Big Ideas (Audio)
322 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 10 years ago - ★★★★★ - 76 ratingsBig Ideas offers lectures on a variety of thought-provoking topics which range across politics, culture, economics, art history, science.... By nature of its lecture format, pacing and inquisitive approach, it is the antithesis of the prevailing sound-bite television norm. The simple, bold concept is a victory of substance over style. Big Ideas airs Saturdays and Sundays at 5:00 PM EST on TVO - Canada's largest educational broadcaster.
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Episodes
Liaquat Ahamed on his book Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World
November 14, 2009 22:00 - 15.8 MBThe author of Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, Liaquat Ahamed, discusses the connections between the world's financial decision makers in the period leading up to the Great Depression and their counterparts in the current global financial crisis.
Camille Paglia on religion
November 07, 2009 22:00 - 14.8 MBDescribing herself as an atheist who defends religion, academic and author, Camille Paglia, argues that an understanding of world religions and their symbols is essential to fully understanding human civilization and our place in the universe.
Michael Marrus (Pt. 2) on great moments in great trials
November 01, 2009 22:00 - 16.1 MBThe second part of the lecture entitled Justice and Theatre: Great Moments in Great Trials examines Nicolae Bukharin and the Moscow Show Trials and the 1945 Nuremberg Trials.
Michael Marrus on great moments in great trials
October 31, 2009 23:00 - 11.2 MBThe first of this two-part lecture entitled Justice and Theatre: Great Moments in Great Trials looks at the libel trial of Oscar Wilde in 1895.
Richard Leakey on Climate Change and the Future of Life on Earth
October 24, 2009 23:00 - 11.2 MBRichard Leakey, professor of Anthropology at Stony Brook University in New York is best known for his paleontological work in Africa. His lecture, entitled Climate Change and the Future of Life on Earth deals with wildlife conservation and was recorded at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto on May 30th, 2009.
Leonard Mlodinow on randomness and his book The Drunkard's Walk
October 17, 2009 23:00 - 17.8 MBLeonard Mlodinow, of the California Institute of Technology is the author of The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives. His lecture on the subject of randomness was presented by the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario on May 6th, 2009.
Lawrence Krauss on dark matter, dark energy and the end of the universe as we know it
October 10, 2009 23:00 - 18.7 MBLawrence Krauss is a professor in the Department of Physics at Arizona State University. His lecture entitled Life, the Universe and Nothing was recorded at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto on March 27th, 2009.
Christopher Hitchens on The Ten Commandments
October 03, 2009 23:00 - 10.3 MBChristopher Hitchens, author of God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, delivers a lecture at the Royal Ontario Museum entitled The Three New Commandments in conjunction with the exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
J Ralston Saul, Naomi Klein and others, on leadership
September 26, 2009 23:00 - 14.9 MBJohn Ralston Saul, Margaret MacMillan, Naomi Klein and Adam Gopnik reflect on what constitutes a good leader and why some leaders thrive while others fail.
Thomas King on stories and the Native Canadian experience
September 19, 2009 22:00 - 14.5 MBThe author of The Truth About Stories, Thomas King, delivers his 2003 Massey Lecture entitled, What Is It About Us that You Don?t Like?
Noam Chomsky on international policy continuity in the wake of 9-11
September 12, 2009 22:00 - 17.4 MBMIT professor of Linguistics, Noam Chomsky, delivers his 2002 lecture on international policy continuity in the wake of 9-11.
Leonard Susskind on the Black Hole Wars
September 05, 2009 22:00 - 14.6 MBStanford University professor of Physics, Leonard Susskind, on ?The Black Hole Wars?, the scientific disagreement between Susskind and Stephen Hawking.
Elizabeth Abbott on her book A History of Mistresses.
August 29, 2009 22:00 - 10.5 MBAuthor Elizabeth Abbott on her 2003 book A History of Mistresses.
Elaine Dewar on her book The Second Tree: Of Clones, Chimeras and Quests for Immortality.
August 22, 2009 22:00 - 9.99 MBAuthor Elaine Dewar delivers her 2002 lecture about her book The Second Tree: Of Clones, Chimeras and Quests for Immortality.
Margaret MacMillan on her book Paris 1919
August 15, 2009 22:00 - 14.2 MBThe author of Paris 1919, Margaret MacMillan, delivers her 2003 lecture Making Peace is Harder than Making War.
Niall Ferguson on his book Empire
August 08, 2009 22:00 - 13.9 MBHarvard University professor of History, Niall Ferguson, delivers his 2002 lecture on the lessons the US ought to learn from the British Empire experience in the Middle East.
