All Science articles – Page 7
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Article
‘I Don’t Need God’ – a sceptic’s U-turn
Ardent atheist Mark Meckler began to consider whether there might be something more after 51 years of scepticism
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Article
Is science at odds with religion?
Physician Erik Strandness unpacks the age-old conflict between science and faith
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Shows
Matters of Life & Death: AI sentience 2: I-Thou relationships, talking to stuffed animals, thanking Alexa, and Turing red flag laws
Building on last week’s discussion of AI chatbots, we consider the theology and sociology of why interacting with other human beings is so central to our personhood.
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Article
Apologetics: What is it and how do we use it?
It’s not about saying sorry. Joel Furches says making an intellectual defence for Christian faith has a long history
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Article
A materialist, a panpsychist and a Christian walked into a bar…
…or on to a stage. Erik Strandness explains why God continues to stand behind the question of consciousness
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Shows
Matters of Life & Death: AI sentience 1: Blake Lemoine and LaMDA, trillions of words, mute idols, and the God who speaks
Earlier this year, a Google engineer went public with his concerns an artificial intelligence chatbot program he had been testing had become sentient.
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Matters of Life & Death: Embryology 2: Psalm 139, reconsidering ‘ensoulment’, the language of right and wrong, and co-operation with evil
Building on last week’s whistlestop tour through the latest ground-breaking embryo research, in this episode we consider what we should do as Christians about all this.
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Matters of Life & Death: Embryology 1: A stem cell ‘Mini Me’, CRISPR, Brave New World, and extending the 14-day limit
There has been a flood of highly significant if poorly reported developments in embryo research in recent years, all of which raise new and confusing questions for Christians and non-Christians alike.
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Matters of Life & Death: Evolution 2: Tracking coronavirus variants, the immorality of mutation, roughly one thousand hominids, and intelligent uncertainty
Our second episode on the evolution debate considers three more bones of contention: where do different species come from? Are we all commonly descended from a single source, or does God intervene?
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Shows
Unbelievable? Angels, visions and near death encounters - Dale C Allison on whether skeptics can take religious experiences seriously
From rapturous joy to inexplicable terror, angelic encounters to near death experiences, New Testament scholar Dale Allison has researched a wide range of phenomena in his new book ‘Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age’. He tells of his own experiences and explains why they are more common than many people realise, and why skeptics shouldn’t dismiss them out of hand. Justin also brings listener questions from atheists and believers.
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Matters of Life & Death: Evolution 1: Finding common ground, the cosmic watchmaker, interpreting Genesis, and a 6,000-year-old Earth?
Evolution vs creationism. It’s been one of the most divisive and contentious debates within Christianity. But is there a way to tackle these questions without falling into rancour and accusation?
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Unbelievable? Are the public ready to move beyond the science vs faith conflict? Nick Spencer & Katherine Mathieson
Katherine Mathieson, director of the Royal Institution and Nick Spencer of Theos discuss the recent report ‘Science and Religion: Moving away from the shallow end’, which surveyed the British public’s attitudes towards science and faith. They explore questions such as: Why does the public believe there is a conflict? How has New Atheism played into the debate? Is science the only way of knowing truth?
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Unbelievable? The 2 men who invented the war between science & faith - Tim O’Neill, Dave Hutchings & James Ungureanu
In the 19th Century John Draper and Andrew White conjured up one of the most successful and enduring myths of the modern world - the supposed historical conflict between science and faith.
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Matters of Life & Death: Genetics 2: Whole genome sequencing, Gattaca, de-identification versus anonymity, and Big Data Towers of Babel
In this episode we pick up our conversation with clinical geneticist Melody Redman to talk about a new NHS programme in England which is piloting whole genome sequencing of newborn babies.
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Article
AI won’t overthrow humanity but it could radically undermine it
Erik Strandness on the promise and perils of AI following The Big Conversation between Lord Martin Rees and Dr John Wyatt
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Shows
Matters of Life & Death: Genetics 1: Rare diseases, libraries of recipe books, BRCA1, and precision medicine
Each of us carries around in our cells about 20,000 different genes – a unique set of biological code which shapes how our bodies develop.
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Shows
Ask NT Wright Anything #129 Would God need to redeem aliens? Life beyond earth and the cosmos
If the Universe is so big why did God choose to come to a small hill called Mount Zion? If there is sentient life beyond earth would it need redeeming too? Are the Nephilim evidence of aliens and UFOs? Tom answers questions on aliens and the cosmos!
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Article
Moral Machines: How do we build robots that know right from wrong?
Deep-fakes, Turing Tests and chatbots - AI systems are becoming ever more human-like. Robotics expert Prof Nigel Crook says we need to make sure they are moral too.
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Article
My Fair LaMDA: Why Google’s ‘sentient’ AI is not conscious, it’s just another computer programme
Peter S Williams draws on philosophical arguments and a Big Conversation on AI and Robotics to show why recent claims of a ‘sentient’ AI are still in the realm of science fiction.
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Shows
Unbelievable? The Mystery of Consciousness - Panpsycast event with Rowan Williams, Anil Seth, Laura Gow, Philip Goff & Jack Symes
We’ve teamed up with the Panpsycast podcast to bring you this week’s episode of Unbelievable? ‘The Mystery of Consciousness’ was a live audience event recorded at the Tung Auditorium in Liverpool. The panellists are Rowan Williams, Anil Seth, Laura Gow and Philip Goff, moderated by Panpsycast host Jack Symes.