Motherhood vs The Machine
Motherhood vs The Machine
Podcast Description
Motherhood offers a unique insight into what it is to be human: interdependence, sacrifice, love, care, hope and vulnerability (all of which are key to a Christian understanding of personhood). The work of motherhood has always been changed by technological advancement: from the nipple shield to the feeding bottle and breast pump. But as technological advancement accelerates and a future of artificial wombs and ‘bio bags’ does not seem as far-fetched as it once did, what of the humanity of motherhood might be lost if it is outsourced to machines?
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores the complex interplay between motherhood and technological advancements, addressing themes such as pregnancy and childbirth, cultural narratives, maternal health, and the impact of machines on mothering work, with episodes like 'Could machines have our babies?' focusing on the future of motherhood and 'Intensive mothering' delving into the balance of work and family.
Motherhood offers a unique insight into what it is to be human: interdependence, sacrifice, love, care, hope and vulnerability (all of which are key to a Christian understanding of personhood). The work of motherhood has always been changed by technological advancement: from the nipple shield to the feeding bottle and breast pump. But as technological advancement accelerates and a future of artificial wombs and ‘bio bags’ does not seem as far-fetched as it once did, what of the humanity of motherhood might be lost if it is outsourced to machines?
Warning: This episode includes discussion of stillbirths, pregnancy loss, miscarriage and death.
In the final episode, Chine and Maddy explore what motherhood teaches us about loss, grief, change and death. What does a mother’s grief – even a mother’s fear of grief – reveal about what it means to be human?
We explore the painful and difficult realities of stillbirth, pregnancy loss and the death of children after birth, as well as how parents deal with their own mortality. We look at both the potential and limitations of technology in saving premature babies’ lives, and ask how parents cope with the grief of life not turning out how they had hoped for their children, including anxiety about the climate and the state of the world. How does grief – about the climate or the loss of children – lead women into different forms of activism? We ask whether machines can help us grieve, or whether grief is an inevitable part of motherhood; and take a look at the most famous example of maternal loss: Mary, the mother of Jesus, who in the traditional Pieta imagery, cradles the dead body of her son.
Chapters:
00:00:00 Navigating the Pain of Loss
00:02:56 The Impact of Pregnancy Loss
00:05:57 The Spiritual Dimension of Grief
00:08:59 Motherhood and Identity
00:12:05 The Journey of Healing
00:15:07 The Role of Technology in Parenthood
00:18:04 Grief and Hope in Parenthood
00:21:01 The Uniqueness of Each Loss
00:23:46 Coping with Maternal Grief
00:26:58 Finding Meaning in Loss
00:30:51 The Intersection of Grief and Love
00:40:03 Motherhood and Climate Activism
00:49:31 The Messiness of Motherhood and Loss
Featured in this episode:
Dr Karen O’Donnell from the University of Cambridge, and author of The Dark Womb; Lizzie Harvey, head of content & communications at Theos; Professor Dominic Wilkinson, medical ethicist and neonatal intensive care doctor; Dr Sarah Apetrei of the University of Oxford and author of The Reformation of the Heart: Gender and Radical Theology in the English Revolution; Lorna Powell and Bongi Kellner from Mothers Rise Up.
The Team:
Hosts: Chine McDonald (@ChineMcDonald) and Madeleine Pennington (@mlmpennington)
Executive producer: Stephanie Tam
Audio editor and sound engineer: David Benjamin Blower
Recording engineer and assistant producer: Daniel Turner
Produced by the @thinktanktheos www.theosthinktank.co.uk/
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