Matters of Life and Death

This episode was inspired by John’s new book – The Robot Will See You Now – which was published last week. It’s a multi-author volume he has co-edited with the theologian Stephen Williams, where they have gathered an array of theologians, academics and thinkers to explore how upcoming advances in robotics and artificial intelligence will revolutionise society, from healthcare to employment, from art to sex. And, perhaps more critically, how we as Christians should engage with and respond to these developments in cutting-edge technology. Excitingly, we have been able to invite our first guest onto Matters of Life and Death to discuss this - Nathan Mladin. Nathan is a researcher with the religion thinktank Theos and has written a chapter for The Robot Will See You Now. With his help we bat around some of the big ideas from the book and then look in more detail as his specialism - the concerning rise of 'surveillance capitalism'. Find out more about The Robot Will See You Now, including how to pre-order it, on John's website - https://johnwyatt.com/2021/07/01/the-robot-will-see-you-now/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In today’s episode we’re returning to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s been almost six months since we last dedicated an episode to covid, and since then a lot has happened. Hundreds of millions of vaccine doses have been delivered around the world, but are they going to the right people at the right time? We now know the vaccines increase by a tiny amount the risk you might experience a dangerous blood clot in the brain – how have we done at understanding that risk and putting it in its proper context? We’re also sadly much more familiar with long covid– what’s going on there and how should we as a society look after those suffering these symptoms? And finally, does the way we count – or rather, significantly undercount – deaths caused by coronavirus really matter? Please take our three-minute listener survey to help us improve the podcast - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJjFoI3G6a-5lJ07S7vBm_yxOkDVoDQXQfI6RnrZSJNI2zuw/viewform The ONS report on how many people in the UK have long covid - https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/prevalenceofongoingsymptomsfollowingcoronaviruscovid19infectionintheuk/1april2021 The BBC Radio 4 programme on long covid - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000w4t4 The Sun's front page on the blood clot risk - https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14589798/brilliant-front-page-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine/ The government's information page on the blood clot risk with the covid vaccines - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-and-blood-clotting/covid-19-vaccination-and-blood-clotting See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John Wyatt, doctor, professor of ethics and writer, reflects on his decades-long friendship with John Stott. He discusses Stott’s double listening, linking Bible and current affairs, and the idea of lay people as salt and light in daily work. Conversation also covers incarnational mission, public persuasion, and a caution about hagiography and honest appraisal.

Today’s topic is simulation. We live in an era when digital technology is making it increasingly easy and cheap to create fake but compelling images or videos of people, or even entirely artificial human-like personalities. Machine learning tools and progress in artificial intelligence software means we are closer than ever to things previously only imaginable in science fiction: computer programs which can speak to us like a human or androids which are indistinguishable from real people. In this episode we discuss examples of this kind of tech already in the world, what impact it may have in the future, and how we as Christians should think about these forms of simulated images, relationships and personalities. Tom Cruise deep fakes on TikTok Synthesia - the company offering deep fake videos as corporate communications MyHeritage Deep Nostalgia - a family history DNA company will now use AI to animate your old photos of dead relatives, 'bringing them back to life' Affectiva - who claim to use AI to analyse human emotional states from looking at their faces Simulation and Simulacra - the seminal work by Jean Baudrillard The Truman Show film The Matrix film See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode explores one of the most significant and potentially long-lasting ways the covid pandemic has affected church life – the shift to digital. Ever since the first lockdown began almost a year ago, churches of every shape and size and from every denomination have been forced to offer worship online. And even though it has been legal to re-open buildings since last summer, most have continued to livestream, pre-record or video conference their way through the pandemic alongside some physical gathering. Will this continue indefinitely even when covid is long gone? Are we really seeing digital church spark a revival among non-churchgoers? And what implications for our worship and our theology does this brave new online world pose? