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Chinese modders end console wars with a PS5, Xbox Series S, and Switch 2 combo console
Ningtendo PXBOX 5: Modder builds a 3-in-1 console that switches between PS5, Xbox Series S, and Switch 2 with one button A Chinese hardware modding
MediaTek’s Upcoming Dimensity 9600 Chip Is Likely To Be Quite Popular Among Chinese Flagship Smartphones
A number of smartphone OEMs are likely to turn to the Dimensity 9600 as a viable contender to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6-series chips.
Top 25 And 1: Darryn Peterson shines again as Kansas takes down Baylor
The Jayhawks freshman star proved why many still view him as the surefire No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft
Chinese scientists unlock possible key to dark matter after almost 90 years
Researchers have made the first direct observation of a quantum phenomenon known as the Migdal effect.
15 former NCAA players allegedly rigged basketball games
Prosecutors charged 20 people, including players, in what they called a betting scheme to rig NCAA and Chinese Basketball Association games.
20 people indicted in alleged college basketball and Chinese Basketball Association point-shaving scheme
The scheme allegedly started in the CBA and then spread to college basketball.
US expected resistance from Venezuela air defenses: Maduro raid memo
Venezuela relied on Russian air defense systems and Chinese radars, but its forces did not shoot down any US military aircraft.
Chinese scientists unveil reliable lunar clock that accounts for Einstein's relativity
A new software package detailed by Chinese scientists promises to tell what time it is on the moon, accounting for effects of relativity.
3SBio Sees More Business Development Deals
Tony He, CFO of the Chinese biopharmaceutical firm 3SBio, discusses his outlook for dealmaking and the progress of a record licensing deal the company struck with Pfizer last year. He speaks on “Bloomberg: The China Show” from San Francisco, where the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference is taking place. (Source: Bloomberg)
How everyday foam reveals the secret logic of artificial intelligence
Foams were once thought to behave like glass, with bubbles frozen in place at the microscopic level. But new simulations reveal that foam bubbles are always shifting, even while the foam keeps its overall shape. Remarkably, this restless motion follows the same math used to train artificial intelligence. The finding hints that learning-like behavior may be a fundamental principle shared by materials, machines, and living cells.
Health Catalyst, Veeva Systems, 8x8, Amplitude, and DocuSign Stocks Trade Down, What You Need To Know
A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after tech stocks pulled back as reports surfaced that Chinese customs authorities blocked Nvidia's H200 AI chips, effectively halting their entry despite recent U.S. export approvals.
New Leak Reveals iPhone 18 Pro Display Sizes, Under-Screen Face ID, and More
While the iPhone 18 Pro models are still around nine months away, a leaker has shared some alleged details about the devices. In a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo this week, the account Digital Chat Station said the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max will have the same 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display sizes as the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Consistent with previous rumors, the leaker claimed that both of the models will have a breakthrough new feature: under-screen Face ID.
Fact check: Trump’s Detroit economic speech
Inflation hasn’t “stopped.” Consumer prices are up during this presidential term, not “down.” Grocery prices are rising, not starting to fall “rapidly.” US businesses and consumers, not China, pay US tariffs on Chinese imports. It’s impossible to reduce prescription drug prices by “thousands” of percentage points, since this would mean Americans would be getting paid to acquire their medicines.
A new generation of Chinese companies is expanding around the world
They are following a different playbook from that of their elders
Former Navy sailor sentenced to 16 years for selling information about ships to Chinese intelligence
A former US Navy sailor convicted of selling technical and operating manuals for ships and operating systems to an intelligence officer working for China was sentenced Monday to more than 16 years in prison, prosecutors said.
Ornate medieval ring discovered in Norway’s oldest town
The roughly 800-year-old ring shines with a brilliant blue gemstone.
Power supplies and CPU coolers may be next for price increases (6-10%), distributor letter claims
Chinese notice warns of higher PSU and cooler costs as raw material prices rise Image Credit: Hardware Canucks, ASUS The screenshot shows a letter from
American drone company challenges Chinese dominance while preparing troops for swarm attacks
Auburn Hills drone startup transforms from light shows to military training, helping soldiers prepare for drone swarm attacks using American technology.
How Trump's tariffs ricochet through a Southern California business park
America's trade wars forced Robert Luna to hike prices on the rustic wooden Mexican furniture he sells from a crowded warehouse here, while down the street, Eddie Cole scrambled to design new products to make up for lost sales on his Chinese-made motorcycle accessories.
