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England will miss Stokes' winning persona
Former England captain Michael Vaughan reflects on Ben Stokes' shock retirement and how the team can move on from one of their "greatest" players.
Belt Entertainment & Volleys to close doors
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Belt Entertainment & Volleys owner Michael White confirmed rumors of the business's closure Sunday in a social media post. The business's final day is
Michael Olise reveals the reason behind his trademark lackluster celebrations
Michael Olise is not know for his big celebrations.
Ranked: America’s Best-Selling Albums Ever
Michael Jackson may be the king of pop, but in the U.S. he's been outsold by a rock band from Los Angeles.
Nia Long explains why she turned down Prince's advances
The "Michael" actress said that she later met Prince a second time: "He was lovely, but we talked about my hair the whole time."
Dell shareholders approve legal move from Delaware to Texas
Michael Dell says Texas is where the company has always belonged as shareholders overwhelmingly approve the reincorporation move from Delaware.
Michael T. Cooney and Matthew Quinlan
Calamos Wealth Management announces the addition of two seasoned wealth management professionals. Michael T. Cooney joins the firm as a SVP, Senior Wealth Advisor, and Matthew Quinlan joins as a Wealth Advisor.
CNBC’s Most Valuable Sports Empires 2026: Here’s how the world’s top 20 stack up
CNBC's Michael Ozanian joins 'Squawk Box' to reveal the world's most valuable sports empires.
Democratic socialists’ battleground test: From the Politics Desk
Plus, Pete Buttigieg is back on the campaign trail. And digging into Michael Whatley’s bio in the North Carolina Senate race.
Survey finds Roy Cooper continues to hold double digit lead in N.C. Senate race
A new survey finds former North Carolina governor Roy Cooper leading former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley by double digits in the pivotal Senate race in November.
Webber sponsors long-term funding bills to support Michigan business startups
LANSING, Mich. — Sen. Michael Webber on Wednesday introduced legislation to help create more Michigan jobs through long-term support for startup businesses in the state. “We created the Michigan...
The ‘tech neck’ time bomb: why 43 million young Americans could cripple U.S. health care within a generation
A spine surgeon warns that smartphone addiction is quietly deforming the spines of Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
AI Reinforces Existing Stereotypes in Healthcare
AI does not impartially observe reality—it mirrors human stereotypes. Operating at scale, it reinforces inequalities.
West Virginia Small Business Owner Joins NewsNation to Discuss 20% Small Business Deduction
Watch NFIB Michael Ervin on NewsNation.
Machado homers, King dominates as Padres shutout Braves
The Sporting Tribune's Fernando Ramirez writes that pitcher Michael King has a bounce back outing while Manny Machado homers to beat a talented Atlanta Braves team.
Braves offense lifeless again in loss to Padres
The Braves offense was lifeless against Michael King and the San Diego bullpen on Monday night, losing 1-0 to drop their second game in a row. It was more of the same for Grant Holmes, who labored through 4 2/3 innings. He hung a slider to struggling Manny Machado in the fourth inning that was […]
Mark Lewyn: Treasurer’s $8.65 check for the pope reveals the politics of unclaimed money
When Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, he brought an unusual gift: a check for $8.65. The money came from an old PayPal account that had been turned over to Illinois as unclaimed property before Robert Prevost, an Illinois native, became the pope. The amount
Broward AFL-CIO backs Michael Ferguson in bid to flip HD 100
'Unions built the American middle class.'
VIDEO: On NewsNation, NFIB Member Discusses How 20% Small Business Deduction Has Provided Certainty For Small Businesses
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 22, 2026) – West Virginia small business owner and NFIB member Michael Ervin joined Markie Martin on NewsNation Thursday to discuss the state of the small business economy and how the 20% Small Business Tax Deduction has created certainty for his Main Street business. Watch
Don’t worry, a politician can’t present the Today programme. Michael Grade is wrong about that
As the former Ofcom chair says extraordinary things about the rightwing channel and its critics, a factcheck would not go amiss, say Stewart Purvis and Chris Banatvala, both formerly of Ofcom
Make healthcare more affordable by preventing costly state mandates
Sen. Michael Webber proposes a task force to study how state healthcare mandates impact insurance premiums.
How Michael Landon's “Little House on the Prairie” philosophy influenced “Malcolm in the Middle”
"Malcolm" creator Linwood Boomer cites Landon's approach to working with child actors as an inspiration for how he ran the sitcom.
