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Stardew Valley Creator Teases Two More Marriage Candidates For Update 1.7
"I'll reveal who it is on the anniversary day"
How a married couple quit 6-figure jobs to start a business together
A couple in Vancouver transitioned from corporate careers in fashion and tech to cofound No Reception Club and create travel products for parents.
Monroe puts up 23, Quinnipiac defeats Fairfield 72-65
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) Amarri Monroe had 23 points in Quinnipiac's 72-65 win against Fairfield on Sunday.
Takeaways From Gavin Newsom’s New Memoir, ‘Young Man in a Hurry’
His introspective memoir tries to challenge the conventional wisdom about his upbringing, explores his marriages and airs a little dirty laundry — but says relatively little about politics.
Over the years, this Peoria business has changed, but its appeal is a constant
Nancee Vespa was married for 56 years, had two children and was well known for her welcoming presence at Kelly Seed and Hardware.
Former reality TV father of 8 reveals major health scare: ‘I could have died’
It happened just weeks before his marriage to his second wife.
David Faustino saying he talks to 'Married With Children' costar Christina Applegate often as she lives with MS
Former 'Married... With Children' star David Faustino says he and Christina Applegate, who played his older sister on the Fox sitcom, speak often.
This discovery could let bones benefit from exercise without moving
Researchers have discovered a biological switch that explains why movement keeps bones strong. The protein senses physical activity and pushes bone marrow stem cells to build bone instead of storing fat, slowing age-related bone loss. By targeting this “exercise sensor,” scientists believe they could create drugs that mimic exercise at the molecular level. The approach could protect fragile bones in people who are unable to stay active.
European corporate outlook dims slightly, still marred by global uncertainty
The outlook for European corporate health has slightly deteriorated, the latest forecasts showed on Thursday, as U.S. tariff respite is overshadowed by geopolitical tensions which are straining traditional Western alliances.
What to expect when BYU, Utah meet again Saturday
Big 12 teams have deployed a variety strategies to slow down superstar AJ Dybantsa. What will the Utes throw at him in the Marriott Center?
Kevin O'Leary Says 'Marriage Is A Business' and 'Your First Kid Is Money'—Even After The Real Kids Arrive, 'Money Never Leaves The Table'
Some people fall in love over candlelight. ‘Share Tank' investor Kevin O'Leary says you should fall in love over a calculator. In a post on X, O'Leary stripped marriage down to its bottom line: "The first child you have together is called MONEY." He said money shows up early—on the second date, the third date, and every day after. Even when the real kids arrive, he says, "money never leaves the table." And if you pretend it's not there? "Seven years later you're divorced." It's not just a clever
Will Reeve, Christopher Reeve's son, gets married as 'GMA' stars celebrate 'perfect wedding'
Christopher Reeve's son, 'Good Morning America' reporter Will Reeve, married Amanda Dubin in Miami over the weekend. The TV personality's ABC family, including Robin Roberts and Lara Spencer, celebrated the wedding.
Business air travel is back, and that’s good news for this airline
United is seen reporting higher revenue in a quarter marred by the U.S. government shutdown. An uptick in business travel is a welcome boost for the year ahead.
Video Why one Texas woman married for healthcare
Mila Clarke from the Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition shares why she made the decision to marry her partner so she could join his health plan after her diabetes treatment premiums skyrocketed.
Former Senator Kyrsten Sinema Accused of Affair With Member of Security Team
In a lawsuit, the ex-wife of Ms. Sinema’s onetime staff member accused her of showering him with gifts and breaking up their marriage.
Comedian Joel Kim Booster marries video game producer Michael Sudsina: 'Never felt so certain'
'Fire Island' star Joel Kim Booster ties the knot with Riot Games producer Michael Sudsina. 'My wedding was the best day of my life, no contest,' the comedian says.
NJBIA to Honor 7 Business Leaders at its 2026 Public Policy Forum on Jan. 30
NJBIA will honor seven business leaders, including three pro-business legislators, at its 2026 Public Policy Forum on Friday, Jan. 30. The event, which annually provides insights from policymakers and top business executives to help shape the economic landscape in New Jersey, will be held at the Princeton Marriott at Forrestal starting at 8:30 a.m. Awardees for the[...]