Exclusive video shows slot machines removed from Leesburg business
The business in Lake County is mentioned in a discovery document related to the Marcos Lopez illegal gambling case.
Robot Vacuum Maker Roborock Shows Off Stair-Climbing Model With Legs
Roborock, a Chinese robotic vacuum cleaner brand, unveiled a concept device with two legs that can climb stairs in people’s homes, a flashy example of efforts to sell ordinary consumers on the idea of home robots.
All the laptops that caught our eye at CES 2026
From experimental form factors to slimmer gaming machines and a new wave of AI-focused notebooks, CES 2026 offered an early look at how laptop makers plan to compete this year
In China, a Debate About Political Power Ignites After Maduro’s Capture
The reactions online revealed a Chinese society divided: Some saw what happened in Venezuela as a playbook for seizing Taiwan, while others warned about ideological rigidity.
5⃣news: Academy shines, fallen star, nail-biting league races
This January 5th is filled with gifts, but also with news.So here are the five news stories you can't miss this Monday...Real Madrid thrashes Betis📸 PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU - AFP or licensorsReal Ma...
Taiwan Sees Trump’s Arrest of Maduro as Helpful in Deterring Xi
Taiwan officials see Donald Trump’s capture of Venezuela’s leader as a powerful deterrent to Beijing’s aggression and timely reminder of the US ability to defeat militaries equipped with Chinese-made weapons.
China’s robot sports craze could eventually put humanoids in homes
On the outskirts of Beijing, young Chinese entrepreneur Cheng Hao sits on an indoor soccer pitch – but this turf isn’t for humans. It’s where engineers working for his start-up, Booster Robotics, train human-like robots to play soccer using artificial intelligence – dribbling, passing, shooting and blocking.
The world has a new EV king. It’s not Tesla
In 2011, Tesla CEO Elon Musk dismissed Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD as a competitor. But some 14 years later, BYD beat the American EV pioneer at its own game.
SpaceX moves thousands of Starlink satellites in orbit after near miss with Chinese rival
A SpaceX executive said the move would reduce the "likelihood of collision" with other satellites and space debris.
Small business owner shares how Trump's tariffs affected sales
President Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs on Chinese imports affected many U.S. businesses last year. We check in with one small business owner to ask what the year and holiday season were like.
Chinese tech stocks charged into 2026 with an AI chip IPO surge and more listings lined up
Chinese AI and semiconductor stocks have rallied since the breakout of the China-made DeepSeek-R1 AI model in January 2025.
Science fiction warned AI could end humanity. We may soon learn if it's possible.
Tech companies are claiming machines more intelligent than us and capable of having their own agendas are just around the corner.
The Best Gear and Software of 2025: My 7 Highlights of the Year
It was a great year for synthesizers and drum machines. Here are my picks for the best gear and software of 2025.
The Rise Of Fake Casio Scientific Calculators
Scientific calculators are an amazing invention that take pocket calculators from being merely basic arithmetic machines to being pocket computers that can handle everything from statistics to alge…
Chinese state hackers use rootkit to hide ToneShell malware activity
A new sample of the ToneShell backdoor, typically seen in Chinese cyberespionage campaigns, has been delivered through a kernel-mode loader in attacks against government organizations.
New Chinese RPG Called Clair Obscur Clone Despite Long History
A new Sword and Fairy 4: Remake trailer is turning heads
We've Got Our First Clair Obscur-like, And It's A Chinese Game Called Sword And Fairy 4: Remake
Some shots almost looks like a Clair Obscur DLC.
NetEase head of interactive entertainment departs after 23 years
NetEase executive VP and head of the interactive entertainment group Yingfeng Ding is leaving the Chinese publisher after 23 years.
HKSH Medical Group and Southern University of Science and Technology Collaborate for Medical and Medical Physics Training, Enhancing Medical Education and Research Innovation
HKSH Medical Group ("HKSH") and Southern University of Science and Technology ("SUSTech") officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") on 15 December 2025, a significant initiative to deepen collaboration between Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland in the fields of medicine and medical physics.
Jim Cramer on International Business Machines: “It’s Still Cheap”
International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer discussed along with macroeconomic conditions. Cramer called the company stock cheap despite a noteworthy run, as he stated: “I also asked if some of the legacy tech giants, like Cisco and IBM, could continue the better performance they’ve been putting up, and I’m […]
NVIDIA’s RTX 5080 Is Now Being Sold in a “Chunky” 32GB VRAM Configuration in China, Gobbling Up GDDR7 Modules for AI Workloads
The Chinese GPU industry is selling modded GeForce RTX 5080s, which feature twice the memory compared to the GPUs' initial specifications.