Diamondbacks' Michael Soroka exits Twins game
Michael Soroka threw a warm-up pitch and called for the dugout during thr Diamondbacks' game on Friday against the Twins.
Tornado destroys business filled with 'irreplaceable' Corvettes
NBC News' Maggie Vespa spoke with Michael Yager, the owner of a family car business in Illinois that was destroyed by a tornado, as he struggles to "make sense" of the wreckage.
Planned 'Police Academy' reboot starring Key and Peele was canceled after Michael Brown killing in Ferguson
Ike Barinholtz says he was writing a new 'Police Academy' film for Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, until Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Mo.
Sixpence none the richer
A flash update from Chicago regarding the near-misses Michael Elizondo has witnessed in person
Sports is driving a large part of the entertainment economy, says Activate CEO Michael Wolf
Michael Wolf, Activate Consulting CEO and co-founder, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss Versant's media rights agreement with the WNBA, appetite for live sports, Fox's $22B acquisition of Roku, Paramount-WBD merger, and more.
Sports is driving a large part of the entertainment economy, says Activate CEO Michael Wolf
Michael Wolf, Activate Consulting CEO and co-founder, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss Versant's media rights agreement with the WNBA, appetite for live sports, Fox's $22B acquisition of Roku, Paramount-WBD merger, and more.
Report: Nets' Nic Claxton drawing trade interest from Hornets
Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton is drawing trade interest from the Charlotte Hornets, according to HoopsHype's Michael Scotto.
Jillian Michaels says leaving the left felt like 'Neo in the Matrix' and warns it 'comes for everyone'
Jillian Michaels compares her political evolution to Neo in "The Matrix," describing how COVID, media distrust, and marriage shifted her views.
Sabres swap first-round picks with Sharks, ship off defenseman Kesselring
The Sabres now have the 20th pick in the draft.
Sabres swap first-round picks with Sharks, ship off defenseman Kesselring
The Sabres now have the 20th pick in the draft.
Reid Sigmon Named Senior Deputy Director of Athletics/ Chief Business and Revenue Officer
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Naval Academy Director of Athletics Michael Kelly has named Reid Sigmon senior deputy director of athletics/chief business and revenue officer, a newly created leadership position designed to accelerate revenue growth, expand business operations and enhance the long-term strategic positioning of Navy Athletics.
Politics and the FIFA World Cup
Dr. Michael Goldman, Professor of Sports Management at the University of San Francisco, joins Fox Local San Francisco to discuss politics and the FIFA World Cup
How States with Health Care Cost Growth Targets Are Using Their Data to Develop Bold New Policy Approaches to Constrain Spending
News article: In a new Health Affairs Forefront article, Michael Bailit, January Angeles, and Rachel Block show how states with health care cost growth targets have
Entertainment Partners at 50: Inside Evolution From ‘Little House’ to ‘The Pitt’
Entertainment Partners at 50: Inside Evolution From ‘Little House’ to ‘The Pitt’.
Terminated employee accused of stealing from Lexington business
Police say Wayne Michael Properties in Lexington reported a former employee was forging and issuing checks to himself.
Michael M. Crow explains why scientists need to learn how to talk about their research
Michael M. Crow is an American academic leader and science and technology policy scholar who has served as president of Arizona State University (ASU) since 2002. How would you describe the current s...
NASA spots giant ocean swell that could signal El Niño’s return
NASA satellites have detected a vast pulse of warm water reaching the coast of South America, signaling that El Niño is likely developing. The warm water is being carried eastward by massive ocean waves known as Kelvin waves, which also cause sea levels to rise. El Niño can reshape weather patterns worldwide, bringing floods, droughts, and temperature extremes.
The quiet, galactic ambitions of Cursor CEO Michael Truell
How the hottest AI coding company navigated its situationship with Anthropic and hitched its fate to Elon Musk's chaotic rocket.
'The Office' star blasts political 'hypocrisy,' explains why sitcom couldn't be made today
Rainn Wilson says cancel culture means you couldn't make The Office today, calls out partisan hypocrisy on both sides for fueling divisions.
