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The science of storytelling: How narrative accelerates the bioeconomy
In the bioeconomy, breakthroughs alone don’t drive change. Storytelling translates complexity into clarity, turning data into belief through stories
White House distances Hegseth from second strike on alleged drug boat
Defence secretary gave order for strikes but did not say to ‘kill everybody’, according to White House spokesperson
Tennessee special election stirs Democratic hopes and Republican fears of an upset
Tennessee’s 7th congressional district is usually an easy win for Republicans. But Tuesday’s special election gives Democrats hope for an upset as they test just how far their recently successful message of affordability can take them.
Save the Date: Livestream of All-new Sports Models World Premiere on December 5
Toyota Motor Corporation will present the All-new Sports Models World Premiere from 11:00am Japan Standard Time (03:00 a.m. CET) on December 5. The event will be live-streamed (with English interpretation) on this webpage : https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/43567793.htmlFollowing the premiere, a video of the presentation will b...
Lammy to address ‘court emergency’ but expected to safeguard jury system
Justice secretary appears to have pulled back from plans to scrap juries for all but the most serious cases
AI valuations heighten risk of ‘sharp correction’ in stock markets, Bank of England warns
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as the Bank of England releases its Financial Stability Report
Athletics intent on joining sport’s Goliaths but knows it has long way to go
Jon Ridgeon is overseeing World Athletics’ reach for a younger audience but has to battle it out with football and F1
Is AI making us stupid?
Artificial intelligence can execute tasks in seconds that once took humans hours, if not days to complete. While this may be great for productivity, some researchers are concerned that our increasing use of AI could be impacting our ability to tackle difficult problems and think critically. To find out where the science stands, and how worried we should be about the potential of AI to change how we think, Ian Sample hears from Madeleine Finlay and Sam Gilbert, professor of neuroscience at University College London
North Alabama basketball rallies past Jacksonville State for rivalry win
The visiting Lions trailed by eight points heading into halftime, but outscored Jax State 47-32 in the second half to power past the host Gamecocks.
Here's a list of the 15 must-see high school basketball games of the season
The list starts with a Catholic League showdown Friday
Samsung’s Z TriFold is official and it looks like a tablet with a phone attached
DeX who’s coming to dinner.
SIU’s Simon Institute hosts Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar on nation’s political contradictions
Paul Starr, a Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar at Princton University and the founding co-editor of The American Prospect magazine, will join Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute for a virtual conversation on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
Entertainment and more in the Mid-Ohio Valley
PARKERSBURG – The Artsbridge calendar for the week ahead: TODAY * Anything Goes: Wild Things, all member exhibition of the West Virginia Watercolor Society, Parkersburg Art Center * Belpre Holiday Lights, Civitan Park, Belpre * Festival of Trees Display, Blennerhassett Hotel and Spa * Shannon Hammer, naturalist photography display, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., WesBanco, […]
The Apple Watch Series 11 is $70 off, beating its Black Friday price
Sometimes, good deals come to those who wait.
We found 25 great laptop deals you can still grab for Cyber Monday
Many of our top picks are over $300 off.
'There’s a lot of harassment' | Madisonville business owner looking for solutions after safety issues
Liz Field of The Cheesecakery told us the harassment and issues have gotten worse within the last year, and now she’s at her wits' end and doesn’t know what to do.
This organization is trying to use AI to reshape American politics
Using artificial intelligence to identify congressional districts where independent candidates could win, an organization called the Independent Center is aiming to disrupt the two-party system.
Boston 25 News
“Super Bowl Sunday is the world’s biggest entertainment stage, and we’re proud to spotlight artists who embody the very best of music and culture."
Colorado businesses concerned about increased costs, supply chain issues as a result of tariffs, report finds
Colorado businesses face mounting headwinds amid a suite of tariffs enacted this year, with concerns about elevated costs, supply chain disruptions and consumer backlash, according to a new state report. The study is the second...
Why is the US on the verge of war with Venezuela?
The five biggest questions about a massive military build-up.
You can double your Switch 2’s storage with Samsung’s $40 microSD Express card
Store even more games.
Super Bowl LX pregame entertainment set
“Super Bowl Sunday is the world’s biggest entertainment stage, and we’re proud to spotlight artists who embody the very best of music and culture."
Scathing ‘jobs for mates’ review finds appointments to government boards routinely abused
A report by Lynelle Briggs says placements ‘look like nepotism’ and are undermining confidence in government
In a bold move, UCLA hires Bob Chesney to become its next head football coach
UCLA turns to up-and-coming James Madison head coach Bob Chesney, hiring him to rebuild the Bruins football program.
Microsoft’s ugly sweaters return with Clippy, Xbox, and Zune brown options
All three holiday sweaters can be purchased at Microsoft’s company store.
