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Maverick GOP Sen. Packwood of Oregon, who resigned after scandal, dies at 93
Former Oregon Sen. Bob Packwood has died
Inside Intel's AI chip factory where humans are the greatest threat
I visited Intel's massive chip factory in Oregon, where robots outnumber people and a single human hair or skin particle can cause costly damage.
Final Fantasy VII Revelation Preview - Queen's Blood Is Back And Has A New Protagonist
Final Fantasy VII Remake Trilogy director Naoki Hamaguchi tells Game Informer about the changes coming to the series' popular card game in the final entry of the trilogy.
Readers respond: Behavioral health system fails Oregon’s people
Letters to the Editor can be submitted to letters@oregonian.com with full name and place of residence.
Traveling reminds me of the wonders of home: Danny Heitman
A home misses you while you’re gone, which is a good thing, although the longing can take complicated forms.
Roob's Observations: Even with A.J. gone, Eagles are still loaded on offense
The Eagles may have lost A.J. Brown, but their offense remains loaded heading into 2026.
Traveling reminds me of the wonders of home: Danny Heitman
A home misses you while you’re gone, which is a good thing, although the longing can take complicated forms.
I saw the Surface Laptop Ultra at Computex and it's clear: Microsoft has gone beastmode
The flagship laptop announced at Computex 2026 will feature Nvidia's new RTX Spark chip with up to 128GB of unified memory.
Former Auburn, Oregon star Bo Nix named ASWA Pro Athlete of the Year
In two short NFL seasons, Bo Nix has more than proven his worth as starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos.
Ancient Chinese medicine could transform hair loss treatment
A traditional Chinese medicinal root used for over a thousand years is attracting new scientific attention for its potential to combat hair loss. Studies suggest Polygonum multiflorum can block harmful hormones, activate hair-growth signals, protect follicles, and boost blood flow to the scalp. Researchers say the herb’s effects align remarkably well with both ancient descriptions and modern hair biology.
PGE Seeks Increased Electricity Rates for Data Centers
The electric utility asked the Oregon Public Utility Commission for a 29% rate increase for data centers and rate decreases for residential and small business customers.
io9's Favorite Summer Game Fest 2026 Trailers
The Summer Game Fest showcase has come and gone for 2026, so we've put down our favorite trailers of the giant lot.
Lawsuit over Amazon ‘Subscribe & Save’ alleges ‘deceptive’ business practices: 4 things to know
If the suit is granted class-action status, millions of Amazon customers from across the nation could be pulled into the litigation.
Sports’ most depressing team, plus the Knicks take a 2-0 Finals lead
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! At least the weather is nice in Orange County today. Coming up: 🫠 The hopeless Angels 🏀 Knicks in the driver’s seat 🎾 A historic title bid Has your team ever had the second-worst farm system in baseball, sat in last place, trailed 7-0 at home against a team that lost 119 games a year ago, and then gone down more when your right fielder missed a fly ball with his glove and volleyed it over the wall with his head for a home...
Wembanyama seeks clarity after heartbreaking Spurs loss
San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama could barely remember the details of the late-game miscues that cost the Spurs in their agonizing 105-104 loss to the New York Knicks in game two of the NBA Finals on Friday.San Antonio still had a chance to win it, but Wembanyama's final jump shot bounced off the rim.
2027 NFL Draft Summer Scouting Report: Elijah Rushing, edge, Oregon
Elijah Rushing arrived at Oregon as one of the nation's top recruits, but less than 100 defensive snaps have left evaluators searching for answers.
As inflation and fuel prices stay high, region’s business community feels the pinch
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, heard from members of Lane County’s small business community about their challenges amid a volatile economy.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds Soars onto XBOX on September 15, 2026
Adventure across a beautiful, high-fantasy world in RuneScape: Dragonwilds, coming to Series X|S September 15, 2026.
In roundtable, Eugene and Springfield business leaders raise concern about federal policies economic impact
Several business owners at the roundtable, convened by Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, said customers are spending less. Merkley said higher prices are linked to tariffs, inflation and the Iran war.
1666: Amsterdam from the Assassin's Creed creator finally has a release window
And you can play part of it now
Even the RuneScape Spinoff Is Coming Out in September
Add another game to the September pileup: RuneScape: Dragonwilds is due out on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S on September 15, 2026.
Control Resonant Deals With Trauma And Redemption
If you watch the latest Control Resonant gameplay footage, you’ll see a game that takes the fascinating supernatural world of Control and melds it with the exhilarating and fast-paced melee combat of a character-action game. It’s new territory for Remedy Entertainment, a studio that has primarily made games where protagonists shoot guns, but that genre...
