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Rep. Crow to GOP: Trump is going ‘cost you your job’ after high-stakes TN special election
Projection: Republican Matt Van Epps will win Tennessee special election
Republican Matt Van Epps will win Tennessee special election, averting Democratic upset, CNN projects
Republican Matt Van Epps will win the special US House election for Tennessee’s 7th District, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, preventing an upset but emboldening Democrats as they were on track to over-perform in a normally deep-red district.
Sen. Kelly responds to unearthed Hegseth comments on ‘unlawful orders’: He’s ‘unqualified’, ‘sucking up to this president’
Trump said he was ‘sharper than I was 25 years ago.’ Then he spent an hour appearing to doze off – again.
At the start of a Cabinet meeting just after noon ET on Tuesday, President Donald Trump made his seemingly obligatory reference to “Sleepy Joe” Biden.
Where Science Meets Storytelling: Twelve Years of the Science Blogs Web Archive
More than a decade after its launch, the Science Blogs Web Archive continues to grow and evolve. In this interview, Jennifer “JJ” Harbster reflects on building and maintaining the collection, while intern Yahir Brito brings a fresh perspective on updating and expanding it. Together, they share a few of their favorite blogs and discuss why it is important to preserve these unique examples of scientific communication.
PENN Entertainment opens second hotel tower at Las Vegas’ M Resort
Public opening ceremony set for Dec.3
Space is filling with junk and scientists have a fix
Earth’s orbit is getting crowded with broken satellites and leftover rocket parts. Researchers say the solution is to build spacecraft that can be repaired, reused, or recycled instead of abandoned. They also want new tools to collect old debris and new data systems that help prevent collisions. The goal is to make space exploration cleaner and more sustainable.
AT&T commits to ending DEI programs
US wireless carrier AT&T said in a letter to the US telecoms regulator that it had committed to ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a move that comes as it seeks approval from the Trump administration to buy wireless spectrum assets.
Republicans are covering their backsides on the double-tap strike
After reports Friday that the US had conducted a second strike on a suspected drug vessel in order to kill survivors of its first strike – quite possibly in violation of the law of armed conflict – few defended the Trump administration more strongly than Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida.
Verticals Platform DramaBox Courts Up-and-Coming Writers With Stage 32 Partnership (Exclusive)
The companies are launching a writer development program and competition as DramaBox looks to expand the pool of storytellers schooled in the fast-moving, addictive format.
GOP senator: Hegseth is either lying about second boat strike or incompetent
Republican Sen. Rand Paul on Tuesday accused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of either lying in his public response to news reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike on a suspected drug boat in September or being incompetent.
How to tell time on Mars
Physicists finally know how much faster time moves on the Red Planet.
Top Democratic senator on boat strike: I’m ‘very suspicious’ that administration is trying to ‘cover up what took place’
Fact check: Trump delivers long list of false claims at Cabinet meeting
As usual, President Donald Trump made numerous false claims in his televised Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. And, as usual, most of them had previously been debunked.
'Good job,' Trump tells Hegseth amid criticism over boat strikes
President Donald Trump is backing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth amid escalating criticism from Congress over military strikes on alleged drug boats.
Accused National Guard shooter pleaded not guilty to charges at first court appearance from the hospital
The Afghan man appeared in court virtually from his hospital bed on Tuesday to plead not guilty to charges related to the shooting two of National Guardsmen in Washington, DC.
Justice Department announces the arrest of Afghan national accused of making bomb threats online
The Justice Department announced on Tuesday the arrest of an Afghan national accused of making bomb threats against Americans during a video chat posted online.
‘A lot of heartburn in the Pentagon right now": CNN reporter on reaction to Hegseth dodging blame on boat strikes
Trump’s push for health care plan stalls ahead of looming subsidy expiration
President Donald Trump’s push for a new health care plan has stalled, amid disagreements within the GOP over the extension of key enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, three people familiar with the matter told CNN.
Trump’s push for health care plan stalls ahead of looming subsidy expiration
President Donald Trump’s push for a new health care plan has stalled, amid disagreements within the GOP over the extension of key enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, three people familiar with the matter told CNN.
'Affordability is a con job by the Democrats': Trump tells Cabinet.