Europe & China Dominate Business School Rankings From ShanghaiRanking
British, Australian & Chinese B-schools came out as the big winners in the annual ShanghaiRanking of business administration programs.
Samsung might start using Chinese OLED displays in its flagship phones
BOE already supplies display panels to Apple, it might as well take on Samsung as a customer too.
Researchers create world's smallest programmable, autonomous robots
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan have created the world's smallest fully programmable, autonomous robots: microscopic swimming machines that can independently sense ...
Chinese billionaire who has fathered more than 100 children hopes to have dozens of U.S.-born boys to one day take over his business
Xu Bo, the founder of one of China’s largest mobile gaming companies, is looking to have “50 high-quality sons” in the U.S. to take over his billion-dollar empire.
Chinese team tackles a century-old physics puzzle: can we travel back in time?
Theoretical breakthrough shows that time’s arrow can emerge naturally from how quantum parts become interconnected.
US bans new foreign drone models in a blow to Chinese giant DJI
A new rule by the Federal Communications Commission will make it impossible for US consumers to buy the next generation of foreign made drones.
Hoping to Curb Obesity, Chinese City Implements Health Ordinance
With nearly half of Chinese adults classified as overweight or obese, the policy represents the first time a city has enacted reforms directed at weight loss.
Chinese OpenAI rivals MiniMax and Zhipu AI offer first look at business models ahead of listings
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Everest is a multi-million dollar business, complete with private chefs, espresso machines for some climbers
iRobot founder says company's bankruptcy revealed a new kind of competitor: 'The Chinese fast follower'
As iRobot's founder Colin Angle looks back on its path to bankruptcy, he says it was hard to overcome competitors in China.
Chinese Lenses in 2025: Fantastic and Diverse Glass at Accessible Prices
Chinese lens makers are doing some exciting, incredible things.
US-based scientist Valery Fokin wins Vyzov Prize, beating fierce Chinese rivals
USC chemistry professor is awarded one of Russia’s top science honours, topping competition from 40 countries.
SpaceX Loses Starlink Satellite, This Space Stock Initiated Overweight
SpaceX loses contact with Starlink satellite in mishap. Intuitive Machines angles toward buy point. EchoStar rally continues.
‘Not clear’ who was behind FCDO hack, says minister, amid reports of China link
Chris Bryant confirms October cyber-attack as the Sun names Storm 1849, a Chinese hacker group, as being responsible
TikTok reaches deal with investors on its US business
The deal comes more than a year after Congress passed a law that forced the Chinese company to divest its US operations or face a ban.
Nonprofit for disabled adults shines as Loudoun's small business of the year
This is how the work day gets started at Every Citizen Has Opportunities (ECHO), a nonprofit that links adults who have disabilities with jobs: More than half of the 200 participants head out for work in the community, others staff three businesses operating inside the large ECHO headquarters near Leesburg, Virginia. Michael Doolin has earned a paycheck there for two…
How Chinese scientists turn allergy into a powerful weapon against cancer
Why the Rockets Are Built for What Comes Next
Houston's quiet resilience shines when games get tough. They're proving a gritty, adaptable style is built for late-season battles, not just flashy wins.
Ant Group Announces Major Upgrades to Its 15-Million-MAU AI Health App AQ Amid Wider Push into Health Sector
HANGZHOU, China, December 15, 2025--Ant Group today announced major upgrades to its AI health app AQ, with a new Chinese name "Ant A-Fu." The character "Fu" conveys good wishes and well-being, reflecting the app’s goal to promote better health and quality of life.
FUJIFILM Business Innovation Celebrates 60 Years in the Philippines and Singapore; Marks 30th Anniversary in Chinese Mainland
FUJIFILM Business Innovation, a leader in information workflows and digital transformation, is celebrating its 60th anniversary in the Philippines and Singapore. Starting in 1965, the Philippines was the company's first overseas market, and soon after it established operations in Singapore. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of FUJIFILM Business Innovation China, further underscoring the company's long and enduring operational history across the Asia Pacific region. These milestones refle
Scientists Created Hydrogel ‘Micromachines’ That Could Revolutionize Medicine
The extracellular matrix, a complex 3D structure made of proteins and sugars, is essential for healing wounds and homeostasis.
