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Trump’s tariff threats spark political storm in Brazil
President Lula lashes out at lead election rival Flávio Bolsonaro over US lobbying effort
A rare Trump setback, a missing congressman and Spencer Pratt: 6 takeaways from the latest midterm primaries
The contours of a premier Senate race took shape in Iowa, while President Donald Trump’s endorsement streak ran into a roadblock there.
Trump Suggests Vance and Rubio Should Run Together in 2028 Election
President Trump said Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio should split a ticket, without mentioning who should be at the top.
May's top PlayStation games by copies sold
Yesterday’s State of Play gave us an idea of where PlayStation’s heading next. But we’ve had our May estimates for a couple of days now (we always update our data daily for clients), so it’s time to look at what performed best on PlayStation last month. We’ve got a new IP at the top, two evergreens doing their evergreen thing, FC26 smashing it ahead of the World Cup Plus pivot, and a quiet but promising result for Lego Batman. Let’s have a look at the state of Play…Station’s top games for May. 007 takes #001 007 First Light sold 1M copies on PS5 in May, easily making it the month’s top PS5 game by copies sold. Over 80% of those May copies were digital, which is broadly in line with where PlayStation’s digital share has settled for new releases this year. To date, 007 First Light has sold through 2.2M copies across platforms (so no unsold retail copies in that figure). The platform split is 55.1% PS5, 33.1% Steam, and 11.8% Xbox (console, Windows, and cloud combined). In gross revenue terms, 007 First Light has generated $150M. Owing to regional pricing and audience composition differences, the consoles make up a higher share of revenue than they do copies. Of the $150M, 60.5% came via PlayStation, 27.6% via Steam, and 12.9% via Xbox. Part of this is because over two-thirds of 007 First Light‘s PlayStation audience is in North America (43.4%) or Western Europe (23.2%), where local currency means the game generates more revenue per player. On Steam, under half of First Light‘s audience is from those same regions (31.8% North America, 15.1% Western Europe). As we covered in last week’s 007 Steam piece, the Steam version is pulling in higher-than-expected numbers in China, which now accounts for 17.3% of First Light‘s Steam audience. 007 is the equivalent of $44 USD in China, which is roughly 37% cheaper than the US price and about 44% cheaper than Western Europe. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe The crossover data backs up what we’ve seen all year about launch-window cohorts. 11% of PS5 players who played 007 First Light in May also played Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, which launched just a few days before. Last month was a great month for Denmark! IO Interactive is Copenhagen-based, and Lego Group is headquartered in Billund (TT Games is UK-based but produces work under Lego Group licence and direction). Speaking of which… A very blocky #2 and #3 Minecraft sold another 788K copies on PlayStation consoles last month. Business as usual, since Minecraft hasn’t sold fewer than 760K copies in a single month all year. With over 350M copies sold across all platforms, Minecraft is the best-selling game in history and one of the strongest brands in the world. Every month, a new cohort of children reaches Minecraft age, which guarantees a constant volume of new sales regardless of what the broader market is up to. The demographic refresh rate is truly impressive, with the audience renewing itself faster than it’s churning. Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight shifted 757K copies on PS5 last month, bringing its lifetime total on the platform to over 800K. Across all platforms, Legacy of the Dark Knight has now passed 1.5M sold through, so PlayStation accounts for over half of the game’s players. The May crossover data for Legacy of the Dark Knight on PS5 is also useful. 27% of those players also played Fortnite, 16% Roblox, 16% FC 26, and 14% NBA 2K. That’s the household-and-family cohort showing up, plus the launch-window cohort of core gamers who buy practically everything. FC 26 gets players through the door ahead of the World Cup FC 26 sold 411K copies on PlayStation last month (90% via PS5), the fewest copies FC 26 has sold all year and down heavily from April’s 700K. Part of this dropoff is because FC 26 has been available as a PlayStation Plus monthly game since 6 May, cannibalising premium sales. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe The strategic logic is straightforward for EA, which is sacrificing premium unit sales in May to build up the player base ahead of the FIFA World Cup, which kicks off on 11 June. Obviously, a bigger player pool going into the tournament means a bigger pool of potential Ultimate Team spenders during the period when football attention is at its peak. The early returns are around what you’d expect, with 4.4M new players accessing FC 26 via PS Plus last month – a substantial new spender pool. Anecdotally, a few of my mates who were ‘’skipping FIFA and Ultimate Team this year’’, were drawn back in via PS Plus. Lo and behold, one of them is buying packs like it’s going out of fashion. Whether this is all a smart trade for EA depends entirely on the Ultimate Team conversion rate over the next six weeks. Either way, the short-term engagement impact on the game as a whole is evident. FC 26‘s MAUs hit a record 24M on PlayStation in May, up 30% from the previous record set in April. GTA V does what GTA V always does Rounding out the top five is another evergreen title. Grand Theft Auto V shifted another 387K copies on PlayStation last month. No matter what else is happening in the industry, GTA V keeps pulling players in. It’s sold another 1.8M copies on PS5 in the first half of this year alone, helping the franchise pass the 230M-sold milestone across all platforms. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe I have a theory that Minecraft and GTA V are doing the same thing at different demographic levels. Both are functioning as generational gateway games that the audience ages into faster than it ages out of. Minecraft captures kids around age 6-10, GTA V captures much of the same audience around age 12-15 (unofficially, of course). The crossover data suggests this: 40% of GTA V‘s monthly PlayStation players typically play Fortnite in any given month, while 30% play Roblox. Household accounts aside, that’s not the original GTA V audience from 2013. Of course, the under-12 audience would love to get their hands on GTA, too. It’s always been the way of things, and some parents are happy to oblige. Mine did too back in the day, and I turned out just fine. Right? Right!? Want to get your hands on our data for yourself – for free? We’re offering a free trial of our platform for games companies. Send us a message here, or reply to this email, and we’ll set you up. The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]
I started losing my hearing at 21. I built a business from it.
After developing tinnitus and hearing loss, Bob Verlaat cofounded Hears, a company designing stylish earplugs for music fans.
How to Get the Biggest Mental-Health Boost from 15 Minutes Outdoors
The best wellness hack might be waiting right outside.
Missing Congressman Tom Kean, Jr. Wins Primary
Kean, who hasn’t been seen in months, said he would be “completely transparent” about the medical condition that has sidelined him.
Trump suggests he hasn’t dropped the ‘anti-weaponization’ fund
President Donald Trump suggested that he has not dropped the administration’s “anti-weaponization” fund, saying in an interview released Wednesday that people “should be reimbursed.”
NFL insider hints at Falcons’ next big contract extension
After Drake London's megadeal Bijan Robinson may be next in line
Rewriting the Narrative: Jewish Voices in the Entertainment Industry | AJC Global Forum 2026
At AJC Global Forum 2026, writer, producer, actor, and comedian Jamie Denbo joins Grammy-nominated songwriter, music publisher, and entrepreneur Billy Mann; Deborah Marcus; and Lori York for a conversation moderated by Dov Wilker, AJC Vice President, Advocacy and Innovation; Regional Director, AJC Atlanta.
Inside Hotel Du Pont, Italian Renaissance Gilded Age hotel in Delaware
Take a closer look at the grandeur of Hotel Du Pont, a luxury, century-old hotel filled with Gilded Age-style furnishings.
Culpeper Police Department
Last Thursday, we attended a Health and Wellness Fair hosted by Encompass Community Supports at Culpeper Technical Education Center! We had great conversations and handed out wellness information and...
Lahn's win in GOP primary for Iowa governor is a setback for Trump that could signal MAHA strength
Businessman Zach Lahn’s win in Iowa’s Republican gubernatorial primary over President Donald Trump’s pick is a rare electoral setback for Trump
California voters feel increasingly disillusioned with political system
“Many residents feel abandoned by a political system that asks for their vote but rarely their voice.”
The Latest: Trump keeps immunity from tax probes while scrapping $1.8 billion compensation fund
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Trump administration has definitively scrapped a $1.8 billion fund to compensate President Donald Trump’s allies, but the White House is sticking with the part of the deal that permanently drops tax claims against him
Rethinking Political Change in Iran from Protest to War
One month before the United States and Israel began the current war against Iran on February 28, 2026, mass uprisings within the country resulted in the severest government crackdown in its modern history. Protests and repression were accompanied by calls for outside intervention. US President Donald Trump declared on January
The Latest: Trump keeps immunity from tax probes while scrapping $1.8 billion compensation fund
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Trump administration has definitively scrapped a $1.8 billion fund to compensate President Donald Trump's allies, but the White House is sticking with the part of the deal that permanently drops tax claims against him.
