My thinking about the online public sphere is, by necessity, shaped by many years’ work into the emergence of the public sphere in early modern Europe, which creates, in its silhouette, the idea of the private self. The CBC Ideas series on the origins of the modern public is both a testament to the Canadian broadcaster’s commitment to intellectually challenging radio — it’s Radio 3 territory, not NPR — and a trove of ideas to juxtapose with this new domain for identity and interaction.