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The State of Politics: 250 Deadlines in Crowded Political Year
April, August, November elections dominate packed political calendar.
College football too-early top 25 for 2026 season dominated by SEC, Big Ten
The book on the 2025 college football season is almost closed but it's time to forecast next year's top contenders with our too-early top 25 rankings.
NFL Divisional Round INSTANT Reactions: Rams' CRAZY OT win, Seahawks DOMINATE, do we trust Jarrett Stidham?
Box Office: ‘28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’ opens behind ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’
James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” continues to dominate the North American box office, topping charts for the fifth weekend with $13.3 million in sales.
Here’s how AI data centers affect the electrical grid
Tech giants are in a heated race to build data centers and dominate the AI landscape. But America might not be ready for the energy demand.
Energy set to dominate state politics in runup to midterms
Electricity prices and data centers are emerging as major issues for both voters and legislators.
🗞️ Front pages: Madrid’s humiliation dominates the headlines
If you're a Barça fan, it's a perfect day to stop by the newsstand. If you're a Madridista, not so much (unless you need newspapers for something else). The main sports newspapers are leading with th...
E&E News: Energy set to dominate state politics in runup to midterms
Electricity prices and data centers are emerging as major issues for both voters and legislators.
See the top high school sports performances for the week of Jan. 5-11
See which Redding-area athletes dominated the courts, fields and mats from Jan. 5-11.
NBC set to dominate February sports with Olympics, Super Bowl, NBA
NBC bets on trio of big events to boost viewership. In a 10-day span in February, NBC will broadcast the Olympics, Super Bowl and NBA All-Star Game.
‘One Battle After Another,’ shot in El Paso, dominates Golden Globes
The Paul Thomas Anderson film was shot in El Paso for 18 days between May and June 2024 and contributed nearly $6 million in direct spending.
'Avatar: Fire and Ash' tops box office for fourth straight week
“Avatar: Fire and Ash” continues to dominate the box office, holding the top spot for a fourth consecutive week
WA budget woes dominate as Ferguson, lawmakers begin 2026 session
In addition to Washington state's self-inflicted problems, lawmakers are facing a frequently hostile Trump administration and attempts to slash federal funding.
When the oceans died and life changed forever
A rapid climate collapse during the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction devastated ocean life and reshuffled Earth’s ecosystems. In the aftermath, jawed vertebrates gained an unexpected edge by surviving in isolated marine refuges. Over millions of years, they diversified into many forms while competitors faded away. This ancient reset helped determine which creatures would dominate the planet ever after.
Trump threatens to take Greenland ‘the hard way’
The president continued to advance an imperialist vision of American foreign policy, where the U.S. can dominate neighboring countries “whether they like it or not.”
🗞 Today's front pages: Clásico in the final, Cancelo ready...
On Friday, January 9, 2026, the main sports newspapers across Europe wake up with their front pages dominated by Thursday's football.This is how the newspapers look...MARCAASMundo DeportivoSPORTSuperd...
Utility costs, affordability messages dominate Illinois governor race
The Illinois governor’s race this year has candidates from both parties emphasizing how to make life more affordable.
'One Battle After Another' dominates SAG's Actor Awards with 7 nominations
Seven nods is a record
'One Battle After Another' dominates SAG's Actor Awards with 7 nominations
“One Battle After Another” dominated nominations to the Actor Awards on Wednesday, with Paul Thomas Anderson’s ragtag revolutionary saga landing a record seven nods in the annual Screen Actors Guild
The Supreme Court confronts the trans rights movement’s toughest legal battle
Trans advocates would face a difficult road in the sports cases, even if the Court weren’t dominated by Republicans.
TribCast: 10 questions that will shape Texas politics in 2026
Matthew and Eleanor look ahead in the new year to Gov. Greg Abbott's power, Democrats chances and the issues that will dominate election season.
TribCast: 10 questions that will shape Texas politics in 2026
Matthew and Eleanor look ahead in the new year to Gov. Greg Abbott's power, Democrats chances and the issues that will dominate election season.
5 things to watch for in Georgia politics this year
The midterm elections will dominate politics this year. Georgia stands to play a big role with marquee races for U.S. Senate and governor.
Luke Littler wins second world title and takes another step towards greatness
After winning a second world title, 18-year-old Luke Littler says he wants "to dominate everything" - so what's next for the darting phenomenon as he chases greatness?
Seahawks vs. 49ers: Seattle dominates San Francisco 13-3, clinches No. 1 seed in NFC and NFC West title
The 49ers were the NFL’s hottest offense, and they got almost nothing against the Seahawks in a massive regular-season matchup. Now the 49ers have to go on the road next week while the Seahawks rest up.