The Guardian view on men’s health: the needs of different groups can only be addressed in a functioning system
Editorial: The specific health issues faced by boys and men deserve attention. But waiting lists stand in the way of improvement
Oleksandr Usyk expresses desire to fight Deontay Wilder who would be open to world title clash in 2026
Oleksandr Usyk wants to defend his world heavyweight titles against Deontay Wilder, who has welcomed a fight against the unified world champion.
Apple’s smallest iPad just got its biggest price cut for Cyber Monday
Small tablet, smaller price.
You can get an LG B5 OLED for less than $900
We haven’t seen a better OLED deal during Cyber Monday
Strong Flare Erupts From Sun
The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 9:49 p.m. ET on Nov. 30, 2025. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured
Best performances from 49ers' convincing road win vs. Browns
The 49ers stayed hot, winning their third straight. A look at San Francisco's best performers in its win at the Cleveland Browns.
Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Elects Little Rock Volleyball Coach Van Compton
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – One of the most decorated coaches in Little Rock Athletics history is adding another major honor to her résumé. The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame announced Sunday that Trojan head volleyball coach Van Compton has been elected for induction into the 2026 Class. Compton will be formally inducted on April 10, at Oaklawn in Hot Springs.
The Clock Is Ticking for These Cyber Monday Smartwatch and Fitness Tracker Deals From Apple, Garmin, Samsung, and More
Cyber Monday November 2025 smartwatch and fitness tracker deals are ready for your wrist. Score an Apple Watch SE 3 for under $200 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 at 48% off.
Six Bruins Earn All-District Recognition from College Sports Communicators
Student-Athletes showing continuing with the great production off the field as well.
It's the Best Time of Year to Buy a New TV: Save Up to $1,000 With Cyber Monday Deals on LG, Samsung, Sony, and More
Cyber Monday TV deals are here with some of the year's lowest prices, with models from Samsung, Sony, and Amazon offering hundreds off!
Hurry to Grab These Cyber Monday Tablet Steals: Get Up to 55% Off Apple, Amazon, Samsung, and More
Cyber Monday 2025 is live! Score close to 50% off Amazon Fire tablets, 36% off the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, and amazing deals on Apple iPads.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is $50 off at Walmart during Cyber Monday
An unexpected hardware discount.
Higher health costs force financial trade-offs: Investors 'worry about all these moving pieces,' top advisor says
Rising health premiums and expenses on top of already higher costs for everyday items are forcing people to make trade-offs in their budgets.
WRDW TV and Peachtree Sports Network to Broadcast 10 Augusta Basketball Games
Augusta, Ga. - Augusta University basketball will once again be air on the Peachtree Sports Network. A total of 10 games, including four doubleheaders will be on WRDW-TV's affiliate for the second straight year.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion is another mighty brawler from Dotemu
Marvel Cosmic Invasion is the latest beat 'em up from Tribute Games and Dotemu, and it packs a punch thanks to a superpowered tag system.
Future Focus: Vaccine Politics, EU Hiring, and Campbell’s Crisis
From vaccine polarization to EU hiring challenges and a Campbell PR crisis, here’s what business leaders need to know now.
Science must move from materialism to mystery
Theoretical physicist and neuroscientist Àlex Gómez-Marín argues that modern science has become trapped in a framework that mistakes matter for the whole of reality. In this wide-ranging interview, Gómez-Marín challenges the foundations of materialism, defends the scientific study of near-death experiences, and calls for a new type of science grounded in mystery and a renewed sense of the sacred. He suggests that abandoning materialism could open the door to a deeper understanding of consciousness, death, and the purpose of human existence. Simon Custer: You are both a theoretical physicist and a neuroscientist, and you have also been fiercely critical of materialist theories of mind and consciousness. What do you think the ultimate nature of reality is?Àlex Gómez-Marín: I don't know what the ultimate nature of reality is, but what I try to first assess is whether the stories that they [mainstream science] have told us about it are right, or maybe whether there are other alternatives. That's why I've been a fierce critic of materialism. As a scientist, I realized that they had sold us this idea that to be a good scientist you also had to subscribe to many other -isms, like materialism, reductionism, and even secularism. And so first I think one needs to unmount these -isms, and then, as is happening today in consciousness studies, we have a huge landscape where there isn't only one game in town, the idea that matter is the only thing that really exists. But because we are studying the hard problem of consciousness, it may be the case that other views of reality, like idealism, or even dualism, or other theories like dual aspect monism... these are philosophical ideas that now, I think, have room in science to be taken seriously. How does something like materialism relate to dualism or idealism? What is materialism in the first place?Well, materialism is the philosophical position that matter is the only really ‘real’ thing in the universe. And I think that worked kind of well because science started 400 years ago and Galileo made that split, I call it the foundational wound. It was a great business move.He said, let's start doing science on that portion of reality that lends itself more easily to mathematization and measurement. So, for some reason, the solidity of this table or the movement of planets lend themselves very well to this foundational idea of science. But as time went on, 400 years later, we realized that we had forgotten the other side, which is what really matters.What really matters is pain, is love, is