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Science and sips: ‘Uncorked LA' is visiting an exhibit-filled center of wonder
It’s California Science Center, oh yes it is: Savor a host of fine wines at the special evening event.
In a First, Scientists Precisely Edit Human Embryo Genes
Researchers relied on a newer gene-editing technique that may make it possible to engineer embryos, a prospect that has long alarmed bioethicists.
WEBINAR (6/5/26): How to Create A Fictional World | Issues in Science and Technology
Join Future Tense Fiction and Monica Byrne for a live conversation about worldbuilding in speculative fiction.
Psst…Halle Berry would like to talk about your vaginal health
Halle Berry, an investor in NellaSpec, talks about a new speculum and why she'll keep speaking out about women's health.
Special Olympic Summer Games Coming to Utica
Trucks loaded with equipment are arriving at Utica University as preparations begin for the New York State Special Olympics.
Court blocks mental health diversion for suspect in Santa Monica hate-fueled pipe attacks
A man accused of carrying out a series of racially motivated attacks in Santa Monica, including an attempted murder, will face trial after the California Supreme Court declined to review a ruling o…
Best of Santa Cruz County entertainment, arts & food events this weekend, June 4-7
With the weekend nearly here, check out things to do around Santa Cruz County with a recommendation from Lily Belli and a specially curated list from Lookout's BOLO events calendar.
Does Salt Secretly Damage Your Brain? Scientists Finally Reveal the Truth - Futura-Sciences
The answer is not as simple as saying salt “damages” the brain directly. Current research suggests that excess salt may influence brain health indirectly, especially through blood pressure, blood vessel health, inflammation, and possibly the gut-brain connection. Why Salt Matters for the Body Salt contains sodium, a mineral the body...
MDHHS Finalizes Specialty Behavioral Health Services Location Policy
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) recently finalized Medicaid Policy Bulletin MMP 26-17, effective July 1, 2026, which clarifies reimbursement requirements for specialty behavioral health services provided through Prepaid Inpatient Health Plans in home, community and residential settings.
How I Photograph The Northern Lights With My Phone
With “strong” and even “severe” northern lights forecast for North America on Thursday and Friday, here’s how to photograph aurora with a smartphone.
Legislative staff getting extra days off for Independence Day
State leaders say staff deserves extra time off for the holiday following 3 Special Sessions.
So You Majored in Computer Science . . .
Suddenly, headlines about unemployed computer science majors are everywhere. Poor kids. Especially because—so it appears—many computer science majors did not choose the subject
Meet DFP Spring Fellow, Emily Martinez, University of Wisconsin-Madison -
Emily R. Martinez is a second-year PhD student in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, specializing in comparative politics with a regional focus on Western Europe. Her research sits at the [...]
What To Play And How To Prepare For Destiny 2’s Huge June 9 Patch
Destiny 2 is getting its big update on June 9, and there's plenty to do before then if you're trying to prepare for its grand finale.
The Good And Bad Of ‘Marathon’ Season 2 So Far
Bungie has launched Marathon season 2, which has some cool additions and changes, but other things that break the core loop of the game.
Detroit Lions QB Teddy Bridgewater Disrespected by Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated ranked Detroit Lions backup Teddy Bridgewater No. 21 among NFL backup quarterbacks entering the 2026 season.
Inside SpaceX’s Rockets-to-Riches I.P.O. Plan
The latest prospectus by Elon Musk’s company underscores its confidence in its planned market debut. But skeptics see reasons for concern.
A study of 8,300 older adults revealed a surprising salt habit
A large study of older adults in Brazil found that adding extra salt at the table is still a common habit, especially among men. While too much salt is linked to serious health problems and faster cognitive decline, researchers discovered that women’s salt-shaking habits were tied more closely to lifestyle and diet.
Goethe never knew this 40-million-year-old ant was hidden in his collection
Scientists examining amber from Goethe’s personal collection discovered three hidden fossil insects, including an extinct ant preserved in extraordinary detail. Advanced 3D imaging allowed researchers to see not only the ant’s outer features but also structures inside its body. The findings offer new clues about the species’ biology and suggest it likely built large nests in trees.
Is your personal device protecting your business accounts?
Skipping basic security steps—especially on public Wi-Fi—can expose your business accounts to unauthorized access. These five steps can help you avoid an account takeover attack.
Mets Daily Prospect Report, 6/4/26: Games galore
Catch up on all the Mets prospects in yesterday’s minor league action!
Eli Manning’s Private Equity Firm Buys Youth Sports Company Behind NFL Flag
Brand Velocity Group, a private equity firm whose partners include Eli Manning, has acquired RCX Sports, the youth sports operating partner for the NFL and other leagues.
The Knicks’ grimy Game 1 win, plus a World Cup retrospective
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Embrace the grime today. Coming up: 🗽 New York’s moxie 🌬️ Sabalenka’s collapse 👨🏻🦲 Wildest World Cup moments One thought raced through my head every time I watched a New York Knicks possession in the fourth quarter last night: These dudes are grimy. I mean that as a huge compliment. There’s grit, and then there’s grime. Every bucket, every rebound, every screen oozed difficulty, as if each player was...