Marrying for health insurance? The ACA cost crisis forces some drastic choices
While Congress debates bringing back Affordable Care Act subsidies , many Americans have already made life-altering decisions to afford health care.
Inside Helena Moreno’s 100-day plan to improve New Orleans: ‘24/7 mayor’
After a three-month transition period marred by a double-barreled budget crisis, the mayor-elect said she'll be moving fast in the next three months. She’ll start by turning on the lights.
Movie Reviews with Entertainment Correspondent Mike Marra
Airdate: January 8th, 2026 JPS Superintendent Jeremy Patterson’s Mid-Year UpdateJanuary 8, 2026Red Cross Honors Volunteers During Blood Donor MonthJanuary 8, 2026Movie Reviews with Entertainment Correspondent Mike MarraJanuary 8, 2026Meet the JTV Staff with Joe HawleyJanuary 8, 2026Ella Sharp Museum Art A’Loan Program Partners with Young Poets, Jackson District LibraryJanuary 8, 2026Homer vs Napoleon | HS…
Fire reported at Westbank business
The fire was reported near Acadian Flooring, located in Marrero in the 5100 block of Lapalco Boulevard.
Mental health tools to start the year strong
Licensed family and marriage therapist, Cherlette McCullough, joins WESH 2 share practical ways to prioritize mental wellness.
Rama Duwaji, married to Zohran Mamdani, is her own kind of first lady
Rama Duwaji is the spouse of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Similarly to second lady Usha Vance, she has learned to balance public and private life.
Computer model locks in Cardinals vs. Bengals picks, score prediction
How to bet Arizona Cardinals vs. Cincinnati Bengals in NFL Week 17 action
Protecting the ‘Holiday heart:’ What to know about heart health during the holiday season, new smart watch technologies
Dr. Nassir Marrouche is director of the Heart and Vascular Institute at Tulane University with a subspecialty in electrophysiology. He treats atrial fibrillation, heart arrhythmia, irregular heartbeats, sudden cardiac death
When Politics Isn’t Your Career: The Blessings of YWA Post-Graduation
When I moved to the Washington, D.C. area for college, I thought I knew where I was headed. If I didn’t get married right after college, I would girlboss (in a conservative tone, of course) my way into a conservative advocacy organization or some D.C. politician’s office, fight for America in a way only a […]
HOKU PAC launches to support māhū and LGBTQIA+ representation in Hawaiʻi politics
A new political action committee aimed at expanding representation and advancing civil rights in Hawaiʻi was formally launched today, coinciding with the third anniversary of the federal Respect for Marriage Act.
Billionaire Warren Buffett Had An 'Unconventional' Marriage That Lasted 52 Years. The Trio Even Sent Out Signed Christmas Cards—'Everybody Was Happy'
Warren Buffett is one of those rare billionaires everyone feels like they know. He still lives in the same modest Omaha home he bought in 1958. He eats McDonald's and drinks Cherry Coke like lunch is a personal investment strategy. In a world full of private jets and vast estates, his choices are weirdly relatable — almost comforting. But even familiar figures can have unsuspected personal chapters, and Buffett's love life is one that defies tidy labels. In 1952, Buffett married Susan Thompson,
As insurance prices rise, women puzzle through coverage options for their families
Figuring out the insurance options for families often falls to women. Some say they're delaying marriage, taking side jobs, and putting their kids on Medicaid as premium prices shoot up in 2026.
Two arrested in Spanish Fork over alleged drug sales from local business
A married pair of business owners who live in Payson are facing several charges after police say they discovered them selling illegal products out of their home.
