Ideas

CBC

IDEAS is a place for people who like to think. If you value deep conversation and unexpected reveals, this show is for you. From the roots and rise of authoritarianism to near-death experiences to the history of toilets, no topic is off-limits. Hosted by Nahlah Ayed, we’re home to immersive documentaries and fascinating interviews with some of the most consequential thinkers of our time.

With an award-winning team, our podcast has proud roots in its 60-year history with CBC Radio, exploring the IDEAS that make us who we are.

New episodes drop Monday through Friday at 5pm ET.

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31 episodes
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Avg 54 min
English

Episodes 31

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August 3 · 54 min
Are psychopaths real? A review of the science says, no
Thanks to Dexter and Hannibal Lecter you may think you know what a psychopath is. But a critical review of the science suggests that 'psychopath' as a diagnosis is flawed. Author of Psychopathy Unmasked Rasmus Rosenberg Larsen argues it’s time to end the misuse of controversial science in our criminal justice system — and to rethink psychopathy as a whole.
July 31 · 54 min
Why we should 'fight like hell' against Big AI
"We need to separate AI from empire," says tech journalist Karen Hao who used to work in Silicon Valley as an engineer. Now she’s an outspoken critic of its AI giants. She argues AI companies run their businesses like empires and it has to stop. In her book, Empire of AI, Hao digs into the global impact of Big AI and explores how we need to rethink AI to build a better future. This podcast includes a lecture by Karen Hao and a discussion with host Nahlah Ayed. *This episode origi
July 30 · 54 min
We believe in artificial intelligence the same way we believe in ghosts
Hidden in the 1950 academic paper that launched the famous 'Turing Test' of machine intelligence, is a strange mystery. Cryptographer Alan Turing argued that humans might always be able to outsmart machines, because we have supernatural powers like ESP, telepathy, and telekinesis. His belief in the paranormal is just one part of the spooky side of artificial intelligence. Like hauntings or seances, AI is an exercise in self-deception; we imagine intelligence from computation and data, just li
July 29 · 54 min
With a decline in reading is our capacity to think eroding?
Thanks to AI, it's easier than ever to avoid reading books — but that convenience may come with a cost. IDEAS explores how our digital landscape, coupled with the decline of reading, is changing the way we think. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 19, 2026. If you like this episode, <a href="https://app.magellan.ai/listen_links/icF5ff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">listen to our podcast with Geoffrey Hinton</a>, the 'godfathe
July 28 · 54 min
What if AI had empathy and 'maternal instincts'?
If AI continues to develop without appropriate guardrails, a worst-case scenario could lead to human extinction, warns the 'godfather of artificial intelligence' Geoffrey Hinton. But the Nobel Prize winner has a solution: AI must foster 'maternal' instincts, empathy and kindness. Hinton tells host Nahlah Ayed that it's fairly inevitable AI will become smarter than humans, but if we could make it care more for us than it did about itself, good things could happen. *This episode originally
July 27 · 54 min
Artificial Intimacy: Love, Grief, and AI Chatbots
Millions of people are using AI to “talk” to the dead. The phenomenon has left cyberpsychologist Elaine Kasket asking what happens when we rely on for-profit AI companies to help us manage something as deeply human as grief? And where’s the line between comfort and self-destruction? IDEAS features two episodes from the CBC Podcasts series Artificial Intimacy, exploring the promise and peril of our emotional entanglements with AI chatbots. Enjoyed this episod
July 24 · 54 min
Can the fierce wars of today end in peace?
If intractable conflicts in the 90s could end in peace agreements, is there hope for the ongoing wars in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and beyond? What can we learn from the successes and failures of the past about how to create a more peaceful world? And what solutions are obstructed by lack of will? Nahlah Ayed and guests explore what peacemaking and rebuilding mean for us today, and try to chart a course for the future. *This is the last episode in our five-part series, Inventing Peace. It orig
July 23 · 54 min
Was justice served by South Africa's peace accord?
The apartheid era in South Africa ended in 1991 with the National Peace Accords. The peace agreement also paved the way for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Yet TRC head Desmond Tutu considered the process “scandalously unfinished.” Lawyer Prakash Diar agrees: "You don’t undo centuries of colonization just like that.” Diar and writer Kagiso Lesego Molope were young activists in apartheid-era South Africa. They saw the toll that oppression and state violence took: on the
July 22 · 54 min
How leaders in the former Yugoslavia forged peace in 1995
For almost four years, the Bosnian War in the former Yugoslavia was characterized by ethnic hatreds, atrocities, and a refugee crisis. So when leaders of the warring factions were sequestered in an American air base and forced to come up with the 1995 peace agreement known as the Dayton Accord, the world was relieved. But is a cessation of violence the same as real peace? *This episode is the third in a five-part series called Inventing Peace. It originally aired on Sept. 15, 2025.</
July 21 · 54 min
Lessons from last century’s failed Mideast peace deal
When Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat met in Washington to sign the first Oslo Accords in 1993, it was supposed to usher in a new era of peace and lay the groundwork for a more stable Middle East. Three decades later, the Accords are primarily remembered as a failure. Nahlah Ayed and guests discuss what went wrong, and what lessons the Oslo Accords hold for the future. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 8, 2025
July 20 · 54 min
What it took to end a 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland
The process of making peace is often imperfect, and can shape the future in both positive and destructive ways. In a five-part series called Inventing Peace, Nahlah Ayed asks panelists to reflect on one pivotal 20th century effort to make peace, and its relevance for our own time. This first episode focuses on the “constructive ambiguity” of Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998.

Showing 21–31 of 31 episodes