25 episodes

Spark on CBC Radio One Nora Young helps you navigate your digital life by connecting you to fresh ideas in surprising ways.

Spark CBC Discover & Learn

    • Technology
    • 4.7 • 92 Ratings

Spark on CBC Radio One Nora Young helps you navigate your digital life by connecting you to fresh ideas in surprising ways.

    Being Human Now - Play

    Being Human Now - Play

    What does play mean in a digital age, when so much happens on our all-consuming phones, and tech erases the boundaries between work and play?

    • 54 min
    Can we put a watermark on reality?

    Can we put a watermark on reality?

    In an age of misinformation and generative AI, how do we know if anything we read or hear is even real anymore? From the latest trends in internet search to watermarking images to (re)establishing trust in journalism, we examine the role of proof in a post-truth world.

    • 54 min
    Predicting problems before they happen

    Predicting problems before they happen

    Digital twin technology is growing rapidly across multiple industries. From race cars to the human heart to the entire country of Canada, a look at how these virtual replicas use real-time data to model and predict the future.

    • 54 min
    Being Human Now - Work

    Being Human Now - Work

    We keep hearing that AI is going to revolutionize jobs. But what if the language of inevitable automation hides the ongoing need for distinctly human skills?

    • 54 min
    Confronting bias and privacy for better tech tools

    Confronting bias and privacy for better tech tools

    Along with huge advances in data-driven technologies like machine learning and digital health, there are troubling concerns about our data privacy in healthcare, and persistent problems with bias in artificial intelligence. So how do we get the tools we want with the ethics we need?

    • 54 min
    How 'compassionate ageism' made its way into designing new tech

    How 'compassionate ageism' made its way into designing new tech

    By some measures, nearly 90% of Canadians 65 and older use the internet every day. And yet, the design of new technologies and platforms often leaves out the needs, desires and interests of seniors. But if older people are using technology, why aren't they factored into its design?

    • 54 min

Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5
92 Ratings

92 Ratings

aradaw ,

Excellent podcast - background music too loud

This is the best podcast on this platform. However, the background music has become too loud to the point that it’s hard to concentrate on the spoken word. Please fix it, Nora.
A long time subscriber.

Clarity 1955 ,

Nora is the Bomb

I <3 Spark.This is a nice way to keep up with tech and trends in electronic media. So good to say she makes my day.

Marcus517 ,

Good show even with the strong left tilt, and a bit naive

You will never ever hear anything favorable to the right on this show. Nothing on for example the cost of things to government (meaning us) the downside of single parent families, crime rate of POCs, etc. that said, what’s presented is interesting.

A couple examples.

Bias in machine learning was cited and showed racism. Actually, most everything covered in this show was racist (a slight exaggeration). Nothing about how ML is much easier to fix than the alternative. If a person doesn’t hire people because of racism, you can’t easily tell. However you can throw data at a machine and see the results; it won’t hide them. It’s fixable, the person isn’t (well not easily)

Truckers and the surveillance society was an interesting show. And I happen to agree with the concerns of the speaker. But she and the host were terribly naive. There was nothing on how much of a problem was in trucking and all truckers (except very young ones) were noble, responsible people

Top Podcasts In Technology

Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
All-In Podcast, LLC
No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning | Technology | Startups
Conviction | Pod People
Acquired
Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal
BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley
BG2Pod
Hard Fork
The New York Times

You Might Also Like

Quirks and Quarks
CBC
Ideas
CBC
Tapestry
CBC
The Sunday Magazine
CBC
Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly
Apostrophe Podcast Network
Cost of Living
CBC

More by CBC

Someone Knows Something
CBC
Uncover
CBC
Hunting Warhead
CBC
Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo
CBC
Front Burner
CBC
Escaping NXIVM
CBC