Trump promoted lower inflation and tariffs at a Cabinet meeting where he called Democratic complaints about 'affordability' a 'scam.'
Worcester health official sounds alarm over mpox cases in city
The recent emergence of two cases of mpox in Worcester raises concerns especially among the homeless population, the city's medical director says.
Horses Review
This unsettling horror game banned from Steam tells a harrowing story you won’t soon forget.
Republicans punt on Stefanik’s legislation tied to 2016 Russia investigation, creating more problems for Johnson
A new headache is emerging for House Speaker Mike Johnson.
LIVE: Duval DOGE committee discusses Group Health Plan, telehealth, 2% lapse
The Duval DOGE committee is meeting on Tuesday at 11 a.m. to get an update from The Bailey Group on the city’s Group Health Plan and the 2% lapse.
Elden Ring Nightreign's DLC is "definitely a little bit harder" than the main game, "but it's not ridiculous", says director
The Forsaken Hollows, the forthcoming DLC for Elden Ring spin-off Nightreign, is "definitely a little bit harder" than the main game, its director has admitted.
Amazon Extends This Mini PC (16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) Deal One More Day, Only a Few Units Left at Its Lowest Price
Save nearly 30% on the ACEMAGIC V1, which comes loaded with 1TB of storage, Wi-Fi 6, and a supercharged Intel processor for its lowest price.
DHS recommends travel ban list include at least 10 more countries
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is recommending that the Trump administration’s travel ban list include between 30 to 32 countries, marking an increase from the current list of 19 countries, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Sienna Miller is pregnant with her third child
Hollywood star Sienna Miller has revealed that she is pregnant with her third child, appearing on the red carpet on Monday night with a visible baby bump.
27 Science Words That Only People With Above-Average Intelligence Know The Definitions Of
Welcome back to science class. Take a seat.
Is Trending Stock AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (AMC) a Buy Now?
AMC Entertainment (AMC) has received quite a bit of attention from Zacks.com users lately. Therefore, it is wise to be aware of the facts that can impact the stock's prospects.
Economic warning sign: Holiday jobs are tougher to find
Holiday shopping will be missing something this year – as much seasonal help in stores to help shoppers as normal.
Trump formally pardons former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández
President Donald Trump has formally pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, according to his attorney Renato Stabile.
Beyond Netanyahu: Israel’s major political corruption scandals
Every prime minister in Tel Aviv since 1996 has been investigated on charges of corruption.
I watched scientists track interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS leaving the solar system in real-time: 'This is some prime-time science'
"These images are not just pretty."
Penn Entertainment Opens Second Hotel Tower at M Resort Las Vegas
Penn Entertainment has opened a second hotel tower at M Resort Spa Casino in Las Vegas, nearly doubling its capacity.
Logitech Named to Inc. Best in Business 2025 List
Logitech Sight's Smart Switching feature, powered by RightSight 2, recognized in Best AI Implementation Category for enhancing hybrid meeting equity Intelligent multicamera framing listed in Best AI Implementation category Honored for AI tech that fixes poor hybrid meeting experiences Company selected based on ingenuity, industry impact, superior execution Today, Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) was named to Inc. Best in Business 2025 list. The annual awards celebrate the exceptional achievements and contributions of companies that have made a profound impact in their industries. Based on the AI-powered Smart Switching feature of Logitech Sight tabletop conference camera, the company has been recognized in the Best AI Implementation category. The AI-powered Smart Switching feature of Logitech Sight automatically selects the best angle between multiple cameras. The experience to the remote viewer is like that of a TV production. Logitech developed Smart Switching in response to a
The science of storytelling: How narrative accelerates the bioeconomy
In the bioeconomy, breakthroughs alone don’t drive change. Storytelling translates complexity into clarity, turning data into belief through stories
Jersey City voters will decide on former NJ Gov. Jim McGreevey’s comeback attempt
Jersey City voters will head to the polls Tuesday in a runoff to decide whether former Gov. Jim McGreevey, who resigned from the governorship in scandal more than 20 years ago, will succeed in making a longshot political comeback and become their next mayor.
Tennessee special election stirs Democratic hopes and Republican fears of an upset
Tennessee’s 7th congressional district is usually an easy win for Republicans. But Tuesday’s special election gives Democrats hope for an upset as they test just how far their recently successful message of affordability can take them.