feelings, sensation, consciousness, which is very hard to define, but very intimate. We all know what it is. It's that thing that disappears when we go into deep sleep and comes back in the morning. SUGGESTED VIEWING On the edges of knowledge With Michael Shermer, Rupert Sheldrake, Güneş Taylor It's what it is like to be, as Nagel said. It's the feeling of being alive. So, materialism is good to study certain things, but then when it ossifies into this ideology and then is dressed like science, now it's preventing us from understanding these key questions that are really that everybody wants to know.Why are we here? Why do we feel reality? Where do we go when we die? And so we need other ways. We need pluralism. I'm only asking for having more options on the table and taking them seriously. Why does materialism fail to explain consciousness? For example, if you were to lobotomize me, I would not be a functional human being. What do you say to someone who might think that materialism adequately explains the mind?Well, here we could speak about different things. We could talk about physics or about neuroscience. I happen to have training with both.For instance, for neuroscientists, 99% of them, I'm not included in that portion, believe that the brain can only be a productive organ. It's an organ that somehow, somewhere, consciousness emerges. It's like a lamp. And then something happens, magic happens, and then consciousness emerges.That's the position you need to be if you're a materialist because if the only really ‘real’ thing is matter, then you need to say, just give us some more time and money and we'll figure out how mind emerges or is produced from matter. There are many philosophically sophisticated ways of criticizing this.Now there's another option, which is the brain as a permissive organ. This was said by William James more than 100 years ago.Now then the brain wouldn't be like this machine, like for instance, a heat engine whose smoke is consciousness, which is what we would have in the first big model, the productive model. But in the permissive model, the brain would be a kind of a filter. And so the brain would still have a very important role in consciousness, but it wouldn't be a productive role.It would be permissive, much like a filter or much like a prism which would receive light. And - I'm speaking metaphorically - it would receive the light of the mind and then it could reflect it and refract it.Now, with these two big options on the table, I think we can make progress into what I call the edges of consciousness, which are all these experiences, weird experiences that many people have, but we don't talk about enough, like near-death experiences, precognitive dreams, synchronicities. These experiences are very important for humans and they have a place in the permissive hypothesis and they are literally impossible in the productive hypothesis. So that's yet one more reason to explore alternatives to materialism. There may be anecdotal evidence for near-death experiences, but is there robust evidence that would be accepted by the majority of scientists who subscribe to the scientific method?Sure. And the plural of anecdotes, someone said, is data.And there's a lot of data. Actually, this year is the 50th anniversary, half a century, since Dr. Raymond Moody realized that we have two ears and one mouth and started listening to what his patients had to say about their experiences while they were clinically dead.The heart had stopped, breathing had stopped in these patients. These patients would come back and tell him these amazing stories that some people may say are hallucinations, but for the patients were hyper-real, like seeing light at the end of the tunnels, seeing deceased family members waiting for them, feeling bliss.___I would say the evidence suggests that the mind can survive the death of activity of the brain.___And so he and others started taking them seriously and writing their accounts down. And then you can do a science based on that material of experience that people have. Now, on the more objective side, more recently people have started to measure what's going on in the brain when people are clinically dead and brought back. This has opened a proper field of study, which is near-death studies.Evidence is a difficult word, because sometimes people think that when you say evidence, this is just the final proof. Evidence is like in a jury. You bring testimony, you bring pieces of data that point in one direction or another.I would say the evidence suggests that the mind can survive the death of activity of the brain. When brains are broken or shut off, there can still be mind going on. And that's revolutionary.That would entail that when we die, it's not game over, which, by the way, is the thesis of materialism. If consciousness survives, materialism dies. It's game over for materialism if something of us continues after we die. Do you think that there is mental continuity after death?Well, I think so, and I believe so, and I could also say I may have experienced it myself, because four years ago I had a near-death experience. I was in the hospital, I lost a lot of blood, and I saw those beings at the end of the tunnel, three beings, and there was yellow light. I was in a well, I was looking upwards, and I hadn't read about NDEs by then, but when I came back from this experience, I decided I would try to integrate this also in my professional life. Not just my personal life, of course, but my professional life as a physicist and as a neuroscientist. So I may have had the experience of glimpses of what an afterlife would be, and I'm not ashamed to say it in this way, and then one can do science of it, and then one can do philosophy of it.One can think about what -isms we were discussing, what views on reality would allow those experiences to be really ‘real,’ as opposed to, well, poor guy, the brain was kind of broken, it must have been a hallucination. Do you have a view about whether individuality or “the ego” persists after death, or whether we sort of merge into some sort of cosmic consciousness instead?I don't know, but my view would be along those lines you're suggesting. I think we could speak about a kind of universal mind, and then the problem is not how we emerge from matter, but how we fragment from a more holistic consciousness into these individual eddies and then when we die, this kind of dissipates.But I'm not sure. For instance, idealism would promote that view, but then what would survive of us after these eddies just vanish and become again the big Consciousness, I'm not sure what that would be. I don't know for sure, but I would tell you I believe something of us survives.And there are other lines of research, not just near-death experience, that can address this really hard question of survival. For instance, there are children who remember previous lives. This was studied by Ian Stevenson at the University of Virginia for more than 50 years.