Andy Kim seeks to topple the Democratic machines in 2027
The New Jersey senator said he will be "stepping up" to take on elected officials who "fuel corrupt machine politics."
From Concerts to Events: What’s Next for Casino-Backed Entertainment in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has a rich and thriving entertainment market. From major theme parks like Hersheypark and Knoebels to a host of museums, concert halls, and theatres. At the heart of Pennsylvania’s entertainment market is a booming casino industry. Locations like Parx Casino, Mount Airy Casino Resort, and Mohegan Pennsylvania provide residents and visitors with many entertainment options. Casino-backed entertainment has evolved beyond simple table games and slot machines. It has become a billion-dollar industry central to tourism and entertainment in the State.
A Chinese app that started with lipstick reviews is now where Silicon Valley's Chinese tech workers swap AI intel
Chinese app Rednote started off as a shopping app. Now, it's one of the hottest hubs for Chinese tech workers in Silicon Valley to talk shop about AI.
‘A fight for our lives’: Ford teams up with Renault to make EVs that can rival Chinese brands
Renault and Ford will jointly develop small, cheaper Ford-branded electric vehicles for the European market to fend off rising competition from Chinese rivals, the companies said Tuesday.
NFL results & pick of week 14: Packers beat Bears, Aaron Rodgers rescues Steelers, season over for Chiefs
Our pick of week 14 in the NFL as Aaron Rodgers salvages his season but it could be game over for the Kansas City Chiefs, while Josh Allen again shines for Buffalo
Cheryl Hines opens up about shift from Hollywood to politics: 'Wasn't expecting it'
Actor and author Cheryl Hines, RFK Jr.'s wife, discusses her transition from the entertainment industry to the political sphere, her new memoir ‘Unscripted’ and more on ‘Fox & Friends.’
iPhone 18 Pro Leak Adds New Evidence for Under-Display Face ID
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker. According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth system's infrared sensors pass through the panel without distortion.
Anatomy Of A Minimalist Home Computer
There are plenty of well-known models among the 8-bit machines of the 1980s, and most readers could rattle them off without a thought. They were merely the stars among a plethora of others, and eve…
Unitree's Big Humanoid Robots Are Fighting Now
Chinese robotics company Unitree has revealed its much larger humanoid robot, the H2, can fight. We dig into all the hidden details in the company's latest demo videos.
Chinese scientists develop promising stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s
New biotech allows ‘seeds’ planted in the brain to differentiate into new nerve cells, reshaping its neural network.
From micro-dramas to video games, Chinese entertainment is booming
But how much slack will the Communist Party give creators?
2,500-Year-Old Chronicle Is Oldest Known Record Of A Total Solar Eclipse And Reveals Some Surprises
Because this record survived, we know more about ancient Chinese history, the rotation of the Earth, and past solar activity than we would otherwise.
China's top universities plan to roll out 'embodied intelligence' majors to fuel Beijing's robotics push
Seven Chinese universities plan to launch an "embodied intelligence" major as Beijing races to build a pipeline of robotics and AI talent.
Premier League considers 2026 Summer Series in Asia
Clubs have been ask for their views on a pre-season tournament next summer, with Hong Kong and Chinese city of Shenzhen potential hosts.
Scientists just found a way to tell if quantum computers are wrong
Researchers unveiled a new technique that validates quantum computer results—especially those from GBS devices—in minutes instead of millennia. Their findings expose unexpected errors in a landmark experiment, offering a crucial step toward truly reliable quantum machines.
