Science and religion have a long history. According to some, it's a history of warfare; to others they are (or at least should be) non-overlapping.

Joining Nick Spencer at the @chalkehistoryfestival is historian and host of @restishistorypod Tom Holland, to discuss Nick's book Magisteria: The Entangled Histories of Science and Religion.

📚 Buy a copy of Magisteria here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/9780861544615

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This series of Reading our Times has looked at a number of scientific issues that have cast questions of, and sometimes shadows on, human personhood. So, in our final episode this series, we are asking specifically about that personhood.

What does it means to be a human person? And how do we come to know that personhood - not philosophically, not empirically but, well, personally. In an age in which technology threatens to remake us, even despite our intentions, how can we come to know and honour our deepest existence?

In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to David Brooks about his book How To Know a Person.

You can buy a copy of David's book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Know-Person-Seeing-Others/dp/0241670292

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The question 'what is a life worth?' feels wrong; heretical even. Humans are infinitely valuable, we say. You can't put a price on a life. And yet we do, every day: for healthcare, for philanthropy, for insurance, for criminal compensation... Indeed, arguably, if we actually care for life, we must.

So, how do we do it? What are we willing to pay for life? How do we calcualate it? Who decides, and on what basis? And what does all this tell us about our (in)humanity?

In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Jenny Kleeman about her book The Price of Life.

Buy a copy of the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Price-Life-Search-Worth-Decides/dp/1035004968/ref=asc_df_1035004968/

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Pretty much every index for the mental health of young people in Britain and the US in particular is pointing in the wrong direction. More anxiety, more depression, more therapy, more medication, more suicide.

Why? What is going on here? And why is it that the vast increase in spending on mental health - on counselling, therapy and drugs over recent decades seems to have made no difference whatsoever?

In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Abigail Shrier about her book Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up

Buy a copy of the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Therapy-Kids-Arent-Growing/dp/1800754132/ref=asc_df_1800754132/

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The idea that non-human animals should be recognised as legal persons has gained traction over recent years, and is the subject of numerous court cases. But underlying the legal and indeed empirical questions here, are some pretty deep philosophical ones.

What actually is a person? What role does rationality or consciousness or language play? And depending on our answers to those questions, could a non-human animal ever qualify as a person?

In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Mark Rowlands about his book Can Animals be Persons?

Buy a copy of the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Can-Animals-Persons-Mark-Rowlands/dp/0190846038

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Once upon a time, it was religions that promised eternal life. Now its science, with the possibility of immortality - whether bionic, cellular, genetic, or virtual - being the subject of big Silicon Valley dollars.

Is this something we want? Who actually want to live forever? And, perhaps more importantly, should we?

In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Stephen Cave about his book Should You Choose to Live Forever?

Buy a copy of Stephen's book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CMF7YW3M?ref=KC_GS_GB_GB

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AI is taking over the planet - or at least the news agenda! For hardly a day goes by without some AI story in the headlines. Should we believe what we read? Or is it all hype?

In particular, should we believe what we are promised - or threatened - about AI become super-intelligent, sentient, conscious, human?

In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Eve Poole about her book Robot Souls: Programming in Humanity

Buy a copy of Robot Souls here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Robot-Souls-Programming-Eve-Poole/dp/1032426624

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Little green men were once a complete fantasy - but the numbers appear to be on their side. The sheer size of the universe, the number of stars and, it seems, the number of potentially inhabitable planets means that alien life is highly probable.

What would it mean for us if that were so? If we did ever 'make contact'? What would it mean for our sense of pride, our dignity and in particular for those belief systems that have a particular emphasis on the human species?

In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Andrew Davison about his book Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine.

Buy a copy of Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Astrobiology-Christian-Doctrine-Exploring-Implications/dp/1009303155

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Every century is different - but the 21st may be seriously different, with our ability to understand, modify and re-create humanity having come on light years in recent decades.

Should we? So often, the warning we hear when it comes to the scientific manipulation of the human is that we shouldn't "play God". But what grounding does that actually have? What if we actually are a "playing God" species?

Kicking off a new series of Reading our Times, this one dedicated to the overall theme of Playing God, Chine McDonald talks to Nick Spencer about his new book, co-authored with Hannah Waite, Playing God: science, religion and the future of humanity