Alle afleveringen
270 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
-
The Robot Will See You Now: Human uniqueness, AI musicians, surveillance capitalism and ditching Google
20 juli 2021 · 54 min
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'. Lees meer
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.
-
Coronavirus: Miscounting deaths, the Sun’s front page, key workers with long covid and vaccine generosity
26 mei 2021 · 56 min
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? Lees meer
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 Stott: Double listening, salt as preservative, incarnational mission, and the challenge of evangelical hagiography
4 mei 2021 · 53 min
Last week marked 100 years since the late John Stott was born and there has been a flurry of events to mark the centenary of this highly influential vicar, Bible teacher and evangelical leader. He also had a huge impact on John's own life and career and in this episode we wanted to talk about not just the legacy of Stott’s many decades of ministry, but whether his vision for how Christians can engage well in the public square is still relevant and meaningful today, more than 60 years after he began making the case. Has society long since moved on, or are there still things to learn and challenges to heed from Stott? Lees meer
John's talk and discussion on Stott at LICC - https://johnwyatt.com/2021/05/03/talk-and-discussion-the-life-and-legacy-of-john-stott/
Sermon on lay ministry inspired by Stott at All Souls Church - https://johnwyatt.com/2021/04/26/interview-and-talk-the-john-stott-centenary-biblical-convictions-for-the-contemporary-church/
A Glen Scrivener interview with John about his friendship with Stott - https://johnwyatt.com/2021/04/29/interview-the-life-and-legacy-of-john-stott/
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
-
Simulation: Deep fakes, image as sacrament, David Beckham in Mandarin and therapy chatbots
15 maart 2021 · 52 min
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. Lees meer
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.
-
Digital church: Worship on Zoom, pandemic revival, time-shifting and Gnosticism
24 februari 2021 · 35 min
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? Lees meer
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
-
Social media and free speech: Fake news, Facebook’s ’Supreme Court’, the Capitol riot and YouTube algorithms
22 januari 2021 · 36 min
In today’s episode we’re taking a sideways step from the covid pandemic and instead are discussing social media and free speech. Lees meer
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.
-
Coronavirus: Misinformation
16 december 2020 · 37 min
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? Lees meer
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.
-
Coronavirus: Vaccines - part 3
11 december 2020 · 36 min
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? Lees meer
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.
-
Coronavirus: The second lockdown
11 november 2020 · 44 min
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? Lees meer
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
-
Coronavirus: Vaccines - part 2
9 november 2020 · 19 min
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. Lees meer
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.
-
Coronavirus: Vaccines - part 1
8 oktober 2020 · 42 min
There are about 40 different potential covid vaccines already being tested on humans, with almost a hundred more at earlier stages of development in the lab. The delivery of a vaccine is seen by many as the silver bullet which could end the pandemic for good. But they are more morally complex than we might at first assume. Join us as we sift through the ethical questions around clinical trials, testing vaccines on humans, how they can be most equitably distributed, and even what material they are made with. Lees meer
John's article on the ethics of vaccines, which includes a discussion of the rights and wrongs of using tissue from aborted fetuses to develop vaccines, can be found here: https://johnwyatt.com/2020/10/08/article-coronavirus-vaccines-and-christian-ethics/
He 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/
You can listen to the next two episodes which also discuss vaccines here:
Part 2 - https://shows.acast.com/matters-of-life-and-death/episodes/coronavirus-vaccines-part-2
Part 3 - https://shows.acast.com/matters-of-life-and-death/episodes/coronavirus-vaccines-part-3
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
-
Coronavirus: Mental health, anxiety and hope
10 september 2020 · 37 min
We’re back after a slightly longer than expected summer break with a new episode, all about our fears, anxieties and hopes amid the pandemic. People are afraid of the virus, and understandably so after months of the government stoking our anxiety to get us to stay at home while the media pumps grim death statistics into our screens on a daily basis. Is it healthy or wise to remain in this state of anxiety and fearfulness? How can we see God at work during times of mental health crisis and perpetual anxiety about death? And how can we foster an appropriate, grounded but Christlike hopefulness in its place? Lees meer
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
-
Coronavirus: Technology - part 2
24 juni 2020 · 28 min