The Year in Entertainment 2025: The TV that was top
The small screen took us everywhere from the shores of Cousins Beach to the emergency room at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center this year. Here's a look at the shows and limited series that defined 2025:It was the medical procedural drama The Pitt that scored the top prize at the Emmys this year. Led by Noah Wyle, who won the best actor in a drama Emmy for his portrayal of Dr. Robby in the new series, The Pitt's first season followed the challenges faced by health care workers on the front lines over the course of a single, 15-hour shift at the hospital. Other big winners at the ceremony included Seth Rogen's new comedy series The Studio, as well as the Netflix limited series Adolescence.Many prestige shows captured the cultural zeitgeist in 2025. Fans traveled to Thailand to check in for season 3 of The White Lotus, while the mystery at Lumon Industries continued to unfold as Severance season 2 rolled out. The Last of Us viewers mourned a fan-favorite character during its sophomore season, while Star Wars fans returned to a galaxy far, far away to bid farewell to Andor as it debuted its second and final season.Nobody could stop talking about The Summer I Turned Pretty. Whether you were team Conrad or team Jeremiah, fans couldn't keep their eyes off the dramatic third season of the teen romance series, which spanned from the U.S.'s East Coast all the way to Paris. While the series ended with Belly finally picking which brother she wanted to be with, the story isn't quite over. A feature film that will end the romantic saga has been greenlit by Prime Video.Finally, the year ended with the release of the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. It turned Netflix's streaming records upside down, accumulating 59.6 million views in its first five days and becoming the best-ever premiere week viewing numbers for an English-language series on the streaming platform.Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
BYU vs Abilene Christian Preview: BYU Huge Favorite Once Again
BYU continues its home stand when they welcome Abilene Christian to the Marriott Center Friday night. This is a Quad Four game for BYU and the first since the end of Fall Semester. KJ Perry and Abdullah Ahmed are both able to join the team now as mid-year enrollees. KJ Perry must redshirt this semester, […]
She’s Married to the Architect of Trump’s Darkest Policies. She Wants America to Love Her. It’s Not Going Well.
I spent a month in her head. I was surprised by what I found.
Fired NIH institute director sues Trump health officials, seeks reinstatement and backpay
The former director of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is suing Trump | The former director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is suing Trump administration officials over her September firing, which she alleges violated her rights and was illegal under federal whistleblower protections.
Fowler in his pomp - on this day in 1995
This was the year when Frank Bruno finally became a boxing world champion, when Oasis let (What's The Story) Morning Glory? Michael Jackson's Earth Song was topping the charts, usurping Robson & Jerome, and Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise had left its musical mark weeks earlier. Curly Watts was marrying Raquel in Corrie, there were footballers serving bans for kicking fans and there were grey kits that were soon to become a thing of controversy.
Rob Reiner's history of political activism includes landmark wins for marriage equality, childhood development
Family of referee who died Friday touched by support, stories, memories
Longtime referee Jeff Tamarri died Friday while working a girls' basketball game at Monrovia. His family is appreciative of community support.
Rob Reiner used his fame to advocate for progressive causes. 'Just a really special man. A terrible day'
The Hollywood director known for 'Stand by Me' and 'When Harry Met Sally' was also a political force and an outspoken voice for same-sex marriage and early childhood education.
Unlike Taylor Swift, I argue with my partner every day. We've been together for 30 years.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's claim they never argue. I've been married for 30 years and I fight daily with my partner. It's healthier this way.
15 Big Ten sports scandals (including Rutgers) from the last 15 years
In the past decade and a half alone, the Big Ten has been marred by massive scandals at its most renowned institutions.
Elon Musk says DOGE was only 'somewhat successful' and he wouldn't do it again
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO made his remarks in a friendly interview with his aide and conservative influencer Katie Miller, who is married to White House adviser Stephen Miller.
JD Vance brushes off speculation about his marriage
Vice President JD Vance said he and second lady Usha Vance are largely amused by the online chatter dissecting their marriage, including a recent spate of headlines over photos of her without a wedding ring.
Alexis Ohanian Is Bullish on Women’s Sports
In March 2019, in response to the news that players from the U.S. women’s national soccer team had filed a gender-discrimination against their employer, the U.S. Soccer Federation, over pay inequality, Alexis Ohanian fired off a series of tweets. Ohanian, an investor and entrepreneur who co-founded Reddit and, since 2017, has been married to Serena…
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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