great.
  • SMPN604
    A is for Aardvark
    Yeah!!! One of my fave CBC shows now on podcast, I'm a happy camper.
  • PantherG
    Great insight, but Wheres The National?
    This was my first time hearing TBoI and it wasn't bad, very intellectual although it's nothing you couldn't already hear from say a Meet The Press, or a Hardball but good for CBC. And wheres The National? Streaming video does not always happen on my computer and when it does, it jumps about, C-SPAN doesn't broadcast it anymore soooooooooo things are kind of at a head.. Peter Mansbridge is VERY insightful and its something I'd like to see i-tunes add to its library.
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