SBA moves to revise 8(a) rules while preserving tribal, ANC eligibility
Details By Brian Edwards Native Contracting June 13, 2026 The U.S. Small Business Administration has proposed changes to its 8(a) Business Development Program that would eliminate race-based presumptions of social disadvantage for individually owned businesses while leaving eligibility standards unchanged for tribally owned enterprises, Alaska Native corporations and other Native entity-owned participants. In both the title and summary of the proposed rule published in the Federal Register, SBA emphasized that the changes only apply to individually owned firms and “do not impact entity-owned firms,” including tribes, Alaska Native corporation, Native Hawaiian organizations and community development corporations. The proposed rule, announced June 11, would require all individual applicants seeking admission to the 8(a) program to submit evidence demonstrating social disadvantage. Membership in a racial or ethnic group alone would no longer establish eligibility, according to the SBA. For Indian Country, the agency said eligibility standards for businesses owned by federally recognized tribes, Alaska Native corporations, Native Hawaiian organizations and community development corporations would remain unchanged. The proposal comes after the Department of Defense reaffirmed that participation by tribes and Alaska Native corporations in the 8(a) program is based on their political status under federal law rather than diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. In a May 28 letter to Alaska's Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael P. Duffey wrote that participation by federally recognized tribes and Alaska Native corporations in federal programs is “grounded in their political status as Native Americans, not DEI initiatives.” The SBA proposal follows a 2023 federal court ruling that found unconstitutional the program's rebuttable presumption that members of certain racial and ethnic groups were socially disadvantaged. SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the proposed rule would establish a single standard for individually owned applicants by requiring evidence of social disadvantage. The 8(a) Business Development Program provides participating firms with business development assistance and access to federal set-aside and sole-source contracting opportunities. The program remains a major source of federal contracting revenue for tribal enterprises and Alaska Native corporations. Native-owned firms received $16.1 billion of the program's approximately $26 billion in federal contract awards during fiscal 2024, according to data previously reported by Tribal Business News. The proposal also arrives amid ongoing concerns from Native contractors about SBA administration of the program. In May, the Native American Contractors Association and 53 Native-owned businesses urged SBA to address delays in processing 8(a) applications, saying some reviews had stretched beyond regulatory deadlines and appeared to have stalled since August 2025. The proposed rule is open for public comment through July 13. The Federal Register notice does not reference tribal consultation or indicate whether SBA determined consultation was unnecessary because tribal eligibility standards are unchanged. The SBA has not announced when the proposed rule would take effect. The agency is expected to accept public comments before issuing a final rule.About The AuthorAuthor: Brian EdwardsBrian Edwards is associate publisher and associate editor of Tribal Business News and Native News Online. He is a longtime publisher, editor, business reporter and serial entrepreneur. Subscribe Today!Other Articles by this authorDefense Department reaffirms tribal, ANC eligibility in SBA 8(a) programTribal heritage projects eligible for up to $100K in federal funding through NPS programIHS launches tribal long-term care construction initiative with three projectsIḷisaġvik College acquires site for long-planned Utqiaġvik campus This article is available to paid digital subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
I'm a California judge, here's how to fix our mental health crisis
OPINION: For many, the courtroom has become just one more stop on a revolving door that cycles them between homelessness, hospitalization and incarceration, Michael Wendler writes.
Eagles Sign Offensive Lineman Michael Jordan and Defensive End A.J. Epenesa
Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles will not reconvene until training camp in late July after ending mandatory minicamp on Wednesday. The mandatory veteran minicamp took place at the Jefferson Health Training Complex, with players' sights set on their eventual Week 1 matchup against the Washington Commanders. A.J. Brown was still an Eagle when he married Kelsey Nicole Riley on May 16 at the Montage Laguna Beach, a property owned by current United States Ambassador to Italy and Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta.
Jake Weiner's Harvest Hill Entertainment Signs Four (EXCLUSIVE)
Jake Weiner's Harvest Hill Entertainment has signed multi-hyphenates April Blair, Michael Yuchen Lei, Mina Rhodes, and Nick Funess.
Juliano Valdi takes us behind-the-scenes of Michael Jackson biopic (exclusive)
'Michael' star Juliano Krue Valdi is sharing happy memories from the set of the Michael Jackson biopic, including hilarious moments with costar Colman Domingo and winning $50 in a bet with director Antoine Fuqua.
Inside America’s Ugly Birthday Battle
Trump advisers broke an agreement to fund the bipartisan semiquincentennial celebrations, saying they will not “light taxpayer money on fire.”
Michael Bisping breaks down Ciryl Gane vs Alex Pereira
History could be made in the UFC Freedom 250 co-main event on Sunday. Former two-division titleholder Alex Pereira has the opportunity to become the first fighter in the promotion's history to win championships in three different weight classes. Pereira takes on former interim champion ands title ...