Saskia Sassen on citizenship in the age of globalization
August 01, 2009 22:00 - 15.4 MBColumbia University professor of Sociology, Saskia Sassen, delivers her 2003 lecture on the concept of citizenship in the age of globalization.
Francis S. Collins on The Genome and Your Future (Part 1)
July 25, 2009 22:00 - 8.32 MBThe leader of the Human Genome Project, Dr. Francis S. Collins delivers his 2003 high school lecture entitled The Genome and Your Future.
Maynard Olson on The Genome and Your Future (Part 2)
July 25, 2009 22:00 - 8.03 MBProfessor of Genome Sciences and of Medicine, Dr. Maynard Olson delivers his 2003 lecture, companion piece to the Francis S. Collins lecture The Genome and Your Future.
Steven Pinker on his book The Blank Slate
July 18, 2009 22:00 - 17.1 MBHarvard University Psychology professor, Steven Pinker delivers a lecture on the modern denial of human nature with a specific focus on his 2003 book The Blank Slate.
Lawrence Freedman on his book A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East
July 11, 2009 22:00 - 11.2 MBLawrence Freedman is a professor of War Studies at King?s College London and the author of A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East. The lecture was recorded at Toronto?s Munk Centre for International Studies on March 31st, 2009.
June Carroll on Modern Genetics
July 11, 2009 22:00 - 7.65 MBDr. June Carroll of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto delivers her 2003 lecture on Modern Genetics.
Janice Stein on the ethics of responsibility and accountability
July 04, 2009 22:00 - 10.1 MBThe Director of the Munk Centre for International Studies, Janice Stein, delivers her 2002 lecture on the ethics of responsibility and accountability in North American society.
John Polanyi on the world that science has built
June 27, 2009 22:00 - 8.79 MBWinner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, University of Toronto professor John Polanyi delivers his 2002 lecture on the world that science has built.
Alexander Wendt on why a one state world is inevitable
June 20, 2009 22:00 - 11.2 MBOhio State Political Science professor Alexander Wendt delivers his 2002 lecture on why he believes a one state world is inevitable.
Philip Ball on Chemistry and Colour in Art
June 13, 2009 22:00 - 14.9 MBPhilip Ball outlines how developments in chemistry have impacted painters and the art world throughout history.
Robert Fulford on A World Reconfigured: Politics and Perceptions Since 9-11
June 06, 2009 22:00 - 12.5 MBCanadian author, journalist and broadcaster Robert Fulford delivers his 2003 lecture A World Reconfigured: Politics and Perceptions Since 9-11
J.B. Mackinnon, Alisa Smith, and Adria Vasil on the environment
May 31, 2009 22:00 - 14.1 MBThe authors of The 100-Mile Diet and Ecoholic deliver lectures on eating and living sustainably, in Part 2 of The Green Summit.
Thomas Homer-Dixon and Chris Turner on the environment
May 30, 2009 22:00 - 15.8 MBAuthors Thomas Homer-Dixon and Chris Turner deliver lectures on issues including climate change, green energy, and creating the foundations of a sustainable future, in the first of the 2-part special, The Green Summit.
Don Tapscott on the ways the Net Generation learn differently
May 23, 2009 22:00 - 15.7 MBThe author of Grown Up Digital, Don Tapscott, refutes the belief that the internet is turning today's youth into "the dumbest generation". Tapscott illustrates how the net has changed the way people learn and offers suggestions on how to tap into the expertise that the Net Generation possesses.
John Ralston Saul on what defines Canada as a nation
May 16, 2009 22:00 - 16.1 MBJohn Ralson Saul argues that Canada is a Metis nation, critically influenced and shaped by aboriginal ideas.
Gwynne Dyer on global warming and his book Climate Wars
May 09, 2009 22:00 - 20.5 MBJournalist and historian, Gwynne Dyer, discusses his book Climate Wars, outlining the impact that climate change is likely to have on international relations. Dyer focuses particularly on the military conflicts that he sees resulting from global warming.
Leo Panitch on the lessons of Marxism
May 02, 2009 22:00 - 12.5 MBLeo Panitch delivers this year's Phyllis Clarke Memorial Lecture entitled "Still a Marxist After All: Lessons and Insights for our Time".
Hazel Carby on the British slave trade and the question of identity for people of West Indian heritage in the U.K.
