Hi there
This is my first newsletter for the year. I had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year and had some nice time off from work.
Mark started off the newsletter last week with a Happy New Year to all, with a bunch of great content from several contributors. We would love to have more people write content for the newsletter, so if you've got something in mind or on your mind, please let us know - email news@skeptics.nz
We also resumed our podcast recording this week, and it was an interesting episode to record. We covered several topics, but spent a lot of time exploring the new AI sensation ChatGPT. The discussion was lively - (you can listen here). I think the technology is fascinating, and potentially very useful. It's fascinating to watch AI creep into our lives, and it makes me wonder what life will be like in the next decade and how it will affect lives (and jobs!)
And, speaking of AI, I watched the recently released movie: M3GAN, which I give a brief review of.
You may not be aware, but the Therapeutic Products Bill, a replacement for the dated Medicines Act and Dietary Supplements Regulations from last century, is making its way through the select committee process, with submissions due by the middle of February. I spend a bit of time on this below, with assistance from new committee member Katrina.
Our regular contributor, Alexander Maxwell wrote an interesting item about contrasting perspectives of people defending their religion, to skeptics coming to the defence of science. I've got an item below from another previous contributor - Al Blenny - responding to that item.
Finally, regular contributor Bronwyn Rideout has another item from NZ's skeptical history, talking about the Ānanda Mārga group.
Enjoy!