Warriors get informative Michael Porter Jr. trade news
The Golden State Warriors were reportedly interested in the Brooklyn Nets' star forward earlier this season.
Michael Meadowcroft obituary
Liberal politician, local councillor and Leeds West MP who turned to journalism, writing for the Times and the Guardian
James Handy's girlfriend, Wendy Gledhill, reveals 'Jumanji' actor's final moments before fatal stabbing
Wendy Gledhill, girlfriend of the late James Handy and mother of his alleged killer, Michael Gledhill, opened up about the actor's final moments before his fatal stabbing.
QB coach: Falcons won't have QB1 battle until Penix fully healthy
The Falcons will not have a true quarterback competition between Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. until Penix is able to do all the things in practice that Tagovailoa can do, quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt said Monday.
Michael Owen endorses Byron Donalds for Governor
Michael Owen joins growing list backing Byron Donalds for Governor.
Holloway and Martillotti Participate in NCAA Career in Sports Forum
Every student spends their four years or more of college trying to figure out what type of career path they want to follow. For men's soccer's Austin Holloway and football's Michael Marillotti they got a first-hand opportunity to see what a potential career in sports could look like as they joined 200 attendees at the NCAA Career in Sports Forum. The four-day event took place from May 27-30 at the NCAA Headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Front Porch Forum could become employee-owned when its founders retire
Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis, who founded Front Porch Forum in 2000, are exploring the possibility of selling the company to its employees when the couple is ready to retire.
Why Olise can be one of France's very best
Former France international Gael Clichy explains why Bayern Munich's France forward Michael Olise could be the breakout star of this summer's World Cup.
“Schmigadoon! ”producer thanks Apple TV for canceling the show in Tony Award acceptance speech for Best Musical
'Schmigadoon!' producers Lorne Michaels and Christine Schwarzman accepted the Best Musical trophy for the cast and crew.
'Schmigadoon!' producer credits Apple TV cancellation for show's Best Musical win at the 2026 Tonys
'Schmigadoon!' took home the Tony award for Best Musical, with producers Lorne Michaels and Christine Schwarzman accepting the trophy for the cast and crew. Schwartzman thanked Apple TV 'for canceling the third season of 'Schmigadoon!,' the TV show.'
What to Stream: ‘Michael,’ Olivia Rodrigo and Keith Urban albums and Bonnaroo
The streaming service debut of “Michael” and new albums from Olivia Rodrigo and Keith Urban are among the entertainment highlights this week hitting streaming services.
Bennet wants to be Colorado’s next governor
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet is considered the front-runner in the Colorado Democratic Party primary contest for governor. His major opponent is current Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. The Democratic primary election is June 30. Registered Democrats and unaffiliated voters who choose to can vote in this election. Ballots are being mailed out starting Monday. Michael F. Bennet, 61, was born in New Delhi, India, where his father […]
New York Jets Flight Connections 06/07/26
Happy Sunday, Jets fans! Below are your daily links. Michael Nania – Here’s where NY Jets’ top defensive trio ranks across the NFL Joe Blewett – NY Jets film session: What does Kingsley Enagbare offer the DL? Connor Long – The key difference between NY Jets’ 2025 and 2026 rosters Connor Long – Is Darren […]
Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong homers twice, including once with 2 outs in ninth, then Michael Busch walks off Giants in 10th
Wemby tops Michael Jordan, and the impact of PSA’s pause: May sports card market recap
Victor Wembanyama is the talk of the sports card hobby, but is it time to buy or sell his cards?
Colman Domingo to be guest on first-ever live Awardist podcast recording at Tribeca Film Festival
From 'The Four Seasons' and 'Euphoria,' to 'Disclosure Day' and 'Michael,' Colman Domingo will chat about his incredible career as the guest for EW's first-ever live recording of 'The Awardist' podcast at Tribeca.
What Michael Pittman's departure means for Colts' TE Tyler Warren
With Michael Pittman in Pittsburgh, how does his departure impact Colts' TE Tyler Warren within the offense?
