IDEAS for the week of October 2

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IDEAS airs Monday to Friday on CBC Radio One
at 8 p.m. (8:30 p.m. NT) and 4 a.m. (4:30 a.m. NT)

In his book, Shape, mathematician Jordan Ellenberg reveals the geometry lurking beneath history, democracy, biology, and everything else. He argues geometry doesn't just measure the world — it explains it. (Mats Rudels/Penguin Random House)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 2

Shape: Hidden Geometry

Abraham Lincoln used geometry to make better arguments. Google uses geometry to hide or promote websites. And U.S. political parties use it to tip elections in their favour. In his new book Shape, mathematician Jordan Ellenberg exposes the geometric underpinnings of logic, science, and politics. A former child prodigy who aced the SATs at age 12, Ellenberg argues that clever use of math and geometry is helping corrupt American democracy, but mathematicians might still be able to save it. *This episode originally aired on May 11, 2022.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3

Molly Worthen: The Dark Side of Charisma

Charisma — that uncanny ability to captivate people and connect with voters — has always been a huge asset in politics. But writer and scholar Molly Worthen argues that a new kind of charismatic leader has become a dangerous and powerful force in politics. In her 2023 Larkin-Stuart Lecture, Worthen details the historical roots of today's breed of charismatic leaders in anti-establishment religious movements — guru figures who present themselves as revealing hidden truths and having the power to transform lives, transfixing their followers into unquestioning fealty.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4

The Chilean Experiment

In 1973, General Augusto Pinochet led a military junta and overthrew the socialist government of President Salvador Allende. And thus began Chile's ambitious, neoliberal experiment. Now, 50 years later the country's neoliberal system is being called into question. Chile's poor feel as though the country's rapid economic growth has passed them by. Protests have since given way to demands for a new constitution, which some have seen as perpetuating an inherently unfair system based on privatized services, from health and education to water availability. After an initial draft of a new constitution was roundly rejected last year, a new referendum is planned for December 2023. It's a chance to replace a charter that was imposed by the military dictatorship, and which has helped to make Chile more pro-market than anywhere else in the world.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5

Nine Minutes that Changed the World

In 1876, the poet Stéphane Mallarmé published a poem entitled The Afternoon of a Faun. He doubted anyone could set it to music successfully. But composer Claude Debussy did exactly that. The resulting music — Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun — runs only about nine minutes long, but it helped give birth to the modern era as we know it. It's more than just a famous piece of music. It stands at the beginning of the world we still live in. It's a guide, in sound, to the political, social, moral and geopolitical changes that ended the 19th century and created the 20th century. And it remains an existential and culturally shape-shifting work of art that offers us clues into who we are today. Contributor Robert Harris and Tafelmusik's Ivars Taurins bring us inside the spellbinding magic of Debussy's imagining. *This episode originally aired May 30, 2017.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6

A Tale of Two Metlakatlas: My Matriarchs, the Missionaries and Me

In this documentary, journalist Pamela Post traces the history of her Ts'msyen matriarchs, back over a century, to one moment that changed her family's destiny: an exodus of over 800 Ts'msyen people from Metlakatla B.C., so start a "new" Metlakatla in Alaska. Through the stories of the women in her family, she documents over 100 years of upheaval and the devastating impacts of colonialism. *This episode originally aired on May 29, 2023.

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The summer wildfires burned 90 per cent of Enterprise, N.W.T. At a time when people around the world are experiencing calamities tied to extreme weather, British philosopher Angie Hobbs says there’s an urgent need to focus on how communities can thrive through these catastrophes. (Andrej Ivanov/AFP via Getty Images)

IDEAS IN THE AFTERNOON

MONDAY, OCTOBER 2 at 2 p.m.

How to flourish in a broken world

The world is full of problems — our broken healthcare, out-of-reach housing, a democracy in shambles and a dying planet. But philosopher Angie Hobbs suggests there's a way to flourish and continue to live a good life in the face of ongoing catastrophes.