Matters of Life and Death

• Can AI make you mad? Chatbots and psychosis, with Dr Daniel Maughan

  There’s been a flurry of news stories and even scientific papers exploring the concept of ‘AI psychosis’ – the idea that people can become psychotic and mentally ill having spent too much time locked in hours of conversation with an AI chatbot such as ChatGPT. There’s also been a handful of cases where the family of someone who has killed themselves has accused the chatbot they were using of encouraging or facilitating the suicide. To try and unpick if any of this is real and what impact our rapidly-advancing AI technology can have on our minds, we are joined again by Christian psychiatrist Daniel Maughan. Should we be concerned about the way AI can interfere with our brain? Or is this just another round of moral panic and hysteria which has accompanied many previous technological breakthroughs in the past? And how can the church continue to model the value of real life incarnational human-to-human relationships to a society increasingly adrift in the digital space? • You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to [email protected] • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

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• Autonomy, suffering and dignity: Christianity and assisted dying

  Here in the UK, parliament continues to debate a bill to legalise assisted suicide. As we wait to see whether Britain follows the lead of many other Western nations in introducing a form of assisted dying, we thought we would share as this week’s podcast a lecture John gave recently to the Church of Ireland in Belfast. It’s entitled Autonomy, Suffering and Human Dignity: Theological and Medical Responses to Assisted Dying, and in it he reflects on the current moves towards assisted dying and in particular what we as Christians believe about the ethical and spiritual dimensions to suffering. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments, both from autonomy and compassion, used by those in favour of legalising medically-assisted suicide? And what richer, deeper story about human dependence and dignity can Christians tell in response to this? • You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to [email protected] • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

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• Circumcision: Male genital mutilation or vital symbol of religious freedom?

  A listener in the United States has written in pondering the, ahem, sensitive issue of circumcision. In America it’s been commonplace as a medical procedure for newborn boys for generations, while in the rest of the world it’s almost exclusively a Jewish or Muslim religious rite of initiation. Does circumcision actually offer any real medical benefits? Following the growing pressure to stamp out female genital mutilation, once known as female circumcision and largely tolerated across North Africa and the Middle East, some are now looking at male circumcision with fresh eyes. Should we be much more sceptical about religious minorities performing this ritualised and irreversible procedure on non-consenting babies by non-medically trained community leaders? Or is defending the rights of Jews and Muslims on circumcision one plank in a broader effort to protect our religious liberty to continue with practices and teachings wider society now reviles? • You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to [email protected] • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

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• Gender dysphoria and trans children

  Perhaps the most contentious political, medical and social issue of the day is how to treat and care for young people who are questioning or experiencing distress around their sex and gender. We are both away for half-term this week, so we’re bringing you an episode from 2023 when we spoke with Christian community paediatrician Julie Maxwell about the rise in children reporting gender dysphoria, the evidence base behind controversial treatments such as puberty-blockers, and how we as followers of Jesus can speak compassionately and faithfully into the maelstrom of invective and opinion on this important topic. • You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to [email protected] • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

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• Making human egg cells out of skin, and other mysteries

  In the first part of this episode we talk through a startling new scientific breakthrough: researchers claim they can insert genetic material from an ordinary skin cell into a human egg cell, and then use that to fertilise and grow an embryo. This means an infertile couple or a same-sex couple could theoretically have a child who was genetically related to both parents for the first time. But just because we can, should we be doing this? Then we respond to a listener’s question on our recent episode about miraculous faith healing. What did Jesus mean when he told his disciples they would do even greater things than his amazing works? Does this not mean we should expect to surpass Christ’s own miraculous healing ministry? • You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to [email protected] • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

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