Breaking News: NFL Franchise To Move To New State (Report)
The NFL has learned that one of their historic franchises will officially have a new home. The bombshell news surfaced on Friday morning and has gone viral throughout the league. The NFL has not seen a team move locations since 2020 (the Raiders to Las Vegas) and 2016 (the Rams to Los Angeles). Now, there […] The post Breaking News: NFL Franchise To Move To New State (Report) appeared first on Gridiron Heroics.
Trump’s troop reversals in Europe could cost taxpayers millions, officials say
The U.S. military is waiting for clarity from the Pentagon following President Donald Trump's back-and-forth on troop levels in Europe, upending the lives of military personnel and potentially costing taxpayers millions of dollars, two U.S. defense officials told The Associated Press.
100 Years Ago, Thousands Fell Into a Deep Sleep With No Explanation. Today, It’s Still a Mystery.
After a century of research, scientists can't agree on what it was—or whether it’s truly gone.
PREVIEW: Netherlands set their sights on maiden World Cup triumph
The Netherlands will be hoping to reach new heights at the 2026 World Cup as Ronald Koeman’s side look to become world champions for the first time.The Dutch have come agonisingly close to breaking ...
New ‘Crimson Desert’ Patch Adds A Dragon Alternative, Better Battles
Crimson Desert has a new patch that adds a flying mount, and has improved battles across the landscape of the game.
'Lioness' season 3 first look: Zoe Saldaña teases Joe's 'demanding' new mission (exclusive)
In the exclusive first look at the highly anticipated return of 'Lioness,' Zoe Saldaña previews the 'demanding' new season: 'I didn't even know if I was gonna be able to pull it off.'
LSU baseball adds elite transfer portal pitcher
LSU baseball kicked off its transfer portal haul with a commitment from former Gonzaga pitcher Landon Hood.
Mary Travis admits her husband Randy Travis' health crisis made their marriage 'stronger'
The singer's wife shared that "there was never any question" that they were gonna stay together.
Oregon's health insurance market is shrinking. What Providence's exit means for you and what to do next
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 to have both Exynos and Snapdragon chips
Which one you get will depend on where you're located, apparently. We've already heard that Samsung would be using the Exynos 2600 SoC in the upcoming...
Poll: Have you or someone you know experienced difficulty accessing mental health care?
Have you or someone you know experienced difficulty accessing mental health care in western North Carolina?
Pentagon drops 180 faiths from military's recognized religions list
The Department of War officially removed 180 faiths from its recognized religions list, reducing over 200 faith codes to just 31 under a new memo.
Jan. 6 Rioter Is Hired to Work in Sensitive Pentagon Office
It was not clear who hired Elias Irizarry, who pleaded guilty to various offenses at the Capitol and was later pardoned by President Trump.
A political split in Oregon's Columbia River Gorge
Visit Hood River, as so many people do, and you’ll see on the front windows of many downtown businesses a sign saying: “We are immigrants,” and sometimes next to them signs saying, “No trespassing — no federal agents — agents lacking judicial warrants will be turned away.” Many took care to advertise an April 23 […]
Oregon State hires Kevin Griffin as new athletic director
Griffin has served as associate vice president for brand engagement, services and partnerships and associate athletic director for business strategy at Ohio State since 2022
Veteran sports business leader Kevin Griffin named Oregon State director of intercollegiate athletics
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Kevin Griffin, a sports leader and brand builder with a proven record of revenue generation at The Ohio State University, has been named vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics at Oregon State University.
Veteran sports business leader Kevin Griffin named Oregon State director of intercollegiate athletics
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Kevin Griffin, a sports leader and brand builder with a proven record of revenue generation at The Ohio State University, has been named vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics at Oregon State University.
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Dems face major defeat after party ‘missed the cue’ in top targeted district: candidate
Republican Eric Flores says Democrats have missed the cue with Hispanic voters in Texas District 34, citing faith, family values, and cost of living.
Scientists find an elusive vibration — a Higgs mode
Argonne scientists discovered a Higgs mode — a rare, complex vibration and mathematical analog to the Higgs boson — that changed the symmetry of a semiconductor crystal. The results could help researchers control material properties using light.
AC Milan’s Alessandro Longoni set to join PSG
Paris Saint-Germain are reportedly on the verge of finalising the signing of young Italian goalkeeper Alessandro Longoni (18), according to L’Équipe.A member of AC Milan’s reserve team and an Ita...
Scientists will lose critical climate record as ocean observatory goes dark under Trump funding cuts
The National Science Foundation announced it would dismantle most of the ocean monitoring system, pulling instruments from waters off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina and Greenland by 2027.
Most and least expensive states for out-of-pocket healthcare spending
Utah, Virginia and California vs. Alaska, Oregon and Maine: Guess which trio’s residents spend the most on healthcare and which spend the least.