Science must move from materialism to mystery
Theoretical physicist and neuroscientist Àlex Gómez-Marín argues that modern science has become trapped in a framework that mistakes matter for the whole of reality. In this wide-ranging interview, Gómez-Marín challenges the foundations of materialism, defends the scientific study of near-death experiences, and calls for a new type of science grounded in mystery and a renewed sense of the sacred. He suggests that abandoning materialism could open the door to a deeper understanding of consciousness, death, and the purpose of human existence. Simon Custer: You are both a theoretical physicist and a neuroscientist, and you have also been fiercely critical of materialist theories of mind and consciousness. What do you think the ultimate nature of reality is?Àlex Gómez-Marín: I don't know what the ultimate nature of reality is, but what I try to first assess is whether the stories that they [mainstream science] have told us about it are right, or maybe whether there are other alternatives. That's why I've been a fierce critic of materialism. As a scientist, I realized that they had sold us this idea that to be a good scientist you also had to subscribe to many other -isms, like materialism, reductionism, and even secularism. And so first I think one needs to unmount these -isms, and then, as is happening today in consciousness studies, we have a huge landscape where there isn't only one game in town, the idea that matter is the only thing that really exists. But because we are studying the hard problem of consciousness, it may be the case that other views of reality, like idealism, or even dualism, or other theories like dual aspect monism... these are philosophical ideas that now, I think, have room in science to be taken seriously. How does something like materialism relate to dualism or idealism? What is materialism in the first place?Well, materialism is the philosophical position that matter is the only really ‘real’ thing in the universe. And I think that worked kind of well because science started 400 years ago and Galileo made that split, I call it the foundational wound. It was a great business move.He said, let's start doing science on that portion of reality that lends itself more easily to mathematization and measurement. So, for some reason, the solidity of this table or the movement of planets lend themselves very well to this foundational idea of science. But as time went on, 400 years later, we realized that we had forgotten the other side, which is what really matters.What really matters is pain, is love, is feelings, sensation, consciousness, which is very hard to define, but very intimate. We all know what it is. It's that thing that disappears when we go into deep sleep and comes back in the morning. SUGGESTED VIEWING On the edges of knowledge With Michael Shermer, Rupert Sheldrake, Güneş Taylor It's what it is like to be, as Nagel said. It's the feeling of being alive. So, materialism is good to study certain things, but then when it ossifies into this ideology and then is dressed like science, now it's preventing us from understanding these key questions that are really that everybody wants to know.Why are we here? Why do we feel reality? Where do we go when we die? And so we need other ways. We need pluralism. I'm only asking for having more options on the table and taking them seriously. Why does materialism fail to explain consciousness? For example, if you were to lobotomize me, I would not be a functional human being. What do you say to someone who might think that materialism adequately explains the mind?Well, here we could speak about different things. We could talk about physics or about neuroscience. I happen to have training with both.For instance, for neuroscientists, 99% of them, I'm not included in that portion, believe that the brain can only be a productive organ. It's an organ that somehow, somewhere, consciousness emerges. It's like a lamp. And then something happens, magic happens, and then consciousness emerges.That's the position you need to be if you're a materialist because if the only really ‘real’ thing is matter, then you need to say, just give us some more time and money and we'll figure out how mind emerges or is produced from matter. There are many philosophically sophisticated ways of criticizing this.Now there's another option, which is the brain as a permissive organ. This was said by William James more than 100 years ago.Now then the brain wouldn't be like this machine, like for instance, a heat engine whose smoke is consciousness, which is what we would have in the first big model, the productive model. But in the permissive model, the brain would be a kind of a filter. And so the brain would still have a very important role in consciousness, but it wouldn't be a productive role.It would be permissive, much like a filter or much like a prism which would receive light. And - I'm speaking metaphorically - it would receive the light of the mind and then it could reflect it and refract it.Now, with these two big options on the table, I think we can make progress into what I call the edges of consciousness, which are all these experiences, weird experiences that many people have, but we don't talk about enough, like near-death experiences, precognitive dreams, synchronicities. These experiences are very important for humans and they have a place in the permissive hypothesis and they are literally impossible in the productive hypothesis. So that's yet one more reason to explore alternatives to materialism. There may be anecdotal evidence for near-death experiences, but is there robust evidence that would be accepted by the majority of scientists who subscribe to the scientific method?Sure. And the plural of anecdotes, someone said, is data.And there's a lot of data. Actually, this year is the 50th anniversary, half a century, since Dr. Raymond Moody realized that we have two ears and one mouth and started listening to what his patients had to say about their experiences while they were clinically dead.The heart had stopped, breathing had stopped in these patients. These patients would come back and tell him these amazing stories that some people may say are hallucinations, but for the patients were hyper-real, like seeing light at the end of the tunnels, seeing deceased family members waiting for them, feeling bliss.