Thinking Out Loud

Men’s studies, the study of what it means to be a man, is informed by feminist theory and touches on a variety of academic disciplines or areas. It’s a relatively new area of research that has so far generally proposed there are multiple masculinities. In this episode, Marc Lafrance walks us through the future of brawn and the presumed crisis of masculinity.

Why does design matter for cities? More than aesthetics, design shapes much of our experience of cities. In this episode Ken Greenberg (author and urban designer) talks with Carmela Cucuzzella (Director of Concordia’s Institute for Urban Futures) – they talk cities, the role of design, and why some of the rules about city life may get in the way of innovation. Moderated by Alex Bozikovic.

The inside baseball on baseball - author and baseball analyst Jonah Keri talks about his combined love of journalism and baseball, recorded at the Reader’s Digest Annual Public Lecture in Journalism. Introduced by Enn Raudsepp, Jonah Keri shares stories about baseball followed by a short conversation with Arpon Basu.

Binge watching, streaming, piracy, and all that great new content – what is television now? Emily Nussbaum (The New Yorker television critic and Pulitzer Prize winner) and Concordia University’s Joshua Neves (Canada Research Chair of Global Emergent Media, Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema) in conversation about TV, criticism and the new cultural status of the so-called small screen. Moderated by Hannah Sung.

Think about your voting experiences – about receiving your notification in the mail about a voting location. About ensuring time to get to the voting location, about lining up, about ensuring you are on the list. And then, there’s the voting booth – electronic, paper and pencil, special folds of the ballot, boxes, hand-counts…. Where is the technology? In this episode, I explore the issues around technology and voting with Concordia’s Jeremy Clark.

What do robots, space exploration, the environmental movement and the survival of the human race have in common? In this episode, Krzysztof Skonieczny talks about links between life on the Red Planet and space robotics. Are robots paving the way to vacations on Mars? Will we be able to live there by 2067, and will we have to reinvent the wheel to do so?

Consider fitness and activity tracking devices (like the popular fitbit), or apps on your phone that help monitor weight, eating habits, exercise, heart rate, blood pressure, glucose levels – even your sleep can be monitored. In this episode , Francine Pelletier speaks to researchers at Concordia University about the ways body feedback is communicated – and how it can improve our health. The future is about health literacy through self-monitoring. You’re body’s calling, are you listening?

Look back at images of what we thought the future might be – you know, images from the 1950s and 60s with people getting around via jetpacks. Futurism has always had a fascination with transport. In this episode, Zachary Patterson talks about how we currently get from Point A to Point B, and how our modes of transportation might change in the future. Will we all be flying around with jetpacks strapped to our backs in 2067? Or is the future of transit on two wheels?