___Research takes place within a selection mechanism that also sometimes reinforces things that are not very scientific.___It's amazing research. He went all over the world, especially in the East, and collected all these case studies, all these stories. In plural, these were data of kids, very young age, who would describe up to 40 items that then he could go and verify.There was no internet. There was really no way the kid could know. Why would the kid say that when I was living in this other body and I was a woman and that's how my house would look like or that's how I would die, right? Again, there is evidence, not proof, but there's evidence not only that something weird and interesting is happening as we cross the threshold, but also when we come back to this life.Scientists should not be afraid of studying this, but they are because there's stigma. There's usually stigma upon the enigma, and this is so unfortunate. And one of the reasons is because of the ideology of materialism, because those things cannot be possible. What is wrong with the politics of science such that they have generated this stigma?So many things. Science is a human activity to begin with.So it falls prey to all our passions and ego and greed. That's one thing. Science is a job for the good and for the bad.You need to get a salary. You need to get grants. Research takes place within a selection mechanism that also sometimes reinforces things that are not very scientific.And then, we didn't have time to unpack this, but science for many years become entangled, as I was suggesting before, to other -isms, materialism, secularism. So anything that smells like the afterlife, people may think has to do with God, and then they freak out.Anything that suggests that there's something about the mind that may not need a physical material substrate to exist, it smells like non-materialism. So, all these -isms are ideologically blocking that kind of research, and then there are all these sociopolitical constraints as to what should be studied and what shouldn't be studied.I call it the backstage of science. Sometimes we scientists or science communicators seem to speak as if the data is the only thing that matters. We say, well, data and theory.But then there's a third leg of this stool, which is all the politics that goes behind the scenes. And we often don't speak about this, and it's quite vicious and petty, and it's very real. Why is materialism so attractive to most scientists?Well, an easy answer is because we've grown up with it.It's what the educational system promotes, and that's what you hear when you go to university. So it's like growing in a culture. It feels like the air in which you breathe.So it's very hard to begin with to detect, well, maybe there's another alternative. Maybe there are other ways of doing science, other environments in which one could do science. That's one reason.And other reasons maybe are more profound, and I'm not qualified to explain them, but I could say, looking at this 400-year history of science, since it started around 1623 with Galileo's book The Assayer, that science went and coupled with all what's going on in the West.And so the fall of religion, you could say, and science presented us this new alternative that then could be coupled very well with other -isms, and this idea of growth, and then science losing its good twin brother, which was philosophy. There's a whole natural history of science starting as philosophy, kind of emancipating or breaking out from philosophy, and then marrying technology, and then marrying other social systems.From that point of view, materialism is a very convenient idea to propose. There were attempts, like the German idealists tried to do a more romantic science. But no, the idea prevailed, like Francis Bacon said: You should pursue nature through all her corners, he said, and make her spill her secrets.Our attitude towards nature in the science that dominates is very much reflecting how we treat nature in our society, in our culture, like a resource to extract secrets by force and then dominate it. How is materialism related to the notions of growth and progress? What's wrong with having a productive citizenry?This is another very interesting and very difficult question to answer.But there's this recent book coming out by Paul Kingsnorth. In it, he explains this idea of the machine and this idea of progress. And this, again, this conflation of more is better, of we need to go forward always, and convincing us that the way to do that is to continually extract more from nature. But because we don't have the religious context anymore, because God is dead, then what do we have? We have what we can do as humans with our own gadgets.It's kind of the story of the Promethean fire. We will just build anything to make ourselves God.A good example today is transhumanism. Transhumanism is this pseudo-religion dressed in technoscientific language whose goal is very religious. They promise immortality, they promise redemption, they promise transformation of the entire natural world, but it's done by human means through technology. Are you suggesting that we can't have ethics without religion?Well, we should have ethics with or without religion. That's another pruning that has happened in science. We say, forget about aesthetics, although some physicists still think that beautiful means probably true, and forget about politics. We pretend there's no backstage of science, and even let's forget about ethics.