Samsung Introduces Next-Gen Galaxy Watch Features for AI-Powered Everyday Health Companion
New update transforms the user experience from passive tracking to proactive guidance with a suite of personalised, intuitive daily insights
Samsung Introduces Next-Gen Galaxy Watch Features for AI-Powered Everyday Health Companion
New update transforms the user experience from passive tracking to proactive guidance with a suite of personalised, intuitive daily insights
Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle open up about 'sad' rift with 'Boy Meets World' costar Ben Savage
Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle are opening up about their falling out with 'Boy Meets World' costar Ben Savage, whom they say declined to cohost their rewatch podcast in 2022, and has since gone silent.
Scientists warn Oregon could lose critical ocean data under federal cuts
A federal decision to dismantle ocean monitoring systems off Oregon's coast could impact forecasting, fisheries, and climate science.
Scientists warn Oregon could lose critical ocean data under federal cuts
A federal decision to dismantle ocean monitoring systems off Oregon's coast could impact forecasting, fisheries, and climate science.
Marshall Health Network, Intermed Labs advance next-generation surgical visualization through spatial arthroscopy
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall Health Network, in collaboration with Intermed Labs (IL), has announced the development of spatial arthroscopy, an innovative technology designed to transform how surgeons visualize and interact with minimally invasive procedures. The project, currently in development, was conceptualized by Chad D. Lavender, M.D., and represents a new frontier in surgical ergonomics and digital […]
Paris match a chance to grow rugby league
Wigan Warriors' trip to Paris to face Catalans Dragons will be a perfect stage to showcase rugby league to a wider audience, says Oliver Partington.
Where Has Slumping Red Sox Slugger's Power Gone?
Wilyer Abreu has fallen into a mysterious slump over the last four weeks.
Scientists lose critical climate monitoring in oceans along nation’s coastlines in wake of Trump funding cuts
In what a scientist called "a crippling loss of information," the Trump administration is dismantling a vital $386 million network of ocean sensors, including Oregon and Washington's coast.
Ted Danson will 'apologize for the rest of my life' for infamous blackface performance at Whoopi Goldberg roast
Ted Danson recalls preparing for the infamous roast of Whoopi Goldberg in 1993. He knew immediately that it hadn't gone well.
From atomic chaos to custom materials
Argonne researchers show how a class of 2D materials called MXenes can be designed atom-by-atom by tuning composition, atomic order and surface chemistry, opening paths to better materials for energy storage, electronics, shielding and biomedicine.
The cult of objectivity has broken consciousness science
With 22 competing theories and no consensus in sight, the science of consciousness is lost. In this exclusive IAI interview, Berkeley psychedelics researcher and bestselling author of a new book on consciousness Michael Pollan insists that even though consciousness lies beyond traditional forms of scientific investigation, we should resist becoming dualists who see it as something radically different from ordinary stuff in the world. Instead, he makes the case for reimagining science itself: it must stop reaching for objective descriptions of physical reality, and instead embrace subjectivity as the indispensable core of all inquiry. Alasdair Craig: How did your experiences with psychedelics get you interested in consciousness?Michael Pollan: One of the things that happens on psychedelics is that they foreground consciousness. What formerly seemed perfectly transparent and ever present—and yet, non-existent, as water is to fish—suddenly you see it. The metaphor I use in the book is that psychedelics sponge the windscreen. Suddenly you realize: wow, there’s a windscreen, there is this phenomenon that’s mediating my relationship to reality. This is not an unusual realization on psychedelics. I think a lot of people are called to think about consciousness after psychedelic experiences. So that was the proximate inspiration for A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness (2026).And then there was a more specific way in which psychedelics influence the book. That was a particular experience I had on psilocybin. I had the sensation that the plants in my garden were conscious and returning my gaze, with their own point of view and agency, and I got curious as to how to evaluate an insight like that. I mean, what’s the truth quotient of insights you have on psychedelics? And I was reading William James—who, of course, wrote beautifully about mystical experience—and he said, we can’t judge the metaphysics here, but we should pay attention to two criteria: (1) How useful is it to think this is true? He was a pragmatist, of course. And (2) can we subject it to other ways of knowing to validate it? Because maybe we should treat these insights as hypotheses. And that’s kind of how I approach psychedelics, as a great generator of hypotheses, but they need to be tested against other ways of knowing. And so that led me down this long path exploring the science of plant intelligence and plant sentience.AC: I love your phrase, “smudging the windowpane of conscious experience.” So do you now start to think, actually, even when I’m not on psychedelics, I’m just seeing a screen all the time, which is not reality, but rather is my conscious experience, behind which reality is hidden?MP: Well, you know, not when I’m brushing my teeth and making breakfast! But yes, in meditation, certainly. I mean, one of the things you realize is that my experience happens to be this way now, but it could be another way. And many things can affect it. My morning coffee changes the screen in various ways, sharpens certain things.___The only tool we have to understand consciousness is consciousness.