What happens when a human becomes intimately enmeshed with a chatbot? From people who’ve married their bots or who grieve their loved ones with the help of AI, host Victoria Hetherington (author of The Friend Machine) dives into the stories of the people who have invited these digital avatars into their hearts, minds, and even beds. And asks what do we gain and what do we stand to lose? Our intimacy, our resilience, even our grasp on reality? This latest season of Understood looks at who made the decisions that allowed chatbots to move way beyond digital assistants and into the most intimate parts of our lives.

Understood takes you deep inside the seismic shifts reshaping our world right now. From online porn and crypto chaos to the rise of tech oligarchs, deepfake AI, and the broken promises of the internet.

More episodes of Understood are available wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/AIxIdeas

Sometimes the universe hands us a gift. Over the past year, our podcast listeners spent a total of 526,915 hours listening to our program. That's 21,954.8 days and that translates to 60 years of listening to us. So what better way to mark IDEAS' 60th year then to look back on the highlights and lowlights of the past six decades. To give you a hint on some of the picks, on the bad list: online identity management. Trickle down economics. On the good: Free Trade. Girl Bosses. Apparently open borders is still an open question.

Panelists Jamie Liew, a University of Ottawa law professor and novelist; University of Toronto philosopher, Joseph Heath; and the Canadian Shield Institute’s, Vass Bednar, joined IDEAS producer Mary Lynk on stage, in front of a live audience at the Isabel Bader Theatre for this episode — the last in our special series celebrating our 60th anniversary.

Listen to more episodes:

The time when a guest said, "I love you!"

How an IDEAS episode on traffic changed a doctor's practice

CBC Massey Lecturers reveal how the talks changed them

How IDEAS saved a listener from sending a regrettable email

"IDEAS is often a surprise" says Cathy Pike. It's why she's been a longtime listener. To our delight, IDEAS was there for her just at the right time. After listening to an episode about Friedrich Nietzsche and his philosophy about "the art of passing by," Cathy says she decided not to send an email that she realized she would have regretted. "The program gave me pause and I’m grateful for that.”

And we're grateful to hear from Cathy and other listeners who share their personal encounters on how IDEAS shows up for them, as we continue our 60th anniversary series.

*This is the fourth episode in our special programming. It originally aired on Dec. 4, 2025.

Listen to other episodes in this series:

The time when a guest said, "I love you!"

The best — and worst — ideas of the last six decades

How an IDEAS episode on traffic changed a doctor's practice

CBC Massey Lecturers reveal how the talks changed them

This podcast features an all-star, and bestselling, lineup of CBC Massey Lecturers from the past decade:

Payam Akhavan (2017) and the police officer who pulled over to the side of the road to keep listening; Sally Armstrong (2019) and the women’s rights groups listening to her talks in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and China; Ron Deibert (2020) and his conviction that ‘philosophical’ radio is more crucial than ever; Esi Edugyan (2021), Tomson Highway (2022) feeling astonished when a stranger recognizes his voice after hearing him on the radio; Margaret MacMillan (2015); Tanya Talaga (2018) and her surprise when an older white man in the audience declares Indigenous activists should “go forth and conquer”; Astra Taylor (2023) and how her secret desire is to work at IDEAS; Jennifer Welsh (2016) comforting an audience member who’d served in Afghanistan; and Ian Williams (2024) on how his lectures have more meanings than he realized — so much so, that he’d like a “second date” with IDEAS.

*This is the third episode in our special programming marking our 60th anniversary. It originally aired on Dec. 3, 2025.

Listen to other episodes in this series:

The time when a guest said, "I love you!"

How an IDEAS episode on traffic changed a doctor's practice

How IDEAS saved a listener from sending a regrettable email

The best — and worst — ideas of the last six decades

That's not something you expect to hear in an interview. But the Harvard historian and author of All That She Carried, Tiya Miles did not hesitate to say these words to IDEAS host, Nahlah Ayed. What prompted the bold statement comes down to a question — seemingly for Miles the perfect one to ask.

Their conversation resonated with many listeners, including a potter in Australia who shares how this story sustains him after the loss of his wife. Also in this podcast, we find out how IDEAS inspires everything from sonnets, to art, and to recreating historic feasts.

*This is the second episode in our 60th anniversary series. It originally aired on Dec. 2, 2025.There's more to listen to here:

How an IDEAS episode on traffic changed a doctor's practice

CBC Massey Lecturers reveal how the talks changed them

How IDEAS saved a listener from sending a regrettable email

The best — and worst — ideas of the last six decades

Not many people like to think about traffic but Joanna Oda says this very topic on IDEAS in 2005 permanently changed the way she views medical care as a doctor. "It helped me understand how things that make sense for you as an individual contribute to a collective problem." She adds, the episode introduced her to the idea that one car has a big impact.

This episode is the first episode in our special week-long series to mark our 60th anniversary. It originally aired on Dec. 1, 2025.

Listen to other episodes in this series:

The time when a guest said, "I love you!"

CBC Massey Lecturers reveal how the talks changed them

How IDEAS saved a listener from sending a regrettable email

The best — and worst — ideas of the last six decades

Numbers get their due credit in this podcast. Even if we're not aware of them, numbers are essential to how we experience the world. IDEAS explores the most bizarre, surprising, mind-blowing and fundamental numbers in the universe.

This panel discussion was recorded live at The Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario.

Guests in this episode:

Asimina Arvanitaki is a particle physicist and the aristarchus chair in theoretical physics at the Perimeter Institute.

Ben Webster is an associate professor in the pure mathematics department at the University of Waterloo, and he’s also an associate faculty member at the Perimeter Institute.

Matthew Johnson is a professor of physics and astronomy at York University, and he's also an associate faculty member at the Perimeter Institute.

For the past decade, Canadians have been split 50/50 on new pipelines — that's changed. Two recent opinion polls found roughly three quarters of eligible voters in Canada want at least one new pipeline built to export more fossil fuels. Yet, 70 per cent of people consider climate change a serious threat. IDEAS producer Tom Howell explores the incompatibilities and future scenarios. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 7, 2025.

If you liked this episode, you may want to listen to this podcast: A machine that could save us from war — and global warming