___Science needs to be in the service of mankind.___Scientists, when they become more like engineers, they're just thinking how to make things work so that they can go to the moon, go to Mars, make machines that think, but they don't think whether that's a good idea.And also consider metaphysics. Many scientists for a long time pretended, and maybe that comes from the stream of positivisms, that really one doesn't need metaphysics at all, except that materialism is always the metaphysics running the system.You see, it's not just ethics. It's the pruning of all of these, you could say, five main legs of philosophy that just makes a kind of unconscious science, a science that doesn't really know what it's doing. It's doing it very well locally, but it just doesn't know what it's doing globally. Do you think science has to have an ultimate vision and purpose behind it for it to be effective or for it to be meaningful and transformative?Yes, a way I would say that is that science needs to be in the service of mankind. And it hasn't been that. And we can see it through, you know, when we discovered the secrets of the atom, and all of a sudden, the Manhattan Project, and then we create nuclear weapons.And now we're trying to crack how machines may think, and now we're creating this mess, right? So science needs to be in service of mankind, not in service of a few ideas that maybe want to make more money or just dominate upon nature. What about planes, trains, automobiles, and modern medicine? Hasn't science served mankind by helping us develop those technologies?Yes and no. I see where you're going, and it's fair.I came here by plane, and it's a blessing. When I almost died, the surgeons did their job, and they saved my life. But these two forced choices between Luddites and Silicon Valley types, I think, of course, it's a false dichotomy.Progress, in a way, it's good, but we often don't speak about the dark side of the moon. We say the great things that progress has brought, and we don't speak about the disasters, the side effects that it has come with, and the same when we promise new technologies. We tend to think that any technology is great, that email is going to save us so much time because we don't need to write letters and send them anymore.Is that true? I spend so many hours a week writing emails. Let's just say there are great things about it and bad things about it. People like Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, for example, argue that we've made moral progress over time because of the Enlightenment. Do you think that's totally wrong-headed?I think he's emphasizing a side of the moon, and he does that very well, and you can find tons of plots where there's a slope going up and say it's great. But I think he should also tell the not-so-friendly story.But if your ideology is just to resist and continue to explain that the Enlightenment is the best thing ever and reason is the best thing ever… this feels to me like you're worshipping these abstractions.I'm very critical of it and also of these, again, science communicators and scientists that say, Oh, science says, in the name of science, experts say. It's like, come on, let's be careful because we can shoot ourselves in the foot by putting forth to the people an image of science that we know is not really true. Recently there's been a resurgence of spirituality and of people who say that they're spiritual but not religious, especially in the United States. If materialism is going away, what is going to fill that gap? Are we going to return to traditional religion? Do you see that being connected with the rise of the political right?I'm not a fortune teller, so I don't know what's going to happen. But, yeah, we could say we're in this post-materialist age and even post-secular age. One cannot come back to the past, but maybe just to contact with the roots is a good idea.What do I mean by that? I think we need to do a science 2.0, a science that says thank you to Galileo and thank you to materialism, but we need to reinvent even a new kind of scientific method. We need to do so in a culture where we realize humans cannot thrive in a vacuum where there's this idea that the sacred has to be removed.Now, how do we do that without bringing in back all the vices of religion? I don't know. I'm from a Catholic country.Here we are in England, so there are differences and interreligious dialogue has always been a challenge. But I think maybe a way of putting it is: after all these conflicts and branchings I was quickly alluding to, science from philosophy and then also from religion, now there's a time of reconciliation perhaps and maybe debates in the proper sense, like exchange of ideas in service of learning and getting into something higher than both poles. We need science to talk to religious people and it's interesting when people say they're spiritual and not religious.I think this is just a way of saying, no, I don't want to go back, I want to go forward. But at the end of the day, religions have offered us practices and grounding that we now desperately need. Everybody can and should just meditate or pray or do whatever they want, but we're in a crisis and it's time for reconciliation. What do you say to critics that say you are merely projecting our need for meaning onto a fundamentally indifferent universe?Yeah, I know that the typical science communicator says something like this. But we're not projecting. Human beings feed on meaning.It's the other way around. If you're a materialist, because the only thing that there is is matter, all that comes next, free will, consciousness, meaning, this is a kind of illusion that we need to explain.They're just craving for meaning, but there isn't really for them. I would also like to remind my materialist friends that for decades, if not centuries, they've said in the name of science, we know that this and this and this doesn't really exist. I think now they sense they're forced to say, well, actually, we don't know. We've been saying, for instance, that there's nothing after you die, and now probably they need to admit that they don't know the answer.___We need to do a science 2.0, a science that says thank you to Galileo and thank you to materialism, but we need to reinvent even a new kind of scientific method.___So it's a moment to open up possibilities and also to gently but fiercely critique these claims that I think harm society. If you say in the name of science, get on with it, when your father dies, you'll never see him again. Well, what the F do you know about it? You haven't studied the literature, you haven't had any of those experiences, and basically what you're doing is you're just doing marketing on ideology. This needs to stop. Do you think that it's scarier for some people to entertain the thought that there might be life after death, compared to a materialist worldview where you just die, given that there might be consequences for unsavory behaviour?Well, death and dying is scary. It's maybe the ultimate ending. It's a limit on life, and when we're in this conquest mode, we don't like limits.And it also has, there's a shockwave backwards, so I think if you change your notion of what death is or may be, you live differently. It also has consequences, as you're saying, for the future because this is not our only goal here and we come back in whatever form. And again, different religions would say different things. I the East, they are more happy with the idea of reincarnation, and here in the West, there are other preferences. But in any case, it changes how we live, and that's really what matters.It's not about just projecting or imagining what we'll be after, but how we live now and also how we treat those who are dying. So it goes from the individual to the families, to the hospitals.Now in the near-death research I do, this has ramifications at all these levels, all the way to society.But our society is thanatophobic. It has a phobia of death. We don't want to hear about death, and this is another thing we need to put on the table and be willing to talk about it. Do you think that we might get closer to answering ultimate questions like why is there anything at all if we jettison materialism?That’s an excellent question, Simon. Two things: we should stop treating reality, I believe, as a great sudoku, as an enigma, as something that with intelligence, money, and time that we will crack and instead treat reality more like a mystery. And what you do for in front of a mystery is not to be the clever guy in a class and say “I’ll solve you” but more like “I will bow and you will transform me.”I know this sounds a bit like a scientist speaking like a mystic. But I think this reorientation is needed. In the end, we won’t crack the big questions, but they will transform us. If we free ourselves from this prison of materialism, the way we will explore these questions will be freer, more creative, and in service of mankind. Do you think exploring mystery is the reason why we are here?I think we are here because, and this pseudo-theological argument I’m making off the cuff, But the One, the Absolute, if there is such a thing, had everything except limitation. We are that absolute experiencing that contingency. It’s like an act of divine proprioception. It’s a wonderful adventure, it’s just incredible to be alive. Perhaps we have forgotten why we are here and the whole point is to experience the flesh.Let me end by saying this. I criticize materialism harshly. I bang on this dead horse, because I think it’s dead. But matter is a great mystery. So maybe my invitation is as follows: hey materialist friends, come here, let’s work on materialism 2.0! Consciousness is a mystery, but matter is also a mystery. The fact that we can have an intersubjective experience consensus, the fact that we can apply mathematics, that we can measure things... the physical world we take for granted, but it is a great mystery too.Maybe that’s related to your last question: why are we here? Why did spirit decide to incarnate? Being in the flesh may be a great thing if spirit decided to do so.Àlex Gómez-Marín, thank you very much.My pleasure.
Need help with your business? Easton begins offering free consulting through Lehigh U.
Easton's new partnership with the Lehigh University Small Business Development Center provides free confidential business consulting.
Donald Trump says he has picked Fed chair nominee | Latest US politics news from The Economist
The latest news in US politics, with coverage of Donald Trump’s second term.
Trump backs Hegseth amid report of repeated strike on boat
Calls from Congress for an immediate investigation into reports that war secretary ordered a second strike on alleged drug-smuggling boat
Netflix Blocks Casting From Your Phone If Your Device Has a Remote
There are exceptions for older products, but Netflix wants to encourage you to use your remote control to navigate its UI.
SFA bag 'multi-million' Hampden naming rights deal with Barclays
The Scottish FA announce a "multi-million-pound, long-term partnership" for the naming rights of the national stadium.
Opinion | Short on ideas for health care reform, Republicans? Here are a few.
The GOP should advance proposals that put patients back in charge of our health care system.
The biggest loser in this Supreme Court is Congress
The GOP justices are about to hand Trump a victory that they have been dreaming about since he was married to Ivana.
When Participating in Politics Puts Your Life at Risk
During the Trump era, political violence has become an increasingly urgent problem. Elected officials from both parties are struggling to respond.
Citizens reiterates Market Outperform rating on PENN Entertainment stock By Investing.com
Citizens reiterates Market Outperform rating on PENN Entertainment stock
Caesars Entertainment stock rating maintained at Market Outperform by Citizens By Investing.com
Caesars Entertainment stock rating maintained at Market Outperform by Citizens
Netflix kills casting from phones
Unless you’re an ad-free user with legacy casting tech.
Apple Reportedly to Launch New Studio Display in 2026 with A19 Pro and Mini LED Upgrades - VOCO News | Global Chinese Instant News Network
Apple's Studio Display is rumored to receive a major upgrade in 2026, with the A19 Pro chip and Mini LED panel being the biggest highlights. The new generation display is expected to significantly improve Apple's long-standing limitations with high refresh rate external displays.