___I would say the evidence suggests that the mind can survive the death of activity of the brain.___And so he and others started taking them seriously and writing their accounts down. And then you can do a science based on that material of experience that people have. Now, on the more objective side, more recently people have started to measure what's going on in the brain when people are clinically dead and brought back. This has opened a proper field of study, which is near-death studies.Evidence is a difficult word, because sometimes people think that when you say evidence, this is just the final proof. Evidence is like in a jury. You bring testimony, you bring pieces of data that point in one direction or another.I would say the evidence suggests that the mind can survive the death of activity of the brain. When brains are broken or shut off, there can still be mind going on. And that's revolutionary.That would entail that when we die, it's not game over, which, by the way, is the thesis of materialism. If consciousness survives, materialism dies. It's game over for materialism if something of us continues after we die. Do you think that there is mental continuity after death?Well, I think so, and I believe so, and I could also say I may have experienced it myself, because four years ago I had a near-death experience. I was in the hospital, I lost a lot of blood, and I saw those beings at the end of the tunnel, three beings, and there was yellow light. I was in a well, I was looking upwards, and I hadn't read about NDEs by then, but when I came back from this experience, I decided I would try to integrate this also in my professional life. Not just my personal life, of course, but my professional life as a physicist and as a neuroscientist. So I may have had the experience of glimpses of what an afterlife would be, and I'm not ashamed to say it in this way, and then one can do science of it, and then one can do philosophy of it.One can think about what -isms we were discussing, what views on reality would allow those experiences to be really ‘real,’ as opposed to, well, poor guy, the brain was kind of broken, it must have been a hallucination. Do you have a view about whether individuality or “the ego” persists after death, or whether we sort of merge into some sort of cosmic consciousness instead?I don't know, but my view would be along those lines you're suggesting. I think we could speak about a kind of universal mind, and then the problem is not how we emerge from matter, but how we fragment from a more holistic consciousness into these individual eddies and then when we die, this kind of dissipates.But I'm not sure. For instance, idealism would promote that view, but then what would survive of us after these eddies just vanish and become again the big Consciousness, I'm not sure what that would be. I don't know for sure, but I would tell you I believe something of us survives.And there are other lines of research, not just near-death experience, that can address this really hard question of survival. For instance, there are children who remember previous lives. This was studied by Ian Stevenson at the University of Virginia for more than 50 years.___Research takes place within a selection mechanism that also sometimes reinforces things that are not very scientific.___It's amazing research. He went all over the world, especially in the East, and collected all these case studies, all these stories. In plural, these were data of kids, very young age, who would describe up to 40 items that then he could go and verify.There was no internet. There was really no way the kid could know. Why would the kid say that when I was living in this other body and I was a woman and that's how my house would look like or that's how I would die, right? Again, there is evidence, not proof, but there's evidence not only that something weird and interesting is happening as we cross the threshold, but also when we come back to this life.Scientists should not be afraid of studying this, but they are because there's stigma. There's usually stigma upon the enigma, and this is so unfortunate. And one of the reasons is because of the ideology of materialism, because those things cannot be possible. What is wrong with the politics of science such that they have generated this stigma?So many things. Science is a human activity to begin with.So it falls prey to all our passions and ego and greed. That's one thing. Science is a job for the good and for the bad.You need to get a salary. You need to get grants. Research takes place within a selection mechanism that also sometimes reinforces things that are not very scientific.And then, we didn't have time to unpack this, but science for many years become entangled, as I was suggesting before, to other -isms, materialism, secularism. So anything that smells like the afterlife, people may think has to do with God, and then they freak out.Anything that suggests that there's something about the mind that may not need a physical material substrate to exist, it smells like non-materialism. So, all these -isms are ideologically blocking that kind of research, and then there are all these sociopolitical constraints as to what should be studied and what shouldn't be studied.I call it the backstage of science. Sometimes we scientists or science communicators seem to speak as if the data is the only thing that matters. We say, well, data and theory.But then there's a third leg of this stool, which is all the politics that goes behind the scenes. And we often don't speak about this, and it's quite vicious and petty, and it's very real. Why is materialism so attractive to most scientists?Well, an easy answer is because we've grown up with it.It's what the educational system promotes, and that's what you hear when you go to university. So it's like growing in a culture. It feels like the air in which you breathe.So it's very hard to begin with to detect, well, maybe there's another alternative. Maybe there are other ways of doing science, other environments in which one could do science. That's one reason.And other reasons maybe are more profound, and I'm not qualified to explain them, but I could say, looking at this 400-year history of science, since it started around 1623 with