In the second part of our conversation on technology during the coronavirus pandemic, we look into our crystal balls and try to imagine what the world of tech will look like in the future, thanks to Covid-19. Are the major American tech companies are emerging from the crisis stronger than ever? Will coronavirus accelerate the rise of artificial intelligence and robotics in healthcare? And has the modernist pro-science movement struck a lasting blow in the battle of ideas against the anti-expert populists? Lees meer
You can listen to the first episode on coronavirus and technology here: https://shows.acast.com/matters-of-life-and-death/episodes/coronavirus-technology-part-1
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
-
Coronavirus: Technology - part 1
19 juni 2020 · 40 min
One of the perhaps unexpected results of the coronavirus pandemic is how it has thrown up some fascinating debates about technology. Many countries, including the UK, have been grappling with if and how they could use Bluetooth apps to try and trace the spread of the virus. Around the world other nations have used the ubiquity of smartphones to quarantine and control potentially infected people, while poorer states have seen their efforts hindered by a critical lack of healthcare tech. In this episode of Matters of Life and Death, we delve into some of these discussions and try and look forward to see what impact the pandemic may have on our increasingly digital lives in the future. Lees meer
Listen to the second part of our conversation on covid and technology here - https://shows.acast.com/matters-of-life-and-death
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
-
Coronavirus: Death and spirituality during a pandemic
26 mei 2020 · 38 min
For many years death has been described as perhaps the final taboo in British society. Rarely it is deemed polite to mention the uncomfortable fact that one day we all will die, let alone try to bring faith or spirituality into that conversation. But in the midst of a pandemic which has already claimed over 50,000 British lives in various ways, is that changing? And how as Christians can we be modelling a different way to approach death – and serve those in their final days – particularly in these stressful and frightening times? In this episode of Matters of Life and Death we resolutely break the taboo and talk about death, about dying and about spiritual care. Lees meer
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
-
Coronavirus: Life in the NHS
16 mei 2020 · 35 min
Protect the NHS. It has been one of the key government slogans, designed to inspire us to stay with the lockdown so that hospitals do not get overwhelmed by coronavirus patients and services collapse under the pressure. In today's episode we examine what life in the NHS has been like during the Covid-19 crisis. Has it been protected? Has morale held up? What can the church do to support Christian medics? Is our relentless focus on PPE and self-protection having unintended consequences for the idea of medicine as a sacrificial vocation? And what lessons for the longer term future of our health service should we as Christians be learning during this time? Lees meer
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
-
Coronavirus: The ethics of triage
13 mei 2020 · 34 min
First come, first served? Or key workers and politicians before everyone else? How can doctors decide who to treat in a healthcare emergency when there are not enough beds or ventilators to go around? Triage, the practice of working out who to care for first, has been around in medicine for centuries but the concept has acquired a fresh intensity during the Covid-19 pandemic, when it was realistically feared the NHS might have significantly more patients sick with the virus than it had capacity. In this episode we discuss if it is ever right to pick between patients like this, and if so what methods might be wise - and which are ethically dubious. Lees meer
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
-
Coronavirus: Thinking as a Christian during Covid-19
29 april 2020 · 37 min
Our third episode on coronavirus zooms in to focus on how Christians should be thinking and acting during the pandemic. We ask how we might square this global crisis with our belief in a sovereign and loving God and if we should look for anything good to come out of it. And what shape will our faith be in when all this finally comes to an end and something like normal life resumes? Lees meer
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
-
Coronavirus: How this pandemic is unlike anything before
27 april 2020 · 33 min
In this second episode in our series on coronavirus, we explore how Covid-19 is different to plagues in the past. Building on what we learned about how Christians in generations before us responded to similar crises, how should we be navigating these unprecedented times? What does it mean for followers of Jesus to be experiencing the very first pandemic of the information age? What trends are already emerging during the first few weeks of lockdown which we need to understand, or even challenge? Lees meer
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
-
Coronavirus: Christians in times of plague
23 april 2020 · 34 min
Our first ever episode of Matters of Life and Death kicks off a short series on coronavirus. Today we take a lightning tour through the history of the church, going all the way back to the Roman Empire, to try and see how Christians have responded to times of plague in the past. What might we have to learn by looking back at times when the world was, as today, convulsed by a devastating virus? Is there wisdom to glean from the way believers in previous generations have acted during pandemics? And why might we interpret these moments of crisis differently today? Lees meer
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.