___There’s this wonderful metaphor in Aldous Huxley’s book, The Doors of Perception, where he thinks we channel consciousness, and that what the brain does is edit it, and there’s a reducing valve. And psychedelics open the reducing valve wider. I don’t know that I’m ready to buy into the idea that consciousness exists outside brains, but I do love that metaphor because there are times when you are more conscious than others. I know I’ve switched from window pane to valve, but you know, a camera aperture can open wider or narrower. And I do have a sense of that. I have a sense of when I’m being less conscious, and when I’m being more conscious, by which I mean, you know, more present, taking in more sensory information. So when you start thinking about consciousness as a matter of degree, that changes things also.I think when we scroll on social media, obviously, we’re conscious. But minimally so, because we don’t have to generate our own thoughts. We’re basically taking these little hits from other people and thinking their thoughts.The process of writing this book made me kind of relativize everyday consciousness as just one type, which is exactly what William James said. Normal consciousness is one type, separated by the flimsiest of screens from the other types.AC: If we stick with the metaphor of the smudge on the window that you get when you take psychedelics, it seems like we’re saying that consciousness has become like an object that you’re looking at, right? You’re looking at the smudge and that just is consciousness. But sometimes we’ll talk about consciousness as a state that you’re in, rather than an object you can perceive. You’re either conscious or you’re not conscious. So it’s difficult to really know what sort of thing we’re talking about when we talk about consciousness, right?MP: Yeah. When you say that consciousness is an object, what’s the subject? Consciousness also? The only tool we have to understand consciousness is consciousness. So we’re in a closed loop and when we get a perspective on consciousness, we’re not achieving any distance from it. That’s one of the problems with studying consciousness. Science is predicated on an objective, God’s eye view of things, and you never get that. There’s no such thing. SUGGESTED VIEWING The brain filters consciousness With Àlex Gómez-Marín But, yeah, there is this sense, I think, that consciousness is something you can approach. Certainly, when you’re writing and trying to recreate a conscious experience, it’s a fiction, but you’re standing back from it, and looking at it. But there’s no real subject-object distinction.AC: That’s so interesting, because when philosophers start talking about consciousness, they often talk about what they call “qualia”, which is their word for the felt experience of, say, the color red. And I think that way of speaking often makes us think of the qualia as an object, which you can see out there: the redness of red. But, as you say, we also want to collapse the subject-object distinction when we talk about consciousness. So there’s something strange going on here…MP: Oh, yeah, there are many strange things going on! *AC: Let’s talk about the varieties of consciousness. Apart from perceptions, there are, pains, emotions, thoughts, and so on. What is it that holds all this diversity together so that they all count as instances of consciousness? What is it that they all have in common?MP: Yeah, that’s a really good question. I mean, there is sensory information, right? Which we perceive coming from the world outside ourselves. And then there’s internal information, which is what’s called interoception. And this is very important too. This is where feelings come from—what are sometimes called homeostatic feelings—that are intended to get the brain to keep us in these narrow ranges of temperature and glucose and so on. That’s a very important part of consciousness. And according to some researchers, who I think are probably right, this is where consciousness begins, with these very primal feelings, like hunger and thirst and warmth and itch, and things like that. And then there’s this third thing, which is our thinking about thinking.And what holds all this together is, I think, the sense of self. Consciousness generates a self: it is probably an organizing principle. All this stuff is happening to the self. It’s a construct, I think, but it is very useful. It can connect all these different streams of consciousness to a single being or a place, metaphorically speaking.* AC: The first half of your book is about the science of consciousness. Is consciousness just another thing, like black holes or the origin of life, which we don’t yet understand, but which we should have every hope that science will one day get to the bottom of, or is there something special about consciousness that makes this unlikely?MP: It depends how you define science. As we define science now, it’s going be very difficult. Science since Galileo has had a set of rules or assumptions, which is that the proper remit of science is to deal with the objective, quantifiable, third-person world. And the physical sciences have done amazing work under that set of limitations. Galileo—for tactical reasons, not for philosophical reasons—said science should not deal with the soul, which at the time was what consciousness was considered to be. So what is subjective, what is qualitative, what is first person, we’re going to leave to the church, he said. And this was a good agreement, and it probably kept many scientists from getting burned at the stake. But it leaves science in an awkward spot, now that it wants to venture into that territory of qualities, of first-person experience. And I don’t think it has the proper tools. I think it will have to add to its toolkit in some way, and find a way to bring in phenomenology, or lived experience and introspection, which science is usually dismissive of.The challenge—we alluded to it earlier—is that the only tool you have to study consciousness with is consciousness. And what I mean by that is, the whole scientific enterprise is a manifestation of consciousness. As much as scientists like to flatter themselves with this idea that they attain a godlike perspective on what they study, when it comes to consciousness, there’s no such thing. And it’s fine for all the things you can step outside of and study from that perspective. But two areas it won’t work are consciousness and cosmology.