UCLA shows its strength in convincing win over USC
UCLA dominates a city rival and now looks ahead to Nebraska
Rockets Cruise Past Nest in Wire-to-Wire Beatdown
Rockets dominated from the tip, leading wire-to-wire. Şengün's return sparked a relentless offensive surge, leaving Nets outmatched.
The Top Universities For R&D Spending In The Social/Behavioral Sciences
When it comes to R&D spending in the social and behavioral sciences, public universities dominate, according to the latest HERD Survey by the National Science Foundation.
The 2025 health issue that will impact Montanans next year
From Medicaid expansion to Affordable Care Act subsidies, affordability dominated the health care landscape this year.
The health care bills coming up in the Maine Legislature
Six health organizations discuss top priorities for Maine lawmakers to focus on and what they think will dominate discussion.
10 Storylines That Dominated 2025 For The Vancouver Canucks
Mixed reactions to politics dominate year-end reflections
As 2025 nears its end, reporter Adam Sullivan spoke with people in the Upper Valley about their reflections on the past year.
Shakira and monsters trucks, plus what else ruled Fresno entertainment in 2025
Latin artists dominated at local venues.
Investment Banker Invasion: How Boutique Firms Dominated Hollywood’s Biggest Deals in 2025
Investment Banker Invasion: How Boutique Firms Dominated Hollywood’s Biggest Deals in 2025
Political winners and losers of 2025
President Trump’s return to power dominated 2025. He began his second term with rapid moves aimed at shifting the nation’s political culture — and then just kept going. Trump’s approach cleav…
Top 10 Sahan Journal articles of 2025: politics and immigration
The top 10 most read Sahan Journal articles of 2025 were dominated by local politics and immigration enforcement, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s reelection.
5 celebrities who went public with alarming health diagnoses in 2025
Celebrity health battles dominated 2025 as stars faced serious diagnoses, from brain aneurysms to cancer. Kim Kardashian, Dave Coulier and others shared struggles.
Extend Brian Flores Now!
Vikings dominate Lions on Christmas with 6 turnovers; Two Old Bloggers demand Flores extension for 2026 contention
Steelers’ Bizarre Struggles Against Browns Continue With Embarrassing Loss
The Pittsburgh Steelers have consistently been one of the NFL’s top teams for years, posting a non-losing record in 22 straight seasons and counting. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Browns have been historically inept, posting just three winning seasons during the same span. The Steelers should dominate the Browns. And yet, that hasn’t been the case at […]
Top New Mexico sports stories of 2025 (non-prep)
Coach Jason Eck transformed the Lobos into Mountain West champions while Diego Pavia made history and UNM distance running dominated the national stage.
Before ‘SNL,’ there was Sid Caesar and a roomful of Jewish writers
Legendary Jewish comedian Sid Caesar dominated the television screen beginning in the 1950's and left a lasting mark on American showbusiness as we know it.
Europe & China Dominate Business School Rankings From ShanghaiRanking
British, Australian & Chinese B-schools came out as the big winners in the annual ShanghaiRanking of business administration programs.
NFL Week 17 bold predictions: Panthers upset Seahawks, Justin Herbert dominates
Bold calls for Week 17, including a stunner in Carolina.
The Top 10 political developments in Florida in 2025
Choosing the top political stories in an “off year” when no statewide elections took place is challenging — although jockeying for the 2026 elections is well under way. Property taxes and gun rights, meanwhile, have emerged as issues likely to dominate the 2026 legislative session, which kicks off in a little more than two weeks. […]
Netflix's Christmas NFL games are part of a trend. This chart shows how much streamers are spending on sports.
Amazon, YouTube TV, and Netflix dominate US sports streaming, accounting for 65% of the $6.5 billion spent by streamers on sports rights.
Netflix's Christmas NFL games are part of a trend. This chart shows how much streamers are spending on sports.
Amazon, YouTube TV, and Netflix dominate US sports streaming, accounting for 65% of the $6.5 billion spent by streamers on sports rights.
The Year in Entertainment 2025: Trends that took over
If you're not careful, you can find out that it's not clocking to you that you haven't been standing on business by knowing all of the cultural trends that happened this year. That's why we're going over the memes, viral moments and trend-setting sensations that dominated the cultural landscape of 2025:
Bengals Dominate Dolphins, 45-21 in Miami: OBI podcast
The Bengals had a big bounce-back win against the Dolphins on Sunday.