The ‘Race Against Time’ to Save Music Legends’ Decaying Tapes
New problems are plaguing old reels, putting decades of history at risk. One man, armed with hair dryers and a love of tinkering, is leading the charge to rescue them.
State lawmakers eye flexible bills for AI usage in health care settings
Nearly 200 AI medical devices have been FDA-approved since 2015.
Why singing is surprisingly good for your health
From boosting the brain to reducing pain, joining others in song can bring some wide-ranging benefits.
An independent effort says AI is the secret to topple two-party power in Congress
Using artificial intelligence to identify Congressional districts where independent candidates could win, an organization called the Independent Center is aiming to disrupt the two-party system.
Accenture dubs 800,000 staff ‘reinventors’ amid shift to AI
Consultancy’s move to embrace artificial intelligence follows Disney’s use of the term ‘imagineers’
Charleston Southern visits UT Martin after Blaine's 23-point game
Charleston Southern Buccaneers (5-4) at UT Martin Skyhawks (5-2) Martin, Tennessee; Tuesday, 12 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Charleston Southern faces UT Martin after Brycen Blaine scored 23 points in Charleston Southern's 74-62 loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks. The Skyhawks have gone 2-0 at home.
Starmer to defend Reeves after claims that some ministers feel she misled them ahead of budget
Prime minister to give speech after report that some ministers are unhappy over handling of the budget
Historic Yorktown Kicks Off the Holiday Season with Series of Festive Events
YORKTOWN — Historic Yorktown is filled with community traditions, and it all kicks off the first weekend of December. The weekend begins with Yorktown’s annual Tree Lighting Ceremony at Victory Monument & Riverwalk Landing on Dec. 5 at 6:30 p.m., with the Tree Lighting at 7:30 p.m. According to the county, this community tradition dates […]
Bibi's pardon request rocks Israeli politics, Thanksgiving reflections
Netanyahu’s pardon bid, Israel’s measles surge, Satmar visit, and Thanksgiving in Jerusalem.
UK economic growth forecast to slow next year as unemployment rises
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
Memphis plays San Antonio on 3-game win streak
Memphis Grizzlies (9-12, ninth in the Western Conference) vs. San Antonio Spurs (13-6, fifth in the Western Conference) San Antonio; Tuesday, 8 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Memphis will try to extend its three-game win streak with a victory over San Antonio. The Spurs are 5-0 against division opponents.
UK refrains from hitting high street on Black Friday as fears grow over economy
Data comes as KPMG highlights soft consumer spending as one factor likely to hold back growth in 2026
How the cuts have shaken HIV/Aids care to its core and will mean millions more infections ahead
Reports highlight devastating impact of slashed funding, especially in parts of Africa, that could lead to 3.3m new HIV infections by 2030
BetMGM Missouri Bonus Code FOXSPORTS: Get $1,500 in Bonus Bets
Sports betting is officially here in Missouri— take advantage of this incredible $1,500 in Bonus Bets offer from BetMGM.
Mental health warning issued for weight-loss drugs including Ozempic in Australia
TGA also issues separate warning around Mounjaro and potential reduced effectiveness of contraception
Rising levels of hate forcing women out of Swedish public life, says equality agency
Country seen as champion of equal rights faces reckoning after senior politician says she felt compelled to quit
‘It was extremely pornographic’: Cara Hunter on the deepfake video that nearly ended her political career
The Irish politician was targeted in 2022, in the final weeks of her run for office. She has never found out who made the malicious deepfake, but knew immediately she had to try to stop this happening to other women
Australia’s Star Entertainment names Mathieson Jr. as new chair By Reuters
Australia’s Star Entertainment names Mathieson Jr. as new chair
Comedy to open at Astor Street
The Astor Street Opry Co. opens a comedy, “The Hallelujah Girls,” featuring behind-the-scenes action at a Southern day spa, at the Playhouse at 129 W. Bond St., in Astoria Dec. 5. Doors open 6:30 p.m. and the show is 7 p.m. Admission is $15, online at www.asocplay.com or at the door. Performances continue 7 p.m. […]
Anker’s Laptop Power Bank is $32 off for Cyber Monday, its biggest discount yet
It’s airline-compliant, too.
Sea Harvest Group planning sale of dairy business to fully focus on seafood
South Africa-based Sea Harvest Group has announced plans to sell its value-added dairy business Ladismith Cheese Company
Virtue Asia, Goldfinch International Launch V47 Entertainment Branded Content Studio (Exclusive)
IMDb, la source la plus populaire et la plus fiable au monde en matière de films, de télévision et de célébrités.