___It could be that we live in this anomaly of not believing nature is conscious. And maybe psychedelics are teaching us something we’ve forgotten.___With cosmology, too, you have to study the universe from inside the universe. It’s not that cosmologists haven’t made progress. We know a lot about the age of the universe and expansion and things like that. But we can’t penetrate what happened before the Big Bang. We just don’t have the tools because we can’t stand outside.The fact that there are 22 full-scale theories of consciousness tells you all you need to know: we’re kind of lost. And I was surprised to find that we are more lost than I thought we were when I started this. I thought that there’d be leading theories, or that we had experiments that we could conduct that would nail some of this down. And the fact is, we don’t.So, I don’t know if science can solve it. But, of course, we can change the rules of science. A really influential book for me was a book called The Blind Spot, by two physicists, Marcello Gleiser and Adam Frank, and a philosopher, Evan Thompson. It’s a reminder that science is a social practice. It’s organized in a certain way and it can be organized in a different way. But it has this huge blind spot at the center of it, which is its failure to recognize that it is a form of consciousness itself, and it doesn’t have a good way of taking account of lived experience.AC: On the one hand, I think you want to resist traditional dualism, which would say that consciousness is something magical, something supernatural, right? But on the other hand, you’re accepting that there is this division in reality between the stuff that you can investigate objectively and measure, and so on—the stuff that science has been good at finding out about—and consciousness, which, for some reason, you can’t objectively measure. Some would take this to suggest that the dualism is actually right. Is there a way of reconciling these two strands of your thinking?MP: To call it magical is full of value judgement. I mean, you could just say immaterial. The interesting thing is, I think, that intuitively we’re all dualists. And I don’t know whether that’s because we’re children of Descartes and other cultures are less dualist than we are. Or it may be because that’s how consciousness feels. It feels different than the body. It feels separate from the body. But I don’t think we should trust that intuition.AC: So let’s think about ways that science might be changed to get at consciousness. I suppose the starting point would be the way that you begin the second half of your book. You have this nice line from William James, where he says, “We now begin our study of the mind from within.” Could you give us some sense of the ways of studying the mind from within? What does this involve?MP: I don’t know what that science looks like. But one of the points I’m making is that it depends on the humanities. I found that I learned as much, if not more, about consciousness, from reading novels and poetry. There is a sense of the fullness and complexity of consciousness that you don’t get in any scientific account. I interviewed this stream-of-consciousness writer and I approached her as an expert on consciousness, and she is. So I think that dialogue is really important.I’m reading Ben Lerner’s new novel, Transcription. Just read the first page of this novel: it’s a man falling asleep on a train, going to conduct an interview, and there is the experience of being in the train, facing backwards, there’s the view outside, but there’s a reflection of himself through which he’s seeing outside. There’s the memory of dropping his kids off at school. All this is going on in one moment of consciousness. Scientists aren’t going anywhere near that. But I think it’s useful for them to think about. That’s where we’re trying to go: like, how does such a layered experience happen? You know, it also makes you wonder, could a computer ever do this? And it gives you some doubt.*AC: Before we get to computers, perhaps we could talk briefly about plants. How did you come to feel that they are sentient?MP: Well, it was a psychedelic experience, and it’s not unusual on psychedelics. In fact, there’ve been studies about how people become animists during psychedelic experience. Their belief in animism arises after a single psychedelic experience.You know, most scientists would say this is all a myth. But we have only 400 years of the age of enlightenment and science. Before that, we were animists, and if you go around the world, most indigenous cultures are still animists, and children are animists, by and large, until they go to school. So it could be that we live in this anomaly of not believing nature is conscious. And maybe psychedelics are teaching us something we’ve forgotten.As I said, I wanted to test this idea, and see whether there was conventional scientific evidence for it. And there’s fascinating work going on in a field that calls itself—in a rather cheeky way—plant neurobiology. These are people who fully realize there are no neurons in plants, but they’re trolling conventional botanists! And they’re doing experiments that are demonstrating that plants can learn and remember, which is kind of amazing: how do you store a memory without neurons? They’re finding plants that can solve problems, that can hear and see. In fact, they have 20 senses to our five or six. For example, a bean plant looking for something to twine, and given a pole within eight inches or so of it, knows where that pole is and will aim its spiraling reach at that pole. What is that about? Is it bouncing signals off of it?One of the spookiest things is the fact that the same anesthetics that put us out put plants out. You might think that plants are already out, but they’re not. They’re just slow. If you take a plant with a fast behavior, like a Venus flytrap, and give it an anesthetic, it will stop reacting. So you