Violence, politics and social media dominated Utah headlines in 2025
2025 reshaped the state in ways few saw coming.
Vance refuses to set red lines over bigotry at Turning Point USA's convention
Vice President JD Vance acknowledged the controversies that dominated the Turning Point conference, but he did not define any boundaries for the conservative movement besides patriotism.
Didn’t stand out at school? You may be destined for greatness
From Nobel laureates to Olympic champions, it is late developers, not child prodigies, who dominate at the highest levels of adult performance
Ancient oceans were ruled by super predators unlike anything today
Long before whales and sharks, enormous marine reptiles dominated the oceans with unmatched power. Scientists have reconstructed a 130-million-year-old marine ecosystem from Colombia and found predators operating at a food-chain level higher than any seen today. The ancient seas were bursting with life, from giant reptiles to rich invertebrate communities. This extreme complexity reveals how intense competition helped drive the evolution of modern marine ecosystems.
Scandals, prediction markets: Is 2025 a turning point for sports betting?
Here are the stories that dominated sports betting's year -- and will continue to be battlegrounds in 2026.
Dallas Cowboys dominate Forbes’ most valuable teams list
Dallas Cowboys valued at $13 billion, leading Forbes' list. Discover how branding and stadium revenue play a crucial role in their success.
The Wall Street gift guide: What bankers are asking for this holiday season
While watches dominated recent survey results, experiences, health gear, and "boardroom to bar" clothing are also high on the list.
Hartfield Grad Leads Conference in Tackles for Southern Miss Football
Chris Jones has dominated the Sun Belt Conference. The Southern Miss sophomore led the league in tackles and helped USM lead the nation in interceptions this season. He says his roots at Hartfield prepared him for success. He plays in the New Orleans Bowl on December 23.
Shedeur Sanders news: Bears defense calls out rookie Browns QB after ugly game
What Chicago's defense said about Shedeur Sanders after the Bears dominated the Browns
This Baton Rouge company wants to ‘dominate’ the Gulf Coast. Here's how they'll do it
“As far as I’m concerned, I want to dominate the Gulf Coast,” he said. “I want AG to be the wholesaler of choice for anybody doing business along the Gulf Coast."
Caleb Wilson dominates in UNC’s win over USC Upstate
Despite some poor defense, the Heels put away the Spartans to improve to 9-1.
Senate votes down dueling health care proposals
Political strategist Katie Zacharia analyzes the Senate’s stalled healthcare proposals, ACA tax credit fallout and how Democrats may leverage shutdown politics to dominate the 2026 midterms.
Legal tech is too big for one winner, says Harvey's CEO
Even with an $8 billion valuation, Harvey's CEO says no company will dominate the $1 trillion legal market.
Ukraine's ground robots are filling less than 1% of drone missions despite surging popularity
The battlefield is still dominated by aerial drones, which Syrski said are carrying out 60% of all strikes against Russian targets in the war.
iPhone Fold Expected to Claim 22% of Foldable Market, 34% of Revenue in First Year
Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone is expected to spur strong growth in worldwide foldable smartphone shipments in 2026, according to new estimates shared by IDC. IDC believes the iPhone Fold will capture over 22 percent unit share and 34 percent of the foldables market value in its first year due to an expected $2,400 starting price point. Right now, the foldable market is dominated by Samsung and Google.
Cosmic knots may finally explain why the Universe exists
Knotted structures once imagined by Lord Kelvin may actually have shaped the universe’s earliest moments, according to new research showing how two powerful symmetries could have created stable “cosmic knots” after the Big Bang. These exotic objects may have briefly dominated the young cosmos, unraveled through quantum tunneling, and produced heavy right-handed neutrinos whose decays tipped the balance toward matter over antimatter.
Why YouTube Recap flopped and Spotify Wrapped is buzzing
YouTube launched its first Recap, but users say it's inaccurate and barebones. Spotify Wrapped, meanwhile, dominated with new features.
Forbes Daily: Gen Z Leaders Now Dominate The Forbes 30 Under 30
Today’s Forbes Daily newsletter covers the new 30 Under 30 list, Sam Altman’s OpenAI memo, NYC casino proposals move forward, Eli Lilly slashes Zepbound costs and more.
NBA power rankings: Thunder dominate as Lakers, Pistons chase
The Oklahoma City Thunder are not only the first team to 20 victories, they also lead the NBA in net rating (12.7).
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.
Houston Rockets dominate Utah Jazz for fifth straight road victory
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Kevin Durant scored 25 points in his return from a two-game absence, leading the Houston Rockets to a 129-101 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday.