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NEWS RELEASE - WNMU Expands Telemental Health Training for Rural New Mexico
For rural and underserved communities in New Mexico, accessing professional counseling services has historically meant long travel and logistical challenges. To address this, Western New Mexico University (WNMU) is working to eliminate these barriers by expanding its telemental health training and services and positioning itself as a leader in modern counseling education. Central to this… Continue reading NEWS RELEASE – WNMU Expands Telemental Health Training for Rural New Mexico
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!]
RWJBarnabas Health Expands Lifesaving Naloxone Initiative Across New Jersey
– RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH), through its Institute for Prevention and Recovery (IFPR), is expanding its hospital-based naloxone distribution initiative to individuals and communities across the state, increasing access to life-saving resources and connecting individuals to recovery support services.
GOP candidate Charles to work with Trump on fraud allegations
Late last year, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services referred one Portland-area social service provider to the attorney general’s office for investigation after finding “a credible allegation of fraud.”
Brewers' Brice Turang: Drives in two, steals 10th base
Brewers' Brice Turang: Drives in two, steals 10th base
The Trump Administration Has Launched Its Biggest Threat Yet to Scientific Research. We Can Stop Them.
Last week, the White House released draft regulations that—if enacted—will upend US science as we know it. Under the rule proposed by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), political appointees would have the final say over who gets billions of dollars of federal funding for res
US service sector growth picks up in May; businesses face higher prices for inputs
U.S. services sector activity picked up in May as businesses preemptively placed orders and rebuilt inventories in anticipation of shortages and higher prices because of the war with Iran.
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.
Police investigating after teens break into Lancaster County business
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM)– Police in Lancaster County are investigating after a group of teenagers broke into a grocery store late Tuesday night. According to the Northern Lancaster County…
Community Hospice and Health Services Invests in Behavioral Health
California-based Community Hospice and Health Services is extending its mission to improve quality of life into the behavioral health space. In addition
Germany’s Rheinmetall to Sell Auto Business to Focus Entirely On Defense
The arms maker agreed to sell its automotive unit to industrial group Aequita for a provisional price of €350 million.
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...
Kirk Herbstreit not back on EA Sports College Football 27 video game
ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit, who lent his voice for the video game when it rebooted two years ago, will not be on EA Sports College Football 27, per report
Plex adds new social features ahead of a major price hike for its lifetime pass
Plex has come a long way from being just a personal media server. Over the past few years, it has transformed into a streaming hub, today featuring
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.”
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
Lions add former Dolphins GM Chris Grier to front office
Former Dolphins General Manager Chris Grier has found a new job in Detroit.
Scientists reveal Ötzi the Iceman's dynamic microbial world
Ötzi the Iceman died violently roughly 5,300 years ago in the Alpine region of the modern border between Italy and Austria. An arrowhead was found lodged in his left shoulder, having caused fatal bleeding when he was attacked in mountainous terrain. But, in some sense, Ötzi still lives, as new research shows.
Scientists reverse anxiety by fixing a tiny brain circuit
A newly identified group of amygdala neurons appears to play a central role in anxiety and social behavior. Restoring normal activity in this tiny brain circuit reversed anxiety and social deficits in mice, revealing a promising new target for future treatments.
Texas universities show sharp differences in health insurance premiums, Baker Institute report finds
Annual health insurance premiums for faculty and staff vary by more than $5,000 per employee across Texas universities, according to a new report from Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. For PPO (or POS plans) — the only plan type offered at every institution in the sample — the report finds that the total annual cost of individual coverage, combining employer and employee contributions, ranges from $8,095 for Texas universities belonging to Employees Retirement System of Texas (such as the University of Houston) to $15,742 at Trinity University.
From spider silk to science: a new way to access hidden fungal diversity
A new study from Thailand demonstrates that the debris-heavy webs of orb-weaving spiders can serve as natural, non-destructive tools for collecting and culturing viable environmental fungi. Through the isolation of living organisms, this innovative approach has already uncovered potentially new, undocumented fungal diversity within tropical rice fields.
