Ideas for a New Century

Edited by Bernie Lucht

How can one find private space in a wired world? How does cognitive dissonance prevent human beings from taking responsibility for their blunders? Is British Society Western civilization's canary in the coal mine?

This mind-blowing collection covers a vast terrain, from Eastern and Western views of politics and religion to the possibility of achieving human immortality through computers; from new questions about nature versus nurture to whether the planet can be saved through the miracle of trees.

Gathered here, for the first time, are thought-provoking interviews from recent broadcasts of the popular CBC Radio program Ideas, most of them in the company of Ideas host Paul Kennedy. In these provocative conversations, great public intellectuals of our time reflect on where civilization is heading, addressing topics such as the environment, social engineering, human rights, and the quest for truth.

Compiled and edited by long-time Ideas executive producer Bernie Lucht, this volume explores the ideas of twenty inspiring thinkers, including Louise Arbour, David Schindler, Jerome Kagan, John Gray, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Lenore Tieffer, Michael Statlander, Nat Hentoff, Theodore Dalrymple, Toni Morrison, Mark Lilla, and many others.

Bernie Lucht has been the executive producer of Ideas since 1984. He is also the executive producer of Tapestry, the Sunday afternoon program of religious and spiritual exploration. Born and raised in Montreal, he earned a BA from Concordia University in 1966. That same year, he joined the CBC as a producer for Radio-Canada International, and in 1969 went on to produce Cross-Country Checkup. Later that year, Lucht left for West Africa to work as a CUSO volunteer teacher in rural Nigeria. He returned to Canada in 1971, starting work as a production assistant at Ideas, then rising to become the program's executive producer in 1984. Under his direction, Ideas has won many national and international awards.