Inside Caleb Williams' EA SPORTS Madden NFL 27 cover shoot
Bears content presenter Jasmine Baker gives fans an exclusive look at quarterback Caleb Williams' cover shoot for EA SPORTS Madden NFL 27 in Los Angeles.
Roma considering loan for Vaz and Dovbyk
Tony D’Amico’s arrival as Roma’s new Sporting Director is now a matter of hours. The official announcement is expected between today and tomorrow, and he will immediately have to address several...
Catholic Health CEO Patrick O'Shaughnessy Steps Down
Dr. Patrick O'Shaughnessy, who has served as president and CEO of Catholic Health since 2021, has stepped down from the Rockville Centre-based health system. Gary Havican, previously executive vice president and chief operating officer, has assumed the roles of president, CEO and chief operating officer, according to the health system. It was not immediately clear
What smart people are saying about CBS News firing Scott Pelley
Scott Pelley, the veteran "60 Minutes" correspondent, was fired from CBS News on Tuesday after reportedly criticizing Bari Weiss.
This new diabetes pill burns fat without the downsides of Ozempic
Scientists have developed an experimental diabetes and obesity pill that works in a completely different way from drugs like Ozempic. Rather than reducing hunger, it activates metabolism in skeletal muscle, helping lower blood sugar and increase fat burning while preserving muscle mass. Early clinical results suggest the treatment is safe and well tolerated.
Scientists simulated a nuclear fireball and found a surprise in the fallout
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recreated part of the intense chaos inside a nuclear fireball to better understand how radioactive fallout forms. Their experiments revealed that the way vaporized materials cool can dramatically change the particles that eventually form, especially for volatile elements like cesium.
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!
AI search strategies hampered by corporate silos: Semrush study
A new study shines a light on how corporate silos can lead to issues with how brands show up in AI search
B2B marketer makes comedy skits for LinkedIn to acquire clients
Henry Hayes is gaining traction and new client leads by posting comedy skits on LinkedIn, like a recent "Grand Theft Auto" spoof.
Trump Says Vance and Rubio Teaming up for 2028 Run Would Be Unbeatable
June 3 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said in a podcast interview aired on Wednesday that Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Rubio, teaming up for a 2028 presidential run, would be unbeatable. Both men are seen as contenders for the 2028 Republican nomination, and ...
The number of Americans living without health insurance remained stable at 8%—before ACA subsidies expired
The data on medical coverage rates comes from the 2025 National Health Interview Survey, with data being released by the CDC twice a year. Numbers from last year show that 28 million people have no health insurance.
Pulte Pick Shows How Trump Is Consolidating Power
Plus, the president’s candidate is defeated in Iowa, and inside Trump’s takeover of the American regulatory machine.
World Business Chicago picks design contest finalists: Covered highways, residential alleys, recycling tourism
World Business Chicago, which hosted the “Horizon Lines” open design contest this spring, on Wednesday announced the six finalists.
7 Small Business Ideas You Can Start in Under 14 Hours Per Week
Looking to launch a startup in your spare time? These small business ideas are well-suited for aspiring founders with tight schedules.
President Trump seeks control of science funding
The White House Office of Management and Budget is moving to take more control of billions of dollars in federal grants. Critics say the proposed change would jeopardize the integrity of U.S. science.
President Trump seeks control of science funding
The White House Office of Management and Budget is moving to take more control of billions of dollars in federal grants. Critics say the proposed change would jeopardize the integrity of U.S. science.
President Trump seeks control of science funding
The White House Office of Management and Budget is moving to take more control of billions of dollars in federal grants. Critics say the proposed change would jeopardize the integrity of U.S. science.
Mercy Health expands into New Carlisle, Fairborn
The hospital system said the goal was to increase access to care closer to home for residents.
