Can empathy be dangerous?
It depends on who you ask. Until recently empathy was generally considered a positive thing. But a growing number of mostly conservative voi...
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Ideas from CBC Radio (Highlights)
Ideas is all about ideas \x96 programs that explore everything from culture and the arts to science and technology to social issues.
Episodes
20 of 314 episodesHow absurdist theatre is an act of resistance
Theatre of the Absurd was born in the wake of the Second World War as a recoil against the violent fetish that totalitarian regimes had for...
Grief and the cost of outsourcing feeling
Hanif Abdurraqib lives his life heart-forward. His writing is informed by the many losses he's endured, but also by his commitment to "love...
The Billionaire Age Pt 4 | How democracy can beat back the oligarchs
Feeling despair over the threats to democracy coming out of The Billionaire Age? Let alone the predictions we'll see 10 trillionaires within...
How Iqaluit's learning institute gave a generation of Inuit adults a path back to Inuktut
Younger generations in Nunavut today are less likely to grow up immersed in Inuktut. At a language school in Iqaluit, Inuit adults who didn’...
How Indigenous art makes truth visible
“Truth telling is profoundly visual. Art created by Indigenous peoples is not mere expression — it is cognitive, ceremonial, and political,"...
How to Defeat Authoritarianism | Bashar al-Assad's Syria
In 2000, Bashar al-Assad became president of Syria, also known as the authoritarian "Kingdom of Fear" that his father Hafez al-Assad had cre...
When words get in the way, vocal improv saves the day
Would you 'doo-be-doo' if you know it would help bridge divides? Try vocal improvisation — singing sounds, rhythms and melodies. PhD graduat...
Known for her sharp wit, Dorothy Parker was also an activist
She’s famous for her caustic quips and her love of cocktails, but there was a lot more to Dorothy Parker than her time at the famed Algonqui...
What it's like to travel as a blind person
Blind life is an individual experience. But from neighbourhood walks to international travel, blind people want momentum, adventure, and a s...
How to Defeat Authoritarianism | Augusto Pinochet's Chile
Augusto Pinochet became Chile's leader after a bloody, U.S.-supported coup killed socialist president Salvador Allende in 1973. He defended...
Authoritarian vs. The Resisters
Authoritarian politics continue to intensify. But so do acts of resistance. This podcast focusses on the resisters who are pushing for accou...
Birth is the story of us all. But do you know its history?
Not everyone gives birth. But everyone is born. Yet we rarely talk about the history of childbirth. So author Lucy Inglis researched its blo...
How new fascism operates
Historian Marci Shore doesn't hesitate to use the word 'fascism' to describe the present moment. The former Yale professor left the U.S. aft...
Adventures of the late great 'Bird Man' Bill Montevecchi
Seabird biologist Bill Montevecchi has been ranked in the world’s top two per cent of scientists. Montevecchi died at the age of 80 in July...
How to Defeat Authoritarianism | Idi Amin's Uganda
After seizing power in a 1971 coup, Ugandan military commander Idi Amin promised a return to democracy — but he delivered a brutal dictators...
Unpacking the contradictions in America's ideals
What has become of the America that has for so long been held up as a shining example of ideals? In conversation at the 2026 Aspen Ideas Fes...
Human emotion behind AI chatbot design
Behind every great chatbot are many human workers making decisions on how those chatbots behave and evolve. Recent PhD graduate Noah Khan ha...
A poet's journey from being exiled to gaining citizenship
When Rohingya poet Mayyu Ali saw his name in print for the first time, he thought: "I exist." "Even though my government doesn't recognize [...
What the far-right are borrowing from history’s fascism aesthetics
Fascism has been called “the aestheti-cization of politics.” Nazis and Italian Fascists both made visual culture, art, even fashion part of...