Ideas

<p>For more than a thousand years the Oracle of Delphi sat on a stool at the ‘navel of the universe.’ Under a mystical trance, she would offer cryptic predictions of the future. People would wait months, even years, for their chance to ask the Oracle for guidance on matters ranging from reproductive challenges, to family tiffs to when and how to wage war.</p><p><br></p><p>While the ritual around her remains shrouded in mystery, her predictions were – strangely – always right. Today our urge to p

<p>Without the Moon, the Earth would be unrecognizable. Across the eons, it has shaped our seasons, our calendars — and even the evolution of life itself. Producer Annie Bender traces our nearest neighbour's powerful influence over humanity — and the planet we call home.</p><p><br></p><p>Guests in this podcast:</p><p><strong>Charlie Duke</strong> is a retired NASA astronaut who walked on the Moon as part of the Apollo 16 mission.</p><p><strong>Rebecca Boyle </strong>is a journalist, historian an

<p>Authors Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor want to stop apocalyptic end-of-the-world thinking and its fantasies about colonizing other planets. “We love it here… we want to stay,” they say. They diagnose today's fascism as having an “Armageddon Industrial Complex,” whose main agents are apocalyptic fundamentalists, ethnonationalists, and tech billionaires fixated on creating a super-intelligence at any cost. In their book “End Times Fascism and the Fight for a Living World,” Klein and Taylor explor

<p>If you ask security expert and author Patrick Lennox the answer is a resounding ‘yes.’ He argues Alberta separatism is less about Western alienation and more about a global effort to destroy liberal democracy. In his book, <em>On Treason</em>, Lennox says what’s unfolding in Alberta is part of a nefarious — and treasonous playbook that’s been used worldwide. To survive the threat, he suggests Canada must call out the traitors and arm ourselves against disinformation and deceit. <em>*This is t

<p>With a newly elected government in Quebec promising to turn the province into its own country, and another separatist party warning against ethno-nationalism, immigrants in the province are asked to consider their loyalties. <em>IDEAS</em> producer Tom Howell finds out why newcomers might want to join the movement to leave Canada and help forge Quebec's new national path.<em> *Part two in a three-part series asking: what makes a nation?</em></p><p><br></p><p>Listen to another episode from thi

<p>There’s a place where people make hoppy beer, fresh sushi, and damn fine coffee. It's called Cascadia. The lifestyle is laid-back, the scenery is majestic, and they even have a flag. Where is it exactly? Think of it as an ecological region stretching from Alaska to B.C. through the Pacific Northwest to Northern California. Its national identity transcends borders, and is bound through culture, history, attitude and language. Welcome to Cascadia: the West Coast utopian dream. <em>*Part one in

<p>Bureaucracies were created to get the work done and get it done efficiently, according to 19th-century thinker Max Weber. So why are there more and more meaningless executive jobs that contribute nothing but soak up the pay?<em> IDEAS </em>examines the corporate tendency to "bureaumania.”<em> *This episode originally aired on Sept. 18, 2024.</em></p>

<p>Imagine seeing an atrocity with eyes wide open and then returning to a life that doesn't ask much about it. This is the experience of five Canadian doctors who have been offering urgent medical aid in Gaza for almost three years. But in Gaza, the absence of resources means often all they<em> can</em> do is bear witness. In this podcast, each doctor shares how what they experienced changed their lives.</p><p><br></p><p>Guests in this episode:</p><p><br></p><p>Mel Brecknell is a physician speci