IDEAS schedule for September 2023
* Please note this schedule is subject to change.
Friday, September 1
REITH LECTURES 4: FIONA HILL
The fourth and final BBC Reith Lecture features Fiona Hill, British-American foreign affairs specialist and intelligence official under three US presidential administrations. Analyzing the concept of "freedom from fear," she compares living under the threat of nuclear war in the 1980's to the geopolitical situation today, and says Russian President Vladimir Putin is a master at manipulating fear. She argues fear is born of ignorance and misinformation, and the best way to be free of it is education. *This episode originally aired on April 13, 2023.
Monday, September 4
WORLD ON FIRE
The Labour Day long weekend is the unofficial end to our Canadian summer but it won't be the end of the smoke or the fires. This unprecedented wildfire season has burned further, faster and is predicted to last longer than even some of the climate experts could have imagined. No region of Canada has been untouched. Wildfires are also ravaging communities around the world, with records smashed in Greece, Spain and Hawaii. CBC reporter Adrienne Lamb explores what this could mean for all of us.
Tuesday, September 5
UNIVERSITIES: WHAT'S THE POINT?
What are universities for? Where have they gone wrong? What are they doing right? And what do they owe the public? Those were just some of the questions put to four panelists at a public discussion hosted by the University of Regina. University educators and renowned scholars Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Joel Westheimer, Malinda Smith and Jonathan R. Cole joined IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed in conversation. You'll also hear voices from students past, present and possibly future on what the purpose of a university means to them.
Wednesday, September 6
WHAT THE BIRDS SAW
The face we give to our monsters says much about our anxieties as a culture. But…birds? Two classic works of 20th- century horror featured a violent avian army. This documentary looks at why a Daphne du Maurier short story, and the Alfred Hitchcock thriller inspired by it, imagined The Birds as humanity's mortal enemy. Seeded with fears of technological overreach, environmental disaster, and terror at the rise of the violent irrational, our 21st-century anxieties were anticipated. Gothic expert Catherine Wynne, historian Scott Poole, and literary scholar Lynn Kozak speak with IDEAS producer Lisa Godfrey.
Thursday, September 7
ASTRA TAYLOR
Winnipeg-born filmmaker, writer and political organizer Astra Taylor is delivering the 2023 CBC Massey Lectures — The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together As Things Fall Apart. Astra speaks with Nahlah Ayed about the key moments in her intellectual coming-of-age, from her early life in the "unschooling" movement to her involvement with Occupy Wall Street. She explains why she believes "thinking" and "doing" are inextricably linked, and how her work to combat predatory debt has given her a new understanding of solidarity.
Friday, September 8
WHAT GOOD IS PHILOSOPHY?
What is good?" is at the heart of philosophy. It's relentlessly present in our everyday lives and underpins all the big questions. Asking the question helps us move toward answers about inclusivity, equality, and who gets a voice at the table. As the circle of those asking "what is good?" widens, the answers expand. What we think of as "good" stretches and contracts. Earlier this year, The Munk School at the University of Toronto hosted philosophers and writers and put philosophy to the test. When it comes to the good, they asked, what good is philosophy?
Monday, September 11
HANDS UP WHO LOVES TIMMINS
This small northern city built around an open-pit goldmine offers a treasure that would-be immigrants need much more than gold: a fast track to Canadian permanent residency. The only condition? You must agree to move to Timmins. IDEAS producer Tom Howell finds out what "the city with a heart of gold" has to offer a newcomer, and who's ready to fall in love with Shania Twain's hometown.