have to ask yourself, what is lost when the plant is anaesthetized? Some state of alertness, of awareness, of its environment, of reactivity. I’m not prepared to call that consciousness, but maybe it’s sentience—which is a simpler form of consciousness, and involves the ability to sense what’s going on in your environment and assess what’s good and bad for you and act appropriately. That may be a universal quality of life.AC: Let’s turn from plants to AI. You point out that LLMs are trained on the internet rather than direct interactions with reality. You put this really nicely when you say the internet is not the world so much as a shadow cast by the world. So LLMs are living in this kind of shadow world, or in Plato’s cave, as you put it. What’s the significance of this for AI consciousness and moral consideration? And, to recall the beginning of our conversation, if we’re stuck behind a veil or screen of consciousness, are we also stuck in a kind of shadow world?MP: I don’t think they’re the same shadow worlds because our world includes nature and other people. And even if it’s mediated in some ways... There is a reality out there, and we are in relation to it, through consciousness. There’s friction with it. What’s missing from the LLMs is that friction with the real world. There’s more to the world than human representation, which is what they’re dealing with. And that means that so far, AI is a cultural technology for combining thoughts we’ve already had. SUGGESTED VIEWING Cracking the code for thought With Roger Penrose, Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski, Max Tegmark, Güneş Taylor Genuine creativity is more than collage. A lot of what AI does now is tantamount to collage, putting this with that and you know, that’s part of art, certainly. But there are also genuinely new ideas that come into the world that don’t come in through manipulating the representations we already have. So it remains to be seen whether AIs can be truly creative in that more radical sense.But my arguments against AI becoming conscious have to do with the fact that the idea of AI consciousness is based on this faulty metaphor that the brain is a computer. There are dimensions in which the brain is like a computer—it certainly does its share of computation. But computers have this sharp distinction between hardware and software, and brains don’t. In a brain, hardware and software are identical. Every memory is a physical change to the brain. Brains are not interchangeable in the way computers are. So this idea that you could take the consciousness out and somehow run it on another substrate, a silicon substrate, seems foolhardy.Anyway, it’s a more extended argument, and I may be wrong. And when we move to computers that aren’t based on silicon—neuromorphic computers and things like that—all bets may be off.AC: Regarding your point about LLMs being stuck in the world of our representations—the internet or whatever—and not being able to interact with reality, are these representations, the world of the internet, themselves part of reality? We’ve created the internet, but it’s still a real thing that exists. And so while the LLMs may be trapped within that part of reality, they’re nevertheless within reality and interacting with it and so on. So it’s not obvious that there’s a barrier there to them becoming conscious and being creative.MP: Yeah, I mean, if our consciousness is built out of human culture, which is what we’re talking about with all those representations. But I tend to think consciousness comes a bit more out of nature and friction with the natural world, but...AC: So there’s a fundamental divide between the natural world and human artefacts?MP: And we lose track of that, and especially people in this computer world. You know, the people who are creating these AI systems, my guess is they’ve been into video games since the age of three, and they didn’t go outside a lot. And their own contact with nature is somewhat limited. I could be wrong, it’d be a very interesting thing to ask, all the wizards of AI, whether they like to go fishing and hiking and do things like that. Or were they on computers from a very early age? I interviewed Blake Lemoine, the Google engineer who came to believe that LaMDA, the Google LLM out at the time, was conscious and deserved personhood. It was very clear that he didn’t see a distinction between this bubble in which he lived and the real world. And I think we’ve all been distanced from the natural world, and this is taking us even further away. But it’s still there, you know, and we still have bodies, and we’re still mortal, and we don’t live in a simulation.AC: I think that’s a great place to finish. Michael Pollan, thank you very much!
The Science Behind the Quest for a Non-Peptide Oral Weight Loss Drug A
A combination of human and artificial intelligence has paved the way for a GLP-1 agonist that is effective when taken by mouth.
Scientists' ocean observatory off Oregon, Washington will go dark under Trump funding cuts
Funded by the foundation, the observatories have tracked everything from ocean circulation and marine ecosystems to climate change and extreme weather.
Could A.J. Hinch Finally Rest Kevin McGonigle?
Could A.J. Hinch finally rest Kevin McGonigle? Here’s why the Detroit Tigers rookie may get a day off after a heavy workload. Read more.
Control Resonant release date officially revealed during Sony State of Play
Remedy's surreal Manhattan adventure is nearly here
Oregonian exposed to hantavirus returns home, goes into quarantine
An Oregonian is home and in quarantine following exposure to a deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship.
RuneScape: Dragonwilds Launches on Consoles Later in 2026, Sony Picks Up Spinoff for PS Plus
RuneScape: Dragonwilds launches on PlayStation 5 later in 2026, developer Jagex has announced, marking the first time the RuneScape IP has made the jump from PC to consoles in its 25-year history.
Rayman Legends Retold Launching October 1
The reimagined adventure of the beloved 2013 classic features stunning 3D visuals, a new story, thrilling dragon rides, new musical stages, and more.