Storm scientists in action at Independence Middle School
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio: Seventh-grade students at Independence Middle School are stepping into the role of storm scientists as they explore the dynamic forces behind rotating weather systems.
Christmas bazaar and cafe in Seaside Dec. 6
SEASIDE—10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday Dec. 6, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church at 320 First Ave., across from the Seaside Convention Center will hold a Christmas Bazaar and Cafe featuring Scandinavian treats including cardamom bread, pula, lefse, cookies, pies, candy, holiday decor and collectibles. Their cookie bars return this year. Also a quilt raffle and […]
The Best Cyber Monday Gaming Laptop and Desktop Deals That Were Worth Waiting For
Cyber Monday November 2025 deals on gaming laptops and desktops are go! Save on big-ticket items like hundreds off an Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 laptop or an Alienware Area-51 desktop.
'Reconcile our resentment': Boy band Verivery faces its fears and 'han' after yearslong hiatus
During their two-and-a-half-year hiatus — practically an eternity in the K-pop world — the members of boy band Verivery kept busy, from acting in plays and musicals to one member even placing ninth in Mnet’s “Boys II Planet” audition program.
Rockford convenience store owner says a man attempted to rob his business
A Rockford store owner says police are looking for a suspect after his business was robbed.
The Shade Room (@theshaderoom)
Adonis is a heartwarming and entertaining individual who will capture your attention with his lovable personality. His charm is contagious, and his story is a perfect blend of cuteness and humor. This engaging content is perfect for families, parents, and kids, offering a unique and exciting experience that will leave you wanting more. Join the fun and get to know Adonis, a lovable character who will bring a smile to your face and warmth to your heart. #Adonis #CutenessOverload #FamilyFun #FunnyMoments #KidVideos
Small Business Saturday brings community together in downtown Kalispell
Downtown Kalispell celebrates Small Business Saturday with community support for local shops like Big Sky Bricks and Modern Pastime
Walz, Klobuchar hit back against Trump’s attacks on Minnesota
The Democratic governor of Minnesota called it a “badge of honor” to be the target of the president’s criticism.
UnitedHealth agrees to sell South American business to private equity firm Patria for $1 billion, sources say
UnitedHealth Group has agreed to sell its South American business Banmedica to a Brazilian private equity group, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
You need to read the treatise on spacing out, Bored and Brilliant
Manoush Zomorodi’s Bored and Brilliant is a treatise on spacing out and the power of letting your mind wander.
Why we have to continue with animal testing for medical research
Letters: Dr Robin Lovell-Badge and Prof Emma Robinson respond to an editorial on using new technologies to reduce the reliance on animal experiments
Shabana Mahmood and my surprise at teenagers’ views on immigration
Letters: Rev Dr Michael Fox responds to an article by Nesrine Malik on the home secretary using her ‘story’ to silence criticism of her policies
Health notes: Louisiana institutions receive millions in grants, LSU recognizes orthopedic surgeon and more
Health Notes is an occasional listing of health happenings around Louisiana. Have something you'd like to share? Contact us at margaret.delaney@theadvocate.com.
As my kids grew older, I worried about losing them. Getting into their interests helped us connect more.
As my kids grew up, I feared losing them. But by embracing their music, hobbies, and passions, I found new ways to connect and grow alongside them.
‘One size fits all’ does not work in politics
David Cottam says we need to be more tolerant, nonjudgmental and understanding of the cultural backgrounds and stages of development of different nations.
Russia-Ukraine politics, sedition discussion on Schmidt’s mind for monthly KVOE Morning Show visit
Even with negotiations ongoing, the war between Russia and Ukraine shows no signs of ending anytime soon. Top ...
Long-lost Rubens painting depicting crucifixion sells for $2.7M
A long-lost painting by Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens has sold for $2.7 million at an auction on Sunday.
Big Screen, Small Price: Save Hundreds With Cyber Monday TV Deals on Hisense, LG, Samsung, and Sony
Cyber Monday TV deals are here with some of the year's lowest prices! Get $1,398 off the 85-inch Samsung Neo QLED 4K QN80F, or score a 32-inch 1080p Amazon Fire TV for only $99.
Americans say Trump has done more to raise prices than lower them by 2-to-1: New poll
A Yahoo/YouGov poll found that 49% of respondents said Trump's actions since taking office in January have raised prices rather than lowering them.
200+ Best Early Cyber Monday Tech Deals Available Now: Laptops, TVs, Headphones, and Much More
Here's your guide to Cyber Monday December 2025 deals on top-rated electronics and tech. Apple, Acer, Google, Samsung, Sony, and every top brand you can name will be on sale.
The mobile app has changed the low-cost franchise business model, but not the risks
Many new franchise business models are mobile app and internet based, but while the lack of real estate can reduce costs, many risks remain.