New York Jets Flight Connections 06/06/26
Happy Saturday, Jets fans! You made it through the week. As a reward, here are your Saturday Jets links. Michael Nania – Jets’ Garrett Wilson lights up social media with one-handed grab Michael Nania – Jets’ Garrett Wilson lights up social media with one-handed grab Michael Nania – Jets’ AD Mitchell flashes chemistry with Geno […]
'Plenty to learn'
Northern Ireland manager Michael McArdle says "there were far too many turnovers" during his side's 2-1 defeat against Turkey in Istanbul.
Michael Carrick expected to receive special coaching help
Not only is the first team set for changes, but Manchester United also have plans to upgrade their coaching staff over the summer.After Michael Carrick agreed to take charge on a permanent basis, INEO...
Dmen
The top defenseman available at the 2026 NHL Draft took the stage at the Combine. The San Jose Sharks are in need of their star blueliner of the future. Their core of Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Michael Misa, William Eklund, and Collin Graf is outstanding, but lacks a top blueliner to pair with Sam Dickinson. […] The post Dmen appeared first on San Jose Hockey Now.
Trump cancels Great American State Fair concerts after artists drop out. Here's what they said about it and what will happen instead.
Bret Michaels and Martina McBride were among those who withdrew from the Freedom 250-planned event on the National Mall.
Caleb Williams' 'Madden NFL 27' cover inspired by Michael Jordan
The Bears quarterback said the pose, skyline and overall concept were designed as a tribute to Chicago's most famous athlete.
France lose to Ivory Coast
With a week to go until the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, France with FC Bayern duo Dayot Upamecano and Michael Olise in the starting line-up suffered a friendly defeat against Ivory Coast on Th...
Charles Oakley-James Dolan feud continues during Knicks' NBA Finals run despite peace efforts by Michael Jordan, Adam Silver
Bennet, Weiser face off in Colorado Politics, 9NEWS debate
The Denver Gazette and Colorado Politics are hosting the debate in partnership with the University of Denver and 9NEWS. DENVER — Candidates vying to be the next governor of Colorado will face off in debates hosted by The Denver Gazette, Colorado Politics and 9NEWS ahead of the state’s primary elections. Michael Bennet and Phil Weiser […]
Mike LaFleur details roles for Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson
Will the WR roles of Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson be different in 2026? It doesn't appear so.
Radiologists: Take the deep dive into advanced cardiovascular CT at SCCT
SCCT offers a unique blend of clinical education, business strategy, and networking to stay on top of CCTA's rapid proliferation.
AOC-backed Dem connected to Twin Towers bombing terrorist faces congressional pressure after primary win
Rep. Michael Lawler says he will seek a full investigation of Democratic primary winner Adam Hamawy over his ties to Blind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman.
MDOC says inmate with business degree can't read books on investing
The MDOC expressed concerns Michael Thomas wanted to run a business from prison, but Thomas says he has no money to invest and only wants to learn.
Analysis: How Andoni Iraola can improve Liverpool
Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool Blueprint: Pressing, Direct Attacks And A Clearer IdentityLiverpool’s interest in Andoni Iraola, as discussed by Dave Davis and Michael Reid on Anfield Index, is rooted i...
Carrick wishlist revealed as Man United plan five signings
Michael Carrick wants to make five signings this summer as Manchester United prepare to return to the Champions League.United are on the verge of securing their first addition of the summer window, af...
'Priority to keep my place in the team'
Northern Ireland defender Ruairi McConville says the friendlies against Guinea and France are a chance "to impress Michael O'Neill and show him what you can do".
Michael Grant launches 2028 bid for Ben Albritton's Senate seat with 20-plus endorsements in hand
Michael Grant is making his move for 2028 — and he isn't being subtle about it. The former House Majority Leader and Punta Gorda Republican filed Tuesday
Rockies' Michael Lorenzen: Pummeled in loss
Rockies' Michael Lorenzen: Pummeled in loss
Republican candidate for NC Senate Michael Whatley holds roundtable
Republican candidate for Senate Michael Whatley holds a "No Tax on Tips Roundtable" in Zebulon, N.C. Wednesday, June 3, 2026.
The Knicks Represent the Best of New York Sports
An ode from a long-suffering fan
Martin Bashir recalls being 'gobsmacked' by Michael Jackson telling him he slept in the same bed as children
Journalist Martin Bashir appears in the new Netflix documentary 'Michael Jackson: The Verdict,' in which he details filming the controversial 2003 special 'Living With Michael Jackson.'
Michael Ferguson reports $100K raised, 4K doors knocked in HD 100 bid
‘The message we're hearing is clear: people are frustrated.’
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!
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