Considering AI In Sports And Entertainment
AI enhances sports and entertainment, accelerating innovation while raising concerns over intellectual property rights.
Considering AI In Sports And Entertainment
AI enhances sports and entertainment, accelerating innovation while raising concerns over intellectual property rights.
Fixing in sport: The Relegation King – ‘Only politics and drug trafficking are more lucrative than match-fixing’
The Athletic's eight-month investigation into fixing looks at the way one fixer sought to destroy Brazilian clubs from the inside
Mark Cuban's AI-era job advice: Look at small businesses
"Start your job search with small businesses," Billionaire Mark Cuban tells job seekers.
America’s 250th birthday celebration increasingly centers on Trump
The White House has built a set of highly visible, centrally controlled events — many created by presidential directive — that emphasize spectacle, branding, and new traditions.
An ex-lawyer has raised $70 million to take work away from law firms
Wordsmith, a startup building AI software for corporate legal teams, has raised $70 million in funding from Index Ventures and other backers.
Where billionaires are getting second passports, residences
Peter Thiel's relocation to Argentina is part of a bigger billionaire trend, Here are the popular back up countries for the ultrarich.
Red States’ Sound Science Laws Echo Trump Regulatory Overhaul
Republican-led states are following President Donald Trump’s lead and making it harder for their agencies to exceed federal environmental standards.
SpaceX valuation should be nearly 50% lower than estimates: Morningstar
Morningstar says there are likely to be better opportunities to buy the stock in the months after the IPO this month.
COMMENTARY: Politics and failure
Politics is the only profession of which I am aware in which competence doesn't seem to matter. One can fail miserably; one can be corrupt and one can get away with crimes that if committed by someone outside of elective office, arrest, prosecution and a stint in jail would be the result. Yet politicians, Democrats and Republicans, continue to get re-elected.
President Trump seeks control of science funding
The White House and the Office of Management and Budget is moving to take more control of billions of dollars federal grants. This move has implications for areas as broad as housing and transportation, but science and health would be the most significantly impacted. Scientists and advocates say if it goes into effect, the change would jeopardize the integrity of science in the United States.
The medical-billing AI arms race between providers and insurance
“The financial side effects of care have become clinical ones,” writes Darshak Sanghavi.
San Francisco's wild housing market: AI boom sends home prices soaring
Overnight AI fortunes, multimillion-dollar bidding wars, and looming IPOs are rocking San Francisco real estate and sending home prices soaring.
Colombia's soccer jersey isn't just about sports. It's become a symbol of political division
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s national soccer jersey — a symbol of unity and pride as the team heads to the 2026 FIFA World Cup — has become embroiled in the country’s bitterly disputed presidential election, sparking debate over whether the yellow shirt should be used at political rallies.
Bitter GOP primary for South Dakota governor heading to runoff as businessman Toby Doeden projected to advance
Businessman and self-described outsider Toby Doeden will advance to a runoff for the GOP nomination for South Dakota governor, CBS News has projected, after a competitive and frequently contentious primary.
Latest report considered ‘unfortunate’ news for Lakers, Luka Doncic
Bad update for the Lakers.
Dubai-Based Apparel Group Said to Explore IPO for India Business
Dubai-based fashion and lifestyle retailer Apparel Group is considering an initial public offering for its Indian unit in Mumbai, according to people familiar with the matter.
For some chronically ill Mass. residents, food is medicine
New research shows people on Medicaid who receive medically-tailored meals are less likely to need hospital care or land in emergency departments.
The AI industry's profit problem is getting bigger, Goldman Sachs says
Chip companies have captured outsized profits, while companies above them in the AI supply chain have yet to show comparable economic returns.
A Trump Endorsement Falls Flat: 4 Election Takeaways From Iowa and Beyond
The president’s pick for governor of Iowa lost his primary, while Democrats in the state chose their nominee in what they hope will be a competitive Senate race.
Trump Endorses Colombian Presidential Candidate Abelardo de la Espriella
Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president, responded on social media Tuesday night, criticizing Trump’s public support for de la Espriella.
Trump-backed Rep. Randy Feenstra concedes Iowa governor primary
It’s a blow for the president, who has seen most of his chosen candidates this cycle sail to victory or advance to runoff elections — until now.