Tuesday, September 12
THE NORTH STAR: CANADA AND THE CIVIL WAR PLOTS AGAINST LINCOLN
Montreal was a hotbed of spies and conspirators during the US Civil War. Found on the body of Lincoln's assassin was a money order from the Montreal branch of the Ontario Bank. John Wilkes Booth and his compatriots converged at Montreal's St. Lawrence Hall when they were plotting to kidnap Lincoln. A group of Confederate sympathizers were treated like kings in a Montreal prison. Even Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, headed straight for Montreal after his release from prison. In this episode, Nahlah Ayed and investigative journalist Julian Sher, author of The North Star: Canada and the Civil War Plots Against Lincoln, tour Montreal's past and present, tracing the city's hidden Confederate past.
Wednesday, September 13
GHOST PARTICLES
The mysterious 'neutrino' is also known as the 'ghost particle.' Hundreds of astrophysicists around the globe are racing to understand its nature. Particle astrophysicist Benjamin Tam is a recent PhD graduate from Queen's University. He takes us two kilometres below the earth's surface to a repurposed mine-turned-laboratory where he and his fellow scientists are hoping to unlock a new understanding of the universe's very existence. *This episode originally aired on February 1, 2023.
Thursday, September 14
JHI LECTURE: VANILLA
Vanilla may well be the world's most popular flavour. But its history has been shrouded in obscure records and forgotten facts. Until now. It turns out that vanilla's history is intertwined with the institution of slavery, scientific discovery, geopolitics and one individual's breathtaking resilience. And we have one scholar to thank for illuminating the troubled, yet inspiring, history of vanilla: Eric Jennings of the University of Toronto. He delivered a public talk in June 2023 for the Jackman Humanities Institute, entitled: The Enslaved Teen Who Cracked Vanilla's Secret — a secret that has now been finally revealed.
Friday, September 15
CANADA'S SCHOOL TRAIN
They were known as School Cars and Schools on Wheels. Trains that chugged and chuffed along the railroads and brought schooling to children living in the isolated communities of Northern Ontario. It was a novel six-month experiment that lasted 40 years, from 1926 to 1967. In this documentary, Alisa Siegel explores an early project in remote education, homeschooling, and nation-building. *This episode originally aired on January 9, 2023.
Monday, September 18
WAR AND MEDICINE: HAWKEYE'S ARMY
We think nothing today of calling healthcare workers "front line workers," engaged in a "battle" against disease…. And COVID has gone a long way in further entrenching the war metaphor in medicine. But the roots of the infiltration of such language go a long way back, aided by pop culture icons like the TV show MASH. Dr. Jillian Horton, a writer and doctor of internal medicine is a veteran of the battle against COVID, and the battle to rid medicine of the macho, masochistic culture that begins to define its soldiers from medical school onward. She imagines something less heroic, and healthier for all involved. Hawkeye Pierce, the star doctor of MASH, inspires her exploration, which begins with an interview with the man who played him on television: Alan Alda. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 21, 2023.
Tuesday, September 19
JOHN LORINC: HOW SMART ARE SMART CITIES?
Nothing seems to make a city politician's eyes light up like the promise of the smart city — cityscapes filled with sensors, continually collecting and analyzing data from the movement and habits of its citizens, and using that data to make cities more efficient, safer and environmentally sustainable and to improve quality of life. In his latest book, Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias — the winner of the Balsillie Prize for Public Policy — John Lorinc questions whether these technologies live up to the hype and whether they ultimately serve the interests of city dwellers or big tech companies. And he makes the case that what cities need to pay more attention to is the unsexy infrastructure, such as sewers, that actually makes them work.
Wednesday, September 20
THE MANY AFTERLIVES OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA
The Queen of Sheba is a holy figure to some; a demon in disguise to others. A wise woman with unparalleled diplomatic skills in certain accounts, and a vainglorious seductress in other retellings of her story. Her indelible presence has haunted religious scholars, and fuelled nationalist visions in East Africa and Southern Arabia. Author and University of British Columbia journalism professor Kamal Al-Solaylee explores the many afterlives of the Queen of Sheba — and how ideas about gender and power have shifted in each retelling of her life. *This episode originally aired on May 9, 2023.