Galileo's book The Assayer, that science went and coupled with all what's going on in the West.And so the fall of religion, you could say, and science presented us this new alternative that then could be coupled very well with other -isms, and this idea of growth, and then science losing its good twin brother, which was philosophy. There's a whole natural history of science starting as philosophy, kind of emancipating or breaking out from philosophy, and then marrying technology, and then marrying other social systems.From that point of view, materialism is a very convenient idea to propose. There were attempts, like the German idealists tried to do a more romantic science. But no, the idea prevailed, like Francis Bacon said: You should pursue nature through all her corners, he said, and make her spill her secrets.Our attitude towards nature in the science that dominates is very much reflecting how we treat nature in our society, in our culture, like a resource to extract secrets by force and then dominate it. How is materialism related to the notions of growth and progress? What's wrong with having a productive citizenry?This is another very interesting and very difficult question to answer.But there's this recent book coming out by Paul Kingsnorth. In it, he explains this idea of the machine and this idea of progress. And this, again, this conflation of more is better, of we need to go forward always, and convincing us that the way to do that is to continually extract more from nature. But because we don't have the religious context anymore, because God is dead, then what do we have? We have what we can do as humans with our own gadgets.It's kind of the story of the Promethean fire. We will just build anything to make ourselves God.A good example today is transhumanism. Transhumanism is this pseudo-religion dressed in technoscientific language whose goal is very religious. They promise immortality, they promise redemption, they promise transformation of the entire natural world, but it's done by human means through technology. Are you suggesting that we can't have ethics without religion?Well, we should have ethics with or without religion. That's another pruning that has happened in science. We say, forget about aesthetics, although some physicists still think that beautiful means probably true, and forget about politics. We pretend there's no backstage of science, and even let's forget about ethics.___Science needs to be in the service of mankind.___Scientists, when they become more like engineers, they're just thinking how to make things work so that they can go to the moon, go to Mars, make machines that think, but they don't think whether that's a good idea.And also consider metaphysics. Many scientists for a long time pretended, and maybe that comes from the stream of positivisms, that really one doesn't need metaphysics at all, except that materialism is always the metaphysics running the system.You see, it's not just ethics. It's the pruning of all of these, you could say, five main legs of philosophy that just makes a kind of unconscious science, a science that doesn't really know what it's doing. It's doing it very well locally, but it just doesn't know what it's doing globally. Do you think science has to have an ultimate vision and purpose behind it for it to be effective or for it to be meaningful and transformative?Yes, a way I would say that is that science needs to be in the service of mankind. And it hasn't been that. And we can see it through, you know, when we discovered the secrets of the atom, and all of a sudden, the Manhattan Project, and then we create nuclear weapons.And now we're trying to crack how machines may think, and now we're creating this mess, right? So science needs to be in service of mankind, not in service of a few ideas that maybe want to make more money or just dominate upon nature. What about planes, trains, automobiles, and modern medicine? Hasn't science served mankind by helping us develop those technologies?Yes and no. I see where you're going, and it's fair.I came here by plane, and it's a blessing. When I almost died, the surgeons did their job, and they saved my life. But these two forced choices between Luddites and Silicon Valley types, I think, of course, it's a false dichotomy.Progress, in a way, it's good, but we often don't speak about the dark side of the moon. We say the great things that progress has brought, and we don't speak about the disasters, the side effects that it has come with, and the same when we promise new technologies. We tend to think that any technology is great, that email is going to save us so much time because we don't need to write letters and send them anymore.Is that true? I spend so many hours a week writing emails. Let's just say there are great things about it and bad things about it. People like Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, for example, argue that we've made moral progress over time because of the Enlightenment. Do you think that's totally wrong-headed?I think he's emphasizing a side of the moon, and he does that very well, and you can find tons of plots where there's a slope going up and say it's great. But I think he should also tell the not-so-friendly story.But if your ideology is just to resist and continue to explain that the Enlightenment is the best thing ever and reason is the best thing ever… this feels to me like you're worshipping these abstractions.I'm very critical of it and also of these, again, science communicators and scientists that say, Oh, science says, in the name of science, experts say. It's like, come on, let's be careful because we can shoot ourselves in the foot by putting forth to the people an image of science that we know is not really true. Recently there's been a resurgence of spirituality and of people who say that they're spiritual but not religious, especially in the United States. If materialism is going away, what is going to fill that gap? Are we going to return to traditional religion? Do you see that being connected with the rise of the political right?I'm not a fortune teller, so I don't know what's going to happen. But, yeah, we could say we're in this post-materialist age and even post-secular age. One cannot come back to the past, but maybe just to contact with the roots is a good idea.What do