Steph Ruhle: MASSIVE checks for politics are “only getting bigger”
For billionaires to "write big checks right now, it's like water. When you think about the amount of money in AI, in crypto, even in finance right now, they're writing such giant checks because they know from a Donald Trump presidency you can't just influence politics, you can control it." Stephanie Ruhle breaks down why sums of money injected into politics are only getting larger.
Scott Pelley fired from '60 Minutes' after calling out Bari Weiss
CBS News correspondent Scott Pelley is out at "60 Minutes" after over 30 years. He recently took aim at Bari Weiss and new top producer Nick Bilton.
Supervisors approve Valley Commerce rezoning application
Plans to build a nearly 1 million square foot flex industrial park outside Purcellville can move forward after the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors approved a rezoning application June 2.
Treasure Island considers development ordinance to attract new business
“The one thing we can’t do is be the city known as parking lots, which is where we’re at right now,” said Vice Mayor Tammy Vasquez.
Keiko Fujimori: Peru's Biggest Political Loser Eyes Election Win
Peru's Keiko Fujimori is a perennial political loser. She has run for the nation's presidency three elections in a row -- and three times, she has lost.
Gabe Newell Says Players Have 'Enormous Choice' When Pressed on Steam Monopoly Accusations, Report Says
Valve founder and president Gabe Newell denied claims that Steam is running a monopoly, saying that players have "enormous choice" in the PC gaming space, according to a new report.
George Santos faces DOJ, CFTC probes over Kalshi trades
George Santos is under investigation by the DOJ and CFTC for alleged insider trading on Kalshi, a prediction market platform.
Science: HHS Asking for Changes in NIH-Funded Research
The Department of Health and Human Services is now reviewing all grants approved by its National Institutes of Health, and HHS staff “sometimes ask for substantive changes in the research,”
Jill Biden says no aides flagged Joe Biden's health before 2024 debate
Jill Biden told “The View” on June 2 that no one had approached her with concerns regarding her husband's health before the 2024 presidential debate.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Wide just leaked side by side again in new images
This time you can see exactly how far apart the two shapes really are.
Trump-backed candidate 'confident' Republicans will have great night in California: 'Very excited'
Steve Hilton, one of two main Republicans running in California's jungle primary on Tuesday, said that he appreciated endorsements from President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
Emo's moving locations as LA-based entertainment company takes over East Riverside venue
Los Angeles-based AEG Presents will take over the 2015 East Riverside venue when Emo's lease there ends at the end of the year.
Why Trump’s payout fund was too much for Republicans
Of all the president’s moves, the fund is the first to prompt real GOP resistance, signaling a sharply shifting political environment.
Cleveland City Council strengthens penalties for threatening health care workers
Inside Cleveland’s hospitals and on the streets with EMS crews, violence is no longer a rare occurrence.
Iowa Democrats to settle a competitive Senate primary as the party looks to flip GOP seats this fall
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both touched down in Iowa this year to shore up Republican enthusiasm in the state's Senate race.
Unincorporated Bensenville residents say 'nightmare' rat infestation threatens their health, safety
People living in a neighborhood in unincorporated Bensenville say a rat infestation is a threat to their health and safety.
U.S. science must innovate or die, National Academies president says
The last year has been “filled with turmoil” for science, National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt said during her State of Science address
Cubs' June Schedule Sets Them Up Well
After a dismal May defined by injuries and a ten-game skid, the North Siders eye a resurgence through a favorable June schedule packed with struggling sub-.500 opponents.
Residents, business owners push against bridge closures plan
Residents and business owners in the Mittie area are pushing back against a proposed state bridge replacement project on La. 26, west of Ouiska Chitto Creek, that could result in […]
Adviser Oz Calls Trump Exam 'Spectacular' Though Health Questions Linger
By Trevor Hunnicutt and Steve Holland WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - A physician in Donald Trump's administration brushed off questions about the U.S. president's personal health on Tuesday, describing the 79-year-old's third physical examination in 13 months as routine and the results as ...
Catholic Health CEO Dr. Patrick O'Shaughnessy steps down
Chief Operating Officer Gary Havican will serve as interim president while the hospital system's board conducts a national search.