Recent mock draft links Rockets to shot-blocking machine
A recent mock draft completed by Jonathan Wasserman has the Houston Rockets selecting Ugonna Onyenso with the No. 39 overall pick.
Valve Reportedly Threatened to Delist Rainbow Six Siege on Steam After Ubisoft Offered Cheaper Alternative
Valve has allegedly gone to great lengths to maintain Steam's position as a marketplace titan on PC, including one example that reportedly saw it threaten to retaliate against Ubisoft by delisting Rainbow Six Siege.
Mike Vrabel on Christian Gonzalez: Contracts are part of pro sports, negotiations should be private
Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez is seeking a new contract as he heads into his fourth pro season.
Mike Vrabel on Christian Gonzalez: Contracts are part of pro sports, negotiations should be private
Oregon Health Authority monitors returning MV Hondius passenger after hantavirus outbreak
KATU ABC 2 offers coverage of news, weather, sports and community events for Portland, Oregon and surrounding towns, including Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Milwaukie, Happy Valley, Gresham, Vancouver, Hillsboro, Oregon City, Tualatin, West Linn, Woodburn, Tigard, Tualatin and Garden Home.
'Not normal business': Judge orders Trump officials to explain tariff refund holdup
Tens of billions of dollars in tariff refunds have already gone out the door, but the Trump administration and the nation's top trade court are locked in a standoff over issues like the progress of the program and whether future payouts can be limited.
Oregon’s Dante Moore among cover stars for EA Sports College Football 27
The wildly popular college football video game will prominently feature the Ducks quarterback on the cover.
EA Sports unveils CFB 27 video game cover athletes; Curt Cignetti headlines Deluxe Edition
On the game’s standard cover, Miami receiver Malachi Toney earned top billing alongside Oregon's Dante Moore and Ole Miss' Kewan Lacy.
New ‘Crimson Desert’ Roadmap Says It Will Patch The Story
Crimson Desert has undergone many fixes and seen many additions, but changing the lackluster story seemed impossible. Maybe not, according to a new roadmap.
EA SPORTS™ College Football 27 Reveals Cover Athletes Celebrating The Next Generation of Football Stars
Dante Moore, Malachi Toney and Kewan Lacy Appear on the College Football 27 Standard Edition, While Deluxe Edition Features Colin Simmons, Leonard Moore, Jayden Maiava and Coach Curt Cignetti Fans Can Expect Full Game Reveal This Thursday and Worldwide Launch on July 9 EA SPORTS™ today revealed the covers of EA SPORTS™ College Football 27 ahead of the game’s full reveal this Thursday. Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, Miami wide receiver Malachi Toney, and Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy shine on the Standard Edition cover as a trio of electrifying playmakers who stood out in a competitive 2025-2026 college football season. The Deluxe Edition is joined by prominent defenders Texas linebacker Colin Simmons and Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore, alongside USC quarterback Jayden Maiava, national championship-winning coach Curt Cignetti, several beloved mascots and iconic gameday gear, celebrating the breadth of successful collegiate programs. Standout athletes Kewan Lacy, Malachi Toney
EA SPORTS™ College Football 27 Reveals Cover Athletes Celebrating The Next Generation of Football Stars
Dante Moore, Malachi Toney and Kewan Lacy Appear on the College Football 27 Standard Edition, While Deluxe Edition Features Colin Simmons, Leonard Moore, Jayden Maiava and Coach Curt Cignetti Fans Can Expect Full Game Reveal This Thursday and Worldwide Launch on July 9 EA SPORTS™ today revealed the covers of EA SPORTS™ College Football 27 ahead of the game’s full reveal this Thursday. Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, Miami wide receiver Malachi Toney, and Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy shine on the Standard Edition cover as a trio of electrifying playmakers who stood out in a competitive 2025-2026 college football season. The Deluxe Edition is joined by prominent defenders Texas linebacker Colin Simmons and Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore, alongside USC quarterback Jayden Maiava, national championship-winning coach Curt Cignetti, several beloved mascots and iconic gameday gear, celebrating the breadth of successful collegiate programs. Standout athletes Kewan Lacy, Malachi Toney
Turbo-charging battery research with AI: An ambitious vision
Argonne battery researchers and data scientists have come together to review emerging large language model applications in the battery field, outlining an ambitious technical roadmap to accelerate battery breakthroughs.
NYU Langone Health plans new multibillion-dollar Melville hospital, Long Island's first since 1980
Enrique Riquelme confirms Raúl González as his sporting director
Real Madrid legend Raúl González will be the club’s sporting director if Enrique Riquelme wins the upcoming elections, said the candidate during an interview with Cadena SER. He is the right individual to lead a sports project such as the one approaching at Real Madrid. That would be Mr. Raúl González Blanco. If I become […]
👀 Riquelme’s bombshell: Raúl González will be his sporting director
The Real Madrid election landscape has been decisively shaken up.Enrique Riquelme, a candidate for the presidency of the club, has revealed his big calling card for this Sunday’s elections: Raúl Go...