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In today’s episode we’re taking a sideways step from the covid pandemic and instead are discussing social media and free speech. The banning of Donald Trump from every social media platform following the deadly riot earlier this month at the US Capitol building has prompted fierce debates, not only about free speech and censorship online, but also the role of social media in fostering hate and lies. Why is it that so much horrendous stuff accumulates and spills out of social media, from deranged conspiracy theories about coronavirus all the way up to the violent and often racist political rhetoric which inspired the Capitol insurrection? Do we need more regulation and moderation of what people are saying online, or less? What are the implications of unaccountable tech CEOs barring anyone they choose from the world’s dominant communications networks? And how should we, as Christians, think about the ethics of free speech and censorship in our always online 21st century world? Our previous episode on conspiracy theories and misinformation online about coronavirus - https://shows.acast.com/matters-of-life-and-death/episodes/coronavirus-misinformation Research on the spread of false and true news online, published in Science - https://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6380/1146 'Information Overload Helps Fake News Spread, and Social Media Knows It', published in Scientific American - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/information-overload-helps-fake-news-spread-and-social-media-knows-it/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Microchips. Bill Gates. The mark of the beast. 5G cell towers. False positive rates. Big pharma. DNA alteration. It’s been hard to avoid the swirling morass of misinformation and conspiracy theories around the pandemic. And this confusion and fear have surged in recent weeks as the first covid vaccines have begun to be rolled out. But why have so many people, including many in the church, fallen for untruths about coronavirus? Where has all our trust – in government, in science, even in doctors – gone? How can we steer a clear path through the toxic brew of lies and misinformation swamping the internet and social media? Read the World Health Organisation's guide to navigating the 'infodemic' and verifying online information here: who.int/news-room/spotlight/let-s-flatten-the-infodemic-curve See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The first coronavirus vaccine jabs have already gone into the arms of people here in the UK, as Britain this week became the first country in the world to actually deploy a vaccine which had completed all its clinical trials and been signed off by the regulator. But there remain lots of questions about the vaccine – how has it been made so fast, can we be sure it is safe, who should get it first, and can Christians be given it without compromising on their religious convictions? Listen to previous episodes on covid vaccines here: Part 1 - https://shows.acast.com/matters-of-life-and-death/episodes/coronavirus-vaccines Part 2 - https://shows.acast.com/matters-of-life-and-death/episodes/coronavirus-vaccines-part-2 Read John's article on vaccines and Christian ethics here - https://johnwyatt.com/2020/10/08/article-coronavirus-vaccines-and-christian-ethics/ At the bottom is a document which has more detailed information on which particular vaccines have used which particular cell lines which may have ethical concerns, produced by the pro-life research centre the Charlotte Lozier Institute. John has also put together a document on his website tackling some of the frequently asked questions about the vaccine - https://johnwyatt.com/2020/12/21/faq-coronavirus-vaccines-frequently-asked-questions/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The second coronavirus lockdown started here in the UK on 5 November and is due to last the rest of the month. Unlike the first time round in the spring, we aren’t going into this with our eyes closed – we know the lockdown will cause immense economic damage, as well as impacting mental and even physical health. Is this crude, blunt instrument really the best way to tackle the second wave of the covid pandemic? What does the Christian ethic have to say about how to balance the goods of saving lives versus protecting livelihoods? Is there actually any alternative? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We received a fascinating question from a listener after our last episode on vaccines, picking up on the competing and perhaps contradictory philosophies behind the anti-vax movement. So we decided to respond to their question and thoughts with a special bonus episode looking over this issue and other developments in coronavirus vaccines since. You will probably want to listen to the main episode on vaccines first here: https://shows.acast.com/matters-of-life-and-death/episodes/coronavirus-vaccines And we subsequently made a third vaccines episode - https://shows.acast.com/matters-of-life-and-death/episodes/coronavirus-vaccines-part-3 John has also put together a document on his website tackling some of the frequently asked questions about the vaccine - https://johnwyatt.com/2020/12/21/faq-coronavirus-vaccines-frequently-asked-questions/ We're really interested in hearing more questions and comments from you - if you have something you would like us to discuss or respond to, please email mattersoflifeanddeathpodcast@gmail.com. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.