I mean by that? I think we need to do a science 2.0, a science that says thank you to Galileo and thank you to materialism, but we need to reinvent even a new kind of scientific method. We need to do so in a culture where we realize humans cannot thrive in a vacuum where there's this idea that the sacred has to be removed.Now, how do we do that without bringing in back all the vices of religion? I don't know. I'm from a Catholic country.Here we are in England, so there are differences and interreligious dialogue has always been a challenge. But I think maybe a way of putting it is: after all these conflicts and branchings I was quickly alluding to, science from philosophy and then also from religion, now there's a time of reconciliation perhaps and maybe debates in the proper sense, like exchange of ideas in service of learning and getting into something higher than both poles. We need science to talk to religious people and it's interesting when people say they're spiritual and not religious.I think this is just a way of saying, no, I don't want to go back, I want to go forward. But at the end of the day, religions have offered us practices and grounding that we now desperately need. Everybody can and should just meditate or pray or do whatever they want, but we're in a crisis and it's time for reconciliation. What do you say to critics that say you are merely projecting our need for meaning onto a fundamentally indifferent universe?Yeah, I know that the typical science communicator says something like this. But we're not projecting. Human beings feed on meaning.It's the other way around. If you're a materialist, because the only thing that there is is matter, all that comes next, free will, consciousness, meaning, this is a kind of illusion that we need to explain.They're just craving for meaning, but there isn't really for them. I would also like to remind my materialist friends that for decades, if not centuries, they've said in the name of science, we know that this and this and this doesn't really exist. I think now they sense they're forced to say, well, actually, we don't know. We've been saying, for instance, that there's nothing after you die, and now probably they need to admit that they don't know the answer.___We need to do a science 2.0, a science that says thank you to Galileo and thank you to materialism, but we need to reinvent even a new kind of scientific method.___So it's a moment to open up possibilities and also to gently but fiercely critique these claims that I think harm society. If you say in the name of science, get on with it, when your father dies, you'll never see him again. Well, what the F do you know about it? You haven't studied the literature, you haven't had any of those experiences, and basically what you're doing is you're just doing marketing on ideology. This needs to stop. Do you think that it's scarier for some people to entertain the thought that there might be life after death, compared to a materialist worldview where you just die, given that there might be consequences for unsavory behaviour?Well, death and dying is scary. It's maybe the ultimate ending. It's a limit on life, and when we're in this conquest mode, we don't like limits.And it also has, there's a shockwave backwards, so I think if you change your notion of what death is or may be, you live differently. It also has consequences, as you're saying, for the future because this is not our only goal here and we come back in whatever form. And again, different religions would say different things. I the East, they are more happy with the idea of reincarnation, and here in the West, there are other preferences. But in any case, it changes how we live, and that's really what matters.It's not about just projecting or imagining what we'll be after, but how we live now and also how we treat those who are dying. So it goes from the individual to the families, to the hospitals.Now in the near-death research I do, this has ramifications at all these levels, all the way to society.But our society is thanatophobic. It has a phobia of death. We don't want to hear about death, and this is another thing we need to put on the table and be willing to talk about it. Do you think that we might get closer to answering ultimate questions like why is there anything at all if we jettison materialism?That’s an excellent question, Simon. Two things: we should stop treating reality, I believe, as a great sudoku, as an enigma, as something that with intelligence, money, and time that we will crack and instead treat reality more like a mystery. And what you do for in front of a mystery is not to be the clever guy in a class and say “I’ll solve you” but more like “I will bow and you will transform me.”I know this sounds a bit like a scientist speaking like a mystic. But I think this reorientation is needed. In the end, we won’t crack the big questions, but they will transform us. If we free ourselves from this prison of materialism, the way we will explore these questions will be freer, more creative, and in service of mankind. Do you think exploring mystery is the reason why we are here?I think we are here because, and this pseudo-theological argument I’m making off the cuff, But the One, the Absolute, if there is such a thing, had everything except limitation. We are that absolute experiencing that contingency. It’s like an act of divine proprioception. It’s a wonderful adventure, it’s just incredible to be alive. Perhaps we have forgotten why we are here and the whole point is to experience the flesh.Let me end by saying this. I criticize materialism harshly. I bang on this dead horse, because I think it’s dead. But matter is a great mystery. So maybe my invitation is as follows: hey materialist friends, come here, let’s work on materialism 2.0! Consciousness is a mystery, but matter is also a mystery. The fact that we can have an intersubjective experience consensus, the fact that we can apply mathematics, that we can measure things... the physical world we take for granted, but it is a great mystery too.Maybe that’s related to your last question: why are we here? Why did spirit decide to incarnate? Being in the flesh may be a great thing if spirit decided to do so.Àlex Gómez-Marín, thank you very much.My pleasure.
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