April 25, 2009 22:00 - 13.4 MBIn her lecture, Belonging to Britain, Hazel Carby looks at the historic relationship between England and Jamaica, including the history of the slave trade in Bristol and the complex question of identity for those of mixed British and West Indian heritage. Carby is a professor of African American Studies and American Studies at Yale University.
Bernard-Henry Levy's
April 18, 2009 22:00 - 14.5 MBPhilosopher and journalist Bernard-Henri Levy critiques present-day leftist politics for its anti-liberalism, anti-Americanism, and for being soft on radical Islamism.
Merv Mosher - Best Lecturer Finalist - on Statistics: What's the Point?
March 29, 2009 21:00 - 12.9 MBMerv Mosher from the Kinesiology and Health Science department at York University in Toronto is profiled and delivers his lecture entitled, Statistics: What's the Point?
Rod Carley - Best Lecturer Finalist - on Adapting Shakespeare within a Modern Canadian Context
March 28, 2009 21:00 - 13 MBTop ten finalist, Professor Rod Carley, from the Communication Arts department at Canadore College in North Bay is profiled and delivers his competition lecture entitled, Adapting Shakespeare Within a Modern Canadian Context.
Clare Hasenkampf - Best Lecturer Finalist - on Chromosomes Dividing: How It Is Done and Why It Matters
March 22, 2009 21:00 - 12.7 MBClare Hasenkampf from the Biological Sciences department at the University of Toronto Scarborough delivers her competition lecture entitled "Chromosomes Dividing: How It Is Done and Why It Matters".
Darryl Davies - Best Lecturer Finalist - on Explaining Crime
March 21, 2009 21:00 - 12.4 MBDarryl Davies from the Sociology and Anthropology department at Carleton University in Ottawa delivers his competition lecture entitled "Explaining Crime".
Shawn Lehman - Best Lecturer Finalist - on Primate Infanticide: Adaptation or Social Pathology?
March 15, 2009 21:00 - 12.3 MBShawn Lehman from the Anthropology department at the University of Toronto St. George delivers his competition lecture entitled "Primate Infanticide: Adaptation or Social Pathology?"
Paul Stevens - Best Lecturer Finalist - on Milton's Satan
March 14, 2009 21:00 - 12.8 MBPaul Stevens from the English department at the University of Toronto St. George delivers his competition lecture entitled "Milton's Satan".
Doug Richards - Best Lecturer Finalist - on Stretching: The Truth
March 08, 2009 21:00 - 13 MBDoug Richards from the Physical Education and Health department at the University of Toronto St. George delivers his competition lecture entitled "Stretching: The Truth".
James Allard - Best Lecturer Finalist - on Frankenstein: Five Ways
March 07, 2009 21:00 - 13.3 MBJames Allard from the English Language and Literature department at Brock University in St. Catharines delivers his competition lecture entitled "Frankenstein: Five Ways".
Anton Allahar - Best Lecturer Finalist - on Why Isn't the Whole World Developed?
March 01, 2009 21:00 - 13 MBAnton Allahar from the Sociology department at the University of Western Ontario in London delivers his competition lecture entitled "Why Isn't the Whole World Developed?"
Matthew Bellamy - Best Lecturer Finalist - on A Watershed Moment: Canada and the Second World War
February 28, 2009 21:00 - 10.1 MBMatthew Bellamy from the History department at Carleton University in Ottawa delivers his competition lecture entitled "A Watershed Moment: Canada and the Second World War".
Toby Miller on electronic waste
February 21, 2009 21:00 - 14.9 MBProfessor of Media and Cultural Studies, Toby Miller, examines the environmental impact of our obsession with technology.
Jean Bethke Elshtain on religion and democracy
February 14, 2009 21:00 - 11.3 MB"Religion and Democracy: Antagonists or Allies?" is the topic of the 2008 Seymour Martin Lipset Memorial Lecture.
David Weinberger on Knowledge at the End of the Information Age
February 07, 2009 21:00 - 15 MBThe author of "Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder", David Weinberger, delivers a lecture entitled "Knowledge at the End of the Information Age". In this talk Weinberger argues that the internet is both profoundly weird, and deeply familiar. He claims that, by changing the way we receive information from the broadcast era's one-way monologue into a multi-directional conversation, the internet has humanized information.
Maude Barlow on the global water crisis
January 31, 2009 21:00 - 10.4 MBBarlow argues that access to safe drinking water should be a basic human right and makes a compelling case for why the global water crisis will be the greatest environmental and human crisis of this century.
Lewis Lapham on education
January 24, 2009 21:00 - 6.6 MBLewis Lapham laments the state of the American education system.