Small Business Sales Edge Upward in May as Foot Traffic Continues to Slow, Fiserv Data Shows
Fiserv Small Business Index remains steady at 144; year-over-year sales grew +0.7% MILWAUKEE, June 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology, has published the Fiserv Small Business Index for May 2026,
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!
Volunteers patrol Bushwick to monitor for ICE activity
NY1 shadowed one of the groups leading the effort to stop ICE from arresting migrants.
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.
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.
Accel Entertainment Expands Louisiana Presence With Acquisition of Rice Palace Truck Stop Casino
Accel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: ACEL) (“Accel”), a leading locals-focused gaming operator partnering with small businesses, local communities, and state gov...
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.
The Politics of Pathology
The public does not need psychiatrists to tell them who is fit for office.
Mark Cuban's AI-era job advice: Look at small businesses
"Start your job search with small businesses," Billionaire Mark Cuban tells job seekers.
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.
‘Getting things done’: John Taylor swaps mayoral re-election bid for run at HD 109
His candidacy comes amid a broader political reshuffling in Miami-Dade, with multiple legislative seats opening due to term limits, higher-office bids and shifting congressional borders.
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.
Euro zone business wilts in May as war-driven inflation surges, pointing to Q2 GDP contraction
Euro zone private sector activity shrank at the fastest rate in 18 months in May as waning demand for goods and services — a key gauge of economic health — dragged output lower for a second month while cost pressures hit their highest level in more than three years, a survey showed.
Italy services costs at 3-year high as business contracts, PMI shows
Cost pressures in Italy's service sector hit a 40-month high in May as the impact of the conflict in the Middle East became more acute, a survey showed on Wednesday.
Guardians News: Judgeless Yankees no match for young team
The Yankees entered Tuesday’s game 3-8 against teams over .500. They did nothing to show they were better than that at home against Cleveland. With the help from some creative argumentative tactics, they came back twice vs Guards SP Joey Cantillo, but they ran out of tricks once he was out of the game. CLE’s […]
Minister condemns riot but urges review of police anti-racism guidance following Henry Nowak death
Sarah Jones appeals for calm after rioting over the death of Nowak, who was handcuffed while dying from stab wound
Google must give UK publishers choice to block AI search summaries, says competition watchdog
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
Nashville Downtown Improvement District Budget Fails by a Single Vote at Metro Council
The Metro Council rejects the annual budget for the Central Business Improvement District, raising concerns about funding for downtown services.
Google Releases Fitbit Air CAD Drawings & Specs: Bicep Bands Welcomed!
Google releases CAD drawings and specs for the Fitbit Air pod, allowing 3rd party companies to make band and accessories
Alex Scott: Bournemouth’s asking price revealed
Manchester United have already agreed their first deal of the summer, with more in the pipeline.The Red Devils have agreed to pay an initial £35 million to Atalanta for Ederson, with INEOS keen to si...
Small Business Administration extends disaster loan outreach center
The SBA disaster recovery office in Lena will now remain in place through Tuesday, June 9.
Oil jumps on Mideast missiles while AI bulls carry stocks higher
Oil prices rose for a third day running on Wednesday and the dollar was on the brink of breaking above 160 yen as fresh hostilities flared in the Gulf after U.S.-Iran peace talks stalled.
China services activity grows at fastest pace in three months, private PMI shows
China's services activity expanded at the fastest pace in three months in May, helped by stronger growth in new business and a rebound in overseas demand, though rising cost pressures weighed on firms, a private-sector survey showed on Wednesday.
Live primary election results
Polls have closed at the Taos County Administration Building, where the Taos County Clerk’s Office is preparing to welcome ballot deliveries from polling locations across the county.
Eagles Have New Concern With Rookie WR Makai Lemon: Report
The Philadelphia Eagles will not have wide receiver Makai Lemon practice for the rest of the spring due to an injury.
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.
Oil prices rise as new Middle East hostilities flare and talks stall
Oil prices climbed more than 1% in early trade on Wednesday as hostilities in the Middle East erupted anew with Iran firing missiles at Kuwait and Bahrain, while diplomatic talks between Iran and the United States showed little progress.
