Peter Stanford

Oxford mathematician and committed Christian John Lennox warns that artificial intelligence could empower authoritarian governments, erode privacy and encourage people to treat machines as gods. He argues that AI lacks consciousness and cannot replace the integrated intelligence and consciousness of human beings, while acknowledging potential benefits including new medicines, vaccines, robotic surgery and improved NHS logistics. Lennox supports restricting children’s access to social media, criticizes addictive platform design by major technology companies, and attacks transhumanist visions associated with Yuval Noah Harari. Drawing on his experience of totalitarian regimes, he calls for open debate, stronger public engagement and human judgment to prevent AI from determining the future.

Rowan Williams warns that deep disagreements over women’s ordination and same-sex relationships could threaten the survival of the worldwide Anglican Communion. He sympathizes with incoming Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally but stresses that the role is exceptionally difficult, and acknowledges his own regrets over the handling of Jeffrey John’s failed 2003 bishop nomination. Discussing his new book, Solidarity: The Work of Recognition, Williams argues that societies and nations are secure only when their neighbours are secure, criticizes isolationist and enemy-focused politics, defends a broad understanding of human rights, and condemns the Church’s failures over abuse and human dignity. He also says British public life has lost its moral centre and expresses uncertainty about the future of the Church of England.

Taj Rowland was kidnapped from a poor family in Erode, India, in 1979 at age seven and taken to an orphanage run by Paul Thiruthuvadoss, who arranged his adoption by a Mormon family in Utah. Raised as an American, Taj suppressed much of his Indian identity until recordings from his childhood, translated by his future wife Priya, revealed the circumstances of his abduction. He reunited with his birth mother Arayi in 1997 and later reconnected with his siblings and father, while helping educate younger relatives and support his family financially. Despite appreciating the life he had in Utah, Taj remains emotionally divided between his American upbringing and Indian roots; the podcast Stop Rewind: The Lost Boy explores the long-term consequences of that trauma and the difficulties of rebuilding two families.