Ideas

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.

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.

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, listen to our podcast with Geoffrey Hinton, the 'godfather of artificial intelligence' who says AI must develop empathy and 'maternal instincts' or we risk human extinction.

Guests in this episode:

Adriaan Van der Weel is a professor emeritus by special appointment at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society. He's also the co-author of The Ljubljana Manifesto on Higher-Level Reading.

Maryanne Wolf is director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, and the author of Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World (2018).

Naomi Baron is a professor emerita of World Languages and Cultures at American University and the author of Reader Bot: What Happens When AI Reads and Why It Matters (2026).

Leah Sargeant is an author and senior policy analyst at the Niskanen Center.

Shannon Vallor is the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) at the University of Edinburgh, where she is also appointed in Philosophy. She is the author of The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking (2024).

Whether mechanical or digital, a button delivers the promise of power — but it's far from simple. The small and mighty technology has a riveting history, a story of control, power, freedom and oppression. From the podcast Media Objects, this episode traces the evolution of the button, and asks what happens when every command is reduced to a single press. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 13, 2025.

Jeans are a quintessential fashion staple for the Canadian tuxedo — and a symbol of rebellion. But the world's most popular garment comes at an environmental cost. It takes around 7,500 litres of water to make a single pair of jeans. And that's not all. Fashion expert Pedro Mendes explores the 150-year history of jeans and the 'authenticity' they are supposed to represent. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 13, 2019.

Read: How jeans became one of the most polluting garments in the world