Feds Promised ‘Radical Transparency’ but Are Withholding Rural Health Fund Applications
Proposals from states that have shared their applications to a new $50 billion rural health program include using drones to deliver medication, installing refrigerators to expand access to healthy produce, and bringing telehealth to libraries, day cares, and senior centers.
Mexico Political Risk Hits Peru Level as Sheinbaum Support Sags
Mexico’s political risk has crept up to levels seen in Peru, as Mexicans voice mounting frustration over cartel-fueled crime, corruption and a stagnant economy.
Supreme Court to review New Jersey’s subpoena of faith-based pregnancy centers
The Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday about a subpoena served on a faith-based nonprofit in New Jersey that runs “crisis pregnancy centers,” an appeal that has put both civil rights advocates and some of the nation’s best-known conservative groups on the same side.
The US is taking a stake in a chip startup led by Intel's ousted CEO
The US is investing up to $150 million in xLight, a chip startup chaired by former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, to boost domestic chipmaking.
Analysis: Trump struggles with Venezuelan dilemma as Maduro digs in and storm builds at home over potential ‘war crime’
President Donald Trump’s Venezuela regime change adventure is in danger of degenerating into a strategic, political, and legal morass.
Is AI making us stupid?
Artificial intelligence can execute tasks in seconds that once took humans hours, if not days to complete. While this may be great for productivity, some researchers are concerned that our increasing use of AI could be impacting our ability to tackle difficult problems and think critically. To find out where the science stands, and how worried we should be about the potential of AI to change how we think, Ian Sample hears from Madeleine Finlay and Sam Gilbert, professor of neuroscience at University College London
Legal architect of Bush’s 9/11 response: Double-tap strike violates laws of war
Ex-Army JAG: Hegseth shifting blame is indication ‘something’s gone terribly wrong’
Lawmakers demand audio and video of boat attack as follow-up strike raises concern on Capitol Hill
The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Monday said Secretary Pete Hegseth had confirmed to him there was a second US strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean in September — an attack that has drawn bipartisan scrutiny on Capitol Hill.
Entertainment and more in the Mid-Ohio Valley
PARKERSBURG – The Artsbridge calendar for the week ahead: TODAY * Anything Goes: Wild Things, all member exhibition of the West Virginia Watercolor Society, Parkersburg Art Center * Belpre Holiday Lights, Civitan Park, Belpre * Festival of Trees Display, Blennerhassett Hotel and Spa * Shannon Hammer, naturalist photography display, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., WesBanco, […]
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ lawyers send cease-and-desist to Netflix, claim docuseries produced by 50 Cent uses ‘stolen’ footage
On the eve of Netflix releasing a highly anticipated docuseries about Sean “Diddy” Combs — produced by his longtime foe Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson — the embattled mogul’s lawyers have sent a cease-and-desist letter to the streaming giant, demanding it not release “Sean Combs: The Reckoning.”
Trump turns to unconventional negotiating team heading to Russia in push for Ukraine peace deal
As the Trump administration rushes to secure a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, President Donald Trump is dispatching two of his highest profile diplomats to Moscow.
This organization is trying to use AI to reshape American politics
Using artificial intelligence to identify congressional districts where independent candidates could win, an organization called the Independent Center is aiming to disrupt the two-party system.
Apple Artificial Intelligence Head to Leave After AI Struggles
Apple Inc. artificial intelligence head John Giannandrea plans to step down from the job, ending a challenging stint at the iPhone maker.
6 big questions about the Trump administration’s boat strikes controversy
For days, President Donald Trump and his allies pilloried half a dozen Democrats for their video that urged troops to disobey any potential illegal orders from the administration
Justice Department could present a new indictment against James Comey to a grand jury this week
No matter what, prosecutors will likely present new indictments against the former FBI director and New York Attorney General Letitia James to grand juries in the Eastern District of Virginia.
MKBHD's wallpaper app Panels is shutting down
"We knew it was niche... and ultimately, we weren't able to turn it into the vision I had," Marques Brownlee said.