Pentagon bars journalists from its press office, saying it is ‘classified space’
The move takes place amid escalating tensions between the U.S. media and the second Trump administration
Statement from the Paragon Health Institute on CMS Interim Final Rule Regarding Medicaid Work Requirements
Able-bodied adults of working age should engage in employment, job training, education, volunteering, or community service.
Pentagon Bars Reporters From Its Press Office
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has repeatedly curtailed journalists’ access in the Pentagon.
4-star OL Luke Starcevic commits to Clemson
One of the most interesting athletes in the country just committed to Clemson. Kindred (N.D.) four-star Luke Starcevic had one of the more interesting recruitments in the Midwest. The jumbo athlete has some schools recruiting him as a tight end like Oregon. Kansas State liked him as a potential defensive end. They went all in […]
A famed folk-rock duo gets the musical treatment at Village Theatre
“We Ain’t Ever Gonna Break Up,” on stage at Village Theatre, loosely maps the tumultuous relationship of obvious analogs Simon & Garfunkel.
NASA’s Dragonfly Flight System Faces Heat
In preparation for the journey to reach the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, the heat shield for NASA’s Dragonfly mission completed thermal-structural
Inside Valley Politics: Complete breakdown of runoff elections, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez interview
RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The matchups are set for the November general election. On May 26, Valley voters went to the polls to settle the runoff contests after the March primaries…
New AI Inference Service Now Ready for Science at Argonne
AI can help accelerate scientific discovery, but setting up and running a foundation model is not a simple task. Thanks to the work of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, scientists affiliated with DOE National Labs and the Genesis Mission can now tap into a new AI inference service running on ALCF supercomputers. Dubbed the ALCF […]
"The live-action Smurfs movie paid for itself entirely through product placement" - Former Dragon Age boss suggests games can be funded another way
Ex-BioWare veteran Mark Darrah has suggested publishers and studios could look to movies for new game-funding ideas.
Vanderbilt Health study explores GLP-1 therapies to improve asthma outcomes in patients with obesity
The study is still recruiting participants. It will conclude in 2026 and provide insight for further investigations into the role GLP-1 agonists may offer in treating respiratory illnesses and overall immune responses.
PacWave makes the most of funding delays by sparking curiosity in scientists, students
Scientists and teachers are using funding delays for Oregon State University's PacWave project to spark a sense of curiosity among students and discovery among researchers.
The Arsenal evolution, not revolution
The culmination of Mikel Arteta's 'process', which has now been well and truly 'trusted', may have reached a climax with the Premier League trophy and subsequent parade this weekend just gone. It is healthy, but Arteta needs to know who the key pillars are in his team. Two years ago, I would have said Martin Odegaard but I'm not so sure now.
49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk considered 'untradable,' per report
Brandon Aiyuk's trade market seems to be completely gone.
Every concert announced for the 2026 Oregon State Fair so far
Who's playing the Oregon State Fair this summer? Here's the list of everyone announced so far.
Kelly Sturner helps build pathways to STEM for thousands of students
STEM Education Program Lead Kelly Sturner oversees hands-on educational outreach programs at Argonne National Laboratory to inspire future leaders.
Ashcraft throws 11 Ks and Pirates complete sweep of Twins
Braxton Ashcraft struck out 11 in six innings, Ryan O’Hearn and Nick Gonzales homered, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the skidding Minnesota Twins 9-3 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep. Ashcraft (5-2) allowed two runs and five hits with no walks, sending the Twins to their fifth straight defeat. Brooks Lee had a two-run homer in the sixth and a solo shot in the ninth for Minnesota.
Oregon vs. Oregon State baseball: Live updates from Eugene Regional final
Follow live updates from PK Park as the Ducks and Beavers play in the Eugene Regional final
AMD’s Plan to Fix RAM Costs: Bring Back Bygone CPUs
Decade-old AM4 motherboards now seem even more appealing if you can’t afford to upgrade.
2027 NFL Draft Summer Report: Matayo Uiagalelei, edge, Oregon
Check out the 2027 summer scouting report for Oregon EDGE Matayo Uiagalelei is ready.
‘Molecular movie’ technology reveals a better way to thwart environmental pollutant
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The latest production from the “molecular movie” imaging technology developed at Oregon State University is a new, inexpensive way of dealing with a common environmental pollutant. Based on short-pulse lasers, the imaging technology allows chemical and biological actions to be measured as they are occurring, one high-speed frame at a time. The measurements occur on the level of the femtosecond – one-millionth of one-billionth of a second. A femtosecond is to a second roughly as a second is to 32 million years.