Big Ideas offers lectures on a variety of thought-provoking topics which range across politics, culture, economics, art history, science....
Arts, Education
Christopher Hitchens voices his opinion on the subject of the Hart House Debating Club debate: Be it resolved: Freedom of speech includes the freedom to hate.
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 06/15/13
Christopher Hitchens voices his opinion on the subject of the Hart House Debating Club debate: Be it resolved: Freedom of speech includes the freedom to hate.
Michael Ruse on Is ...
26 Views 04:30:00 06/01/13
Michael Ruse is professor of the philosophy of biology at Florida State University. In this lecture he addresses the question Is Darwinism Past its Sell-by Date?
[LESS INFO] 26 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 06/01/13
Michael Ruse is professor of the philosophy of biology at Florida State University. In this lecture he addresses the question Is Darwinism Past its Sell-by Date?
Daniel Gottesman on...
22 Views 04:30:00 05/18/13
Daniel Gottesman of the Perimeter Institute discusses quantum computing and the cryptographic protocols that use quantum physics, and that one day will protect all...
[LESS INFO] 22 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 05/18/13
Daniel Gottesman of the Perimeter Institute discusses quantum computing and the cryptographic protocols that use quantum physics, and that one day will protect all that which we would want to stay secret.
Robert Adams on Her...
7 Views 04:30:00 05/18/13
Robert Adams, author of A Love of Reading, discusses the 1964 novel Herzog by Saul Bellow.
[LESS INFO] 7 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 05/18/13
Robert Adams, author of A Love of Reading, discusses the 1964 novel Herzog by Saul Bellow.
Jeffrey Rosenthal o...
25 Views 04:30:00 05/04/13
The author of Struck by Lightning - and the statistician who crunched the numbers to reveal that a statistically improbable number of lottery retailers were winnin...
[LESS INFO] 25 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 05/04/13
The author of Struck by Lightning - and the statistician who crunched the numbers to reveal that a statistically improbable number of lottery retailers were winning major prizes in Ontario - Jeffrey Rosenthal guides us through the maze of numbers and percentages to show us to how calculate correct probabilities.
Simon Winchester on...
8 Views 04:30:00 04/27/13
Simon Winchester on his book A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906.
[LESS INFO] 8 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 04/27/13
Simon Winchester on his book A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906.
Janna Levin on her ...
7 Views 04:30:00 04/20/13
Janna Levin on her book Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, the story of two great mathematicians, Kurt Godel and Alan Turing. They were men who had the capacity to ...
[LESS INFO] 7 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 04/20/13
Janna Levin on her book Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, the story of two great mathematicians, Kurt Godel and Alan Turing. They were men who had the capacity to think about the most abstract of mathematical truths but had very limited abilities when it came to confronting the mundane aspects of life. Both committed suicide.
Robert Adams on the...
0 Views 04:30:00 04/20/13
Robert Adams, author of A Love of Reading, discusses the novel No Great Mischief by Alastair MacLeod.
[LESS INFO] 11 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 04/13/13
Kevin Dutton on his book The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success.
Jordan Peterson on ...
17 Views 04:30:00 04/06/13
University of Toronto Psychology Professor, Jordan Peterson, on Redemption and Psychology in Christianity. Dr. Peterson's lecture was the keynote address at the 20...
[LESS INFO] 17 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 04/06/13
University of Toronto Psychology Professor, Jordan Peterson, on Redemption and Psychology in Christianity. Dr. Peterson's lecture was the keynote address at the 2012 Meaning Conference held in Toronto.
Nima Arkani-Hamed o...
6 Views 04:30:00 04/06/13
Nima Arkani-Hamed on the Large Hadron Collider and the Future of Fundamental Physics. Located on the Swiss-French border, the Large Hadron Collider is a circular t...
[LESS INFO] 6 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 04/06/13
Nima Arkani-Hamed on the Large Hadron Collider and the Future of Fundamental Physics. Located on the Swiss-French border, the Large Hadron Collider is a circular tunnel 27 km in circumference. It will allow physicists to probe the constituent parts of the proton, looking for new forms of matter and insights into the formation of the universe.
Robert Adams on the...
13 Views 04:30:00 04/06/13
Robert Adams, author of A Love of Reading, discusses the novel The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.
[LESS INFO] 13 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 04/06/13
Robert Adams, author of A Love of Reading, discusses the novel The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.
William Rees on Env...
23 Views 04:30:00 03/23/13
Ecological footprint is an idea originated by William Rees, an environmental economist from the University of British Columbia. If you need a primer in environment...
[LESS INFO] 23 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 03/23/13
Ecological footprint is an idea originated by William Rees, an environmental economist from the University of British Columbia. If you need a primer in environmental economics, this lecture is for you.
Salmon Akhtar on Th...
16 Views 04:30:00 03/23/13
Salmon Akhtar on The Trauma of Geographical Dislocation, how immigration can affect a person's mental health.
[LESS INFO] 16 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 03/23/13
Salmon Akhtar on The Trauma of Geographical Dislocation, how immigration can affect a person's mental health.
Steven Pinker on Th...
17 Views 04:30:00 03/16/13
Harvard University psychology professor, Steven Pinker, dicusses his book The Blank Slate.
[LESS INFO] 17 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 03/16/13
Harvard University psychology professor, Steven Pinker, dicusses his book The Blank Slate.
Marc Abrahams, edit...
12 Views 04:30:00 03/09/13
Marc Abrahams, editor of The Annals of Improbably Research and one of the organizers of the annual Ig-Nobel Prize ceremonies at Harvard University, discusses the w...
[LESS INFO] 12 VIEWS | ADDED 04:30:00 03/09/13
Marc Abrahams, editor of The Annals of Improbably Research and one of the organizers of the annual Ig-Nobel Prize ceremonies at Harvard University, discusses the work of scientists and academics that, "first makes you laugh, and then makes you think".
Seth Llyod is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His talk, "Programming the Universe", is about the computational power of atoms, electrons, and elementary particles.