Thursday, September 21
HOW TO FLOURISH IN A BROKEN WORLD
The world is full of problems. We talk about them all the time. It seems like there's always someone yelling about our broken healthcare and out-of-reach housing. Democracy is in shambles and the planet is dying. Is it actually possible to fix this mess? In this episode we hear from people working to fix our most intractable problems at a time when it can feel easier to just give up.
Friday, September 22
THE BIRD MAN: ADVENTURES WITH BILL MONTEVECCHI
In 2020, Stanford University ranked him in the world's top 2 per cent of scientists. More than 40 years ago, Bill Montevecchi left his New Jersey home to take a temporary university position in Newfoundland. He never left. Dynamic, inspiring, brilliant and daring would be just a few adjectives to put next to his name. The marine biologist's work with sea birds enlightens not just our knowledge about these magnificent creatures, but also of our planet — and our ourselves. IDEAS Producer Mary Lynk spent three action-filled days with him, climbing over step cliffs to spy on spectacular sea bird colonies and an overnight rescue mission saving the lives of young Storm Petrels leaving their nest for the first time. *This episode originally aired on March 31, 2023.
Monday, September 25
THE GREAT RESET
It's loathed and celebrated, by both the left and right. Conspiracy theorists claim it's all part of a nefarious plot by global elites to control every last aspect of our existence. Proponents say that it's a kinder, gentler, more humane form of capitalism, one that we desperately need if we are to avoid geopolitical catastrophe in the coming decades. But what exactly is The Great Reset? IDEAS contributor Ira Basen untangles the twisted threads that comprise competing views of the term, to lay out its origins, its aims and its potential, for both good and ill. *This episode originally aired on May 23, 2023.
Tuesday, September 26
THE GREATEST NUMBERS OF ALL TIME: ZERO
The number zero is essential to modern mathematics. But for thousands of years, humanity lived without it — and even resisted it. According to Aristotle the concept of zero was antithetical to the very existence of God. Medieval Christians attempted to ban its use. Even modern mathematicians continue to be confounded by zero, a number that simply refuses to play by the rules. It's been called a "dangerous idea," the Loki of the number line. And yet it's one of the greatest inventions in human history. In the first installation of our special series on numbers, we explore the remarkable power of a number that represents nothing at all, and the dangers hidden in its void.
Wednesday, September 27
THE GREATEST NUMBERS OF ALL TIME: THREE
If you say the name "Bloody Mary" three times in front of a mirror, she'll get you. If you want to heal your goiter in 17th century Scotland, repeat a charm three times. To access the power of the spirit world, call on three-faced Hekate, goddess of magic and spaces in-between. Incantations of three are common in the mystical, magical, supernatural, and the occult. As our number series continues, we enter the powerful and spiritual realm of three.
Thursday, September 28
THE GREATEST NUMBERS OF ALL TIME: FIVE
The mathematical achievement of counting the digits on one hand usually introduces a young human to the concept of 'five'. This experience endows the number with an amiable quality, later to be confirmed by the ease with which it can be multiplied thanks to our Base 10 system. However, poor five becomes increasingly odd upon deeper contemplation. Its unique position as the first 'safe prime', its awkward relations with 12 and 20, and its sad entanglement in science's great "replication crisis" will push curious and foolhardy minds past the safe zone and into more treacherous areas of number theory.
Friday, September 29
THE GREATEST NUMBERS OF ALL TIME: NINE
In Norse mythology there exists a huge ash tree, and underneath its roots are nine worlds. In fact, the number nine appears often, in culture and folklore, making unlikely and uncanny connections. Carl Jung calls it synchronicity. There are the nine emotions of Indian aesthetics, nine heavenly bodies that define life, the curse of Beethoven's ninth symphony, The Beatles Revolution 9, and the striker in soccer: always wearing number 9. Why does a cat have nine lives and not eight, or seven? Why do we dress to the nines, why is it good to go the whole nine yards?