Straight Talk with Ascension Chamber President and CEO Donnie Miller
Ascension Parish is in the midst of a significant growth period, fueled by billions of dollars in industrial investment, rapid population gains and a diverse business landscape. As businesses navigate workforce shortages, infrastructure demands, rising operating costs and new opportunities tied to major projects, the Ascension Chamber of Commerce is working to help employers stay […]
New Tilt entertainment center opens at Frontier Mall in Cheyenne
There’s a new place inside Frontier Mall where you can play, compete, and spend some time indoors, and it’s opening just in time for summer. Your Wyoming Link’s Tanisha Bucad
Cantwell-Cruz bipartisan college sports reform bill gets major Senate hearing on Wednesday
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and Sen. Ted Cruz rarely find themselves on the same side of major policy debates.
NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler Enhances Behavioral Health Services for Long-Term Care Residents - NYC Health + Hospitals
New York, NY — Today, the NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler skilled nursing facility announced two initiatives to serve residents with a behavioral health
Catholic Health CEO steps down
Dr. Patrick O’Shaughnessy resigned after serving as president and CEO of the Long Island hospital system for more than five years.
Trump to make complicated student-loan process easier for borrowers
The Education Department is planning to streamline the process for defaulted student-loan borrowers to get help with repayment.
Longtime Tandem staffer leaves to tend to coffee cart business
Kenny Peterson will devote himself full time to Side by Side Coffee.
Emo’s moving locations as LA-based entertainment company takes over East Riverside venue
Los Angeles-based AEG Presents will take over the 2015 East Riverside venue when Emo’s lease there ends at the end of the year.
Albert Mohler says recurring health episodes are manageable, not life-threatening
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler said Monday that recurring medical episodes that have affected him during recent public speaking appearances are related to complications from previous surgeries and are not life-threatening.
Reality TV star Spencer Pratt tests LA voters' appetite for political outsider
Voters across Los Angeles share their thoughts on reality TV star Spencer Pratt entering the mayoral race and reveal the issues and leadership traits driving their decisions at the ballot box.
Mercy’s Southeast Missouri Hospital College of Nursing and Health Sciences Welcomes New President
Pamela Slaven-Lee will lead Mercy's Southeast Missouri Hospital College of Nursing and Health Sciences in Cape Girardeau as its new president, as selected by the college's Board of Trustees.
WATCH LIVE: Senate Democratic leaders may address Bill Pulte for DNI, 'anti-weaponization fund'
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to tap his housing finance director as acting director of national intelligence, saying Bill Pulte is “a partisan thug with no experience in intelligence.”
Aston Villa and Brighton enquire about Roma’s Matias Soule
Serie A side Roma have to make key sales before the end of June and Matias Soule is one of the candidates who can leave the club. The attacking midfielder didn’t quite make an impact in the second ...
Power Tee: Installs automatic systems at new Florida entertainment venue
Pine Royale, located in Callahan, Florida, now features Trackman technology, mini-golf and a vibrant social atmosphere alongside its automated driving range.
WATCH LIVE: Blanche testifies in House hearing as Trump considers dropping 'Anti-Weaponization Fund'
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is set to return to Capitol Hill on Tuesday after the Trump administration signaled it was pausing contentious plans to move forward with a nearly $1.8 billion fund that could compensate allies of President Donald Trump who believe they have been unjustly investigated and prosecuted.
Political gravity is coming for some of Trump’s most jarring ideas
President Donald Trump just keeps pushing the envelope — his appointment of a controversial housing official as the new acting director of national intelligence on Tuesday is the freshest evidence of that.
Sheinbaum tells US ambassador to avoid political interference in drug trafficking dispute
Mexico’s president says ambassadors must avoid political affairs after Ron Johnson’s post on drug trafficking dispute
Inside Microsoft’s Project Solara: A new platform for devices that run AI agents instead of apps
A team inside Microsoft has been quietly building Project Solara, a platform for devices that run AI agents instead of apps, based on Android instead of Windows. The first two concept devices, a desktop hub and a wearable badge, are headed to pilots with companies including AccuWeather, Best Buy, CVS Health, Levi's, and Target.