Exclusive: SpaceX plans to raise $75 billion in IPO at $135 per share, source says
SpaceX plans to raise $75 billion in its initial public offering by selling 555.6 million shares at a target price of $135 per share, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
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.
A Look At AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) Valuation As May Attendance Hits Highest Level Since 2019
AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) is back in focus after reporting its highest May attendance since 2019, with 25.5 million guests, along with a stock rally tied to recent blockbuster releases and revenue diversification efforts. See our latest analysis for AMC Entertainment Holdings. Recent box office wins and revenue experiments have coincided with a sharp 90 day share price return of 75.42% and a 30 day share price return of 42.76%, although the 1 year total shareholder return is still down...
Beastie Boys DJ Mix Master Mike, Voices Of Service Join 50 Cent for 2026 United Bowl Presented by Credit One Bank
Sponsored by Dynasty Financial Partners, Mix Master Mike to perform throughout United Bowl with extended sets pregame and leading into 50 Cent halftime performance, and postgame trophy presentation
Pokémon Champions Comes to Android and iOS on June 17
Preregister now and get ready to battle on your mobile device. A new Mega Stone distribution awaits too.
Barriers to Inclusive Sexual and Reproductive Health Care for LGBTQ+ Populations: A Narrative Review With Emphasis on Midwifery and Obstetric Services in Greece
Despite recent legal and policy advancements, LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and additional identities) populations continue to face significant barriers to equi...
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,”
'It was very very good': Ötzi the Iceman's body is covered in ancient yeast — and scientists just used it to make a sourdough
A new study cultivated four strains of cold-adapted yeasts that had colonized Ötzi's body shortly after his death 5,300 years ago in the Alps.
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.
Records show Atlanta Beltline stabbing suspect received mental health services days before attack
Police records say the treatment came just 12 days before the deadly attack.
Outdoor sports retailers slashing prices for boats, jet skies as pandemic boom fades
What about California’s other statewide races? Here’s a look at the offices on the ballot today
California voters today are determining the general election candidates for 8 statewide offices, including insurance commissioner, superintendent and lieutenant governor.
Voices of the Voters: National Politics Drives 48th Race
At stake is a congressional seat that could determine if the House of Representatives enters the next two years with a Republican or Democratic majority.
Juneau Costco shipping changes expected to hurt Southeast small businesses
For years, Juneau’s Costco has offered a specialized shipping service for members in outlying communities that many small business owners relied on. But that’s changing Sunday, June 7.
Presbyterian Healthcare Services to layoff workers and discontinue some health plans
Presbyterian Hospital has announced the layoffs of 150 workers along with the discontinuation of most Medicare Advantage plans in 2027.
What's being built, bought and planned in Ascension Parish
Here are the latest property transactions, issued permits and upcoming business-related events in the parish. Issued permits A new construction permit for a 12,000-square-foot office and warehouse building on Copperhead Road in Geismar. The project is valued at $400,000 with RW Construction Inc. as the contractor. A demolition permit for the demo of the gym […]
New Mexicans vote in gubernatorial primaries as revenue soars from oil boom
Tuesday's primary election also comes at a time of promise for the next governor: Elevated global oil prices from the Iran war have translated into an influx of tax revenue.
New Mexicans vote in gubanatorial primaries as revenue soars from oil boom
Tuesday's primary election also comes at a time of promise for the next governor: Elevated global oil prices from the Iran war have translated into an influx of tax revenue.
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.
As Corporate Profits Surge, America’s Small Businesses Get Left Behind
Between Trump tariffs, rising gas prices and labor supply shocks, Main Street businesses are seeing declining profits and slower hiring. Is uncertainty their new normal?
Voices of the Voters: Supervisor Race Will Come Down to Politics
Here's how voters felt about the District 5 County Supervisor race.
Microsoft working on wearable AI gadget aimed at office workers
The company said its own workers are testing a "wearable access badge" and a desktop device.