Trump Kicks His Dismantling of Veterans’ Health Care Into High Gear
His proposed new budget shrinks the VA’s ability to meet veterans’ needs.
Health issues shut down these 7 Central Florida eateries last week
During the final week of May, another seven eateries across Central Florida were forced to close after a visit from a health inspector, according to state records.
Brighton are never reactive - but they are always decisive
It was set to be a big few months for Brighton's sporting director Jason Ayto. It is understood the separation was amicable, with technical director Mike Cave providing vital continuity as he takes on the role. Brighton place a huge emphasis on data and their success is well-documented, but Ayto's previous focus, including over a decade at Arsenal, relied more on other aspects.
Myles Garrett shows ultimate respect to Commanders' Laremy Tunsil
Laremy Tunsil has performed well against Myles Garrett, something the new Rams star acknowledges.
Nintendo Will Launch A Switch 2 With Replaceable Batteries In The EU
Nintendo is preparing to sell a special version of the Switch 2 in the EU with swappable batteries.
'Connections on the Road:' Youth mental health
During "Connections with Evan Dawson" on 6/4/26, we're live at the Greece Early Learning Center to explore youth mental health challenges and supports. Then, a special rebroadcast about allergies.
Youth-led book on social media and mental health highlights a complex mix of harms and supports
A new book titled "SocialsVoice" shines a light on the relationship between social media content and mental health from the perspective of Latino youth—a group that engages with social media across multiple ...
Anthony Levine Sr. sees big future for Keondre Jackson
Special teams coordinator Anthony Levine Sr. says Keondre Jackson is ready for a bigger role after a strong spring.
People with disabilities often experience poorer oral health—training could drive improved care
People with disabilities continue to face major barriers when seeking oral health care, according to new research that explores the perspectives of patients, caregivers and health care professionals in ...
Jack Nicklaus Has A Point About The PGA Tour Schedule
Fan Anticipation Golf still depends on buildup, rhythm and weeks that feel special. Player Fatigue Is Part Of The Product Player fatigue is often discussed as a player issue. It is also a fan issue.
Celebrate Pokémon Trading Card Game Live’s Third Anniversary
Celebrate with special events and giveaways throughout June.
Beluga whales keep switching mates and it may be saving their species
Hidden beneath Arctic waters, beluga whales have long kept their family lives a mystery. By analyzing DNA from more than 600 belugas in Alaska’s Bristol Bay over 13 years, researchers uncovered a surprisingly flexible mating system: both males and females regularly have offspring with different partners over their lifetimes.
WHO Health Emergencies EPI-WIN webinar: Hantavirus in focus III: reflections from a Border Health and Point of Entry perspective
The complex multi-country response to the hantavirus outbreak linked to cruise ship travel is an unprecedented test of the global border health system. This EPI‑WIN webinar will provide an opportunity to hear from key border health stakeholders on their involvement in and initial reflections about this particular multi-country response, as well as their routine collaborative work for the management of public health events across borders, at points of entry, and onboard conveyances.
New York lawmakers could vote on data center moratorium this week
The proposal is a reworked version that now shortens a proposed moratorium on new data center construction from three years to one.
Demand for second mental health review for man accused of killing Cleveland officer
The FOX 8 I-Team has uncovered a new legal battle over the mental health of the suspect in the murder of Cleveland Police Officer Jamieson Ritter.
Ohio Medicaid fraud discussed in House hearing
During the hearing, Republicans repeatedly blamed Medicaid fraud in Ohio on immigrants, specifically from Somalia and Bhutan, while Democrats accused Republicans of trying to score political points on immigration to distract from greater corruption in the Trump administration.
Ohio Medicaid fraud discussed in House hearing
During the hearing, Republicans repeatedly blamed Medicaid fraud in Ohio on immigrants, specifically from Somalia and Bhutan, while Democrats accused Republicans of trying to score political points on immigration to distract from greater corruption in the Trump administration.
Saints RB Alvin Kamara makes surprise OTA appearance
Despite offseason speculation surrounding his future, the veteran unexpectedly appeared at the facility on Wednesday for practice.
U.S. Congressman tells Endeavor Health to stop retaliating against unionizing nurses
Democratic Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is calling on Endeavor to reinstate two nurses who were allegedly fired from Evanston Hospital and to respect workers rights to organize.
U.S. Congressman tells Endeavor Health to stop retaliating against unionizing nurses
Democratic Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is calling on Endeavor to reinstate two nurses who were allegedly fired from Evanston Hospital and to respect workers rights to organize.
Involuntary commitment bill targeting mental health, crime passes NC House
A bill that's part of the state legislature's efforts to ramp up the number of criminal suspects involuntarily committed to mental hospitals passed, despite criticism that it proposes few immediate solutions.
Americans Opposing AI Will Become America’s ‘Biggest Political Crisis,’ Top Investor Says
The former U.S. energy advisor warned the industry must change how it talks to the public or risk being blocked from building data centers and power plants fueling AI.
Health Costs Jumping 18% For Small And Medium-Sized Businesses
Healthcare costs are rising 18% for small-and mid-sized businesses as employers grapple with a surge in inflation and medical expenses, a Morgan Health report shows.
Health Costs Jumping 18% For Small And Medium-