Republican who supports President Trump on Venezuela questions why he’s pardoning ex-Honduran President narcotrafficker
Republican who wants to ‘go in’ to Venezuela explains her support for removing Maduro from power
Top 5 Entertainment News: From Samantha Ruth Prabhu's wedding with Raj Nidimoru to Delhi HC directing CBFC to consider Major Mohit Sharma's parents' concerns about 'Dhurandhar' | Hindi Movie News - The Times of India
In a recent interview, Kamal Haasan put to rest any speculation about his retirement, emphasizing that it is ultimately his fans who will determine hi
Appeals court rules Alina Habba is unlawfully serving as US attorney
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is erupting in 'ice volcanoes', new images suggest
Scientists have observed cryovolcanoes erupting on comet 3I/ATLAS — giving us a new clue about what's inside it.
Commentary: What WA’s elections say about Oregon politics
Oregon political observers hoping to extract lessons of some kind from the votes of Nov. 4 aren’t completely out of luck thanks to their neighbor on the north side of the Columbia River Elections in various states this month drew national attention and pundits read them closely for longer-term implications, but not in Oregon, where […]
Science Power-up: Where Biomanufacturing Can Take Us This Century
Explore how fundamental science is shaping the future of everyday items we all rely on, from food to plastics – and how artificial intelligence and data will power the technologies of tomorrow in biomanufacturing.
Inside this year’s White House holiday decor
It took 150 volunteers working for one week, with 25,000 feet of ribbon, 120 pounds of gingerbread, more than 10,000 butterflies and a 6,000-piece Lego portrait of President Donald Trump’s likeness to deck the White House halls this year.
Trump commutes sentence of private equity CEO convicted of fraud
President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of David Gentile, a private equity executive who was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for a fraud scheme, according to a White House official.
Product sold at Walmart recalled due to risk of explosion
Walmart recalls 201,000 'Ozark Trail' camping stoves after explosions caused burns to users. Stop using immediately and return to store for full refund.
Former Trump personal lawyer Alina Habba is unlawfully serving at the US attorney for New Jersey, appeals court says
A federal appeals court on Monday found Alina Habba, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, is serving unlawfully as US attorney for New Jersey, dealing a legal blow to the Trump administration that could have far-reaching consequences on other appointments across the country.
Live updates: Trump administration news and the latest on Ukraine, Venezuela
President Donald Trump will hold a meeting at the White House this evening about next steps on Venezuela, sources told CNN, as his administration also seeks a peace deal in Ukraine. Follow for live updates.
Trump willing to release MRI results, but ‘no idea’ which part of body it examined
President Donald Trump appeared open to releasing the results of a recent MRI, although he said he was unaware which part of his body was examined in the scan.
Trump to hold Venezuela Oval Office meeting, sources say
President Donald Trump will hold a meeting at the White House on Monday evening about next steps on Venezuela, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, as the administration intensifies its pressure campaign on the country.
World's first commercial space science satellite launched
The first private space science satellite set to study the effect of flares from stars has been launched into space and is now in orbit, the company behind it has said.
FEMA workers reinstated after suspension and investigation over letter criticizing Trump’s overhaul of agency
A group of FEMA workers has been reinstated after three months of forced leave and an investigation into alleged misconduct for signing an open letter to Congress that criticized the Trump administration’s overhaul of the disaster relief agency and warned it could put American lives in danger.
What to expect from AMD, NVIDIA and Intel at CES 2026
CES 2026: What we know and what we expect CES 2026 runs from January 6 to 9 in Las Vegas and is once again the main global show for consumer tech hardware, unlike developer or pro-focused events such as COMPUTEX, GTC, GDC, or Hot Chips, which often center on infrastructure, servers, and roadmaps rather than […]
CNN Academy Brings Real-Time Sports Newsroom Simulation to Georgia Tech
ATLANTA—CNN and the Georgia Institute of Technology today announced the launch of the CNN Academy Sports Journalism Bootcamp and Simulation, a two-week immersive program designed to prepare the next generation of storytellers for the fast-paced world of sports media.
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.
Lesley Netter-Snowden named executive vice president and chief business officer
Kennesaw State University President Kathy S. Schwaig has appointed Lesley Netter-Snowden as executive vice president and chief business officer (EVP/CBO) effective immediately, following a national search.
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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