New-look pacemaker uses ultrasound to stimulate the heart—no implant required
The engineers behind this new device envision a future where patients wear a single postage stamp-sized sticker that images and stimulates the heart.
Caitlyn Jenner sounds alarm on ‘big problem’ in California politics
Fox News contributor Caitlyn Jenner voices a lack of faith in California's voting system on ‘The Story.’
‘Business as Usual’ for Packers as Josh Jacobs Returns to Practice.
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs has returned to practice following his arrest last Tuesday. Jacobs practiced on Monday and again on
L.A. Rep. Jimmy Gomez reportedly faces House investigation over sexual misconduct allegations
The investigation came after the New York Post reported that the five-term congressman had been spotted kissing a much younger congressional staffer from a different office in 2023.
Jenna Bush Hager reacts to Jill Biden addressing her parents' romantic relationship in new book
Jenna Bush Hager is sharing her thoughts on Jill Biden detailing a flirtatious moment between her parents Laura and George W. Bush in her new memoir: 'A little spice in this book!'
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.
WATCH: Trump administration 'not moving forward' with anti-weaponization fund, Blanche testifies
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
The 2027 Dodge Charger EV goes on sale with a NACS port, but it’s not cheap
Dodge opened orders for the 670-hp 2027 Charger Daytona EV, the “quickest and most powerful AWD muscle car,” but is...
Bengals-Bears to hold joint practice before their preseason game
The Bengals and Bears will hold a joint practice ahead of their Aug. 22 preseason game at Paycor Stadium.
RRH marks one year of free genetic screening program that identifies health risks
13WHAM ABC Rochester provides local news, weather forecasts, traffic updates, health reports, notices of events and items of interest in the community, local sports and entertainment programming for Rochester and nearby towns and communities including Greece, Victor, Pittsford, Penfield, Henrietta, Webster, Irondequoit, Fairport, Chili, Gates, Rush, Wheatland, Canandaigua, Farmington, Spencerport and Hilton.
New Federal Rule Makes Sweeping Changes to Health Insurance Marketplace Regulations
A new rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services makes a long list of changes to the Affordable Care Act marketplaces that the agency says will lead to more plan choices and lower premiums for consumers.
Packers rookie kicker Trey Smack struggles at Tuesday's OTA practice
Packers rookie Trey Smack missed four field goal attempts during a windy OTA session on Tuesday.
Patriots OTA Notebook: A.J. Brown makes highly-anticipated practice debut
The Patriots held their second open organized team activity of the spring on Tuesday, June 2.
Google Expands AirDrop Support to More Android Phones
Google today said its Quick Share feature that allows Android and iPhone users to exchange files with AirDrop is expanding to more devices. Quick Share is now available on the following Android smartphones.
Why AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) Is Up 40.4% After Record May Attendance and Stronger EBITDA
AMC Entertainment reported its highest May attendance since 2019, drawing about 25.5 million guests worldwide and supporting its strongest first-quarter adjusted EBITDA since 2019, helped by hit releases such as “Backrooms,” “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” and “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” Management is pairing this renewed box-office strength with higher-margin food, merchandise and new concert offerings, signaling a push to lift revenue per guest and diversify beyond traditional ticket...
Q1 Earnings Recap: Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO) Tops Data & Business Process Services Stocks
Earnings results often indicate what direction a company will take in the months ahead. With Q1 behind us, let’s have a look at Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO) and its peers.
Packers OTA Recap: Josh Jacobs returns to practice
Packers kicker Trey Smack went 4 of 8 on field goals during Tuesday’s practice
4 reasons to start a business in your 50s
At 50, you’ve earned the relationships, made valuable mistakes, and know your own voice.
SCOTUS might surprise you
Sarah Isgur argues growing distrust of justices says more about our tribalism than any change in way judiciary works
Google announces deepfake call detection for Android, new AirDrop device support
Google's June Android feature drop includes more scam detection, more AirDrop, and yes, more AI.
Meet Microsoft Scout, Your AI Coworker That Never Logs Off
Microsoft’s OpenClaw-style agent appears in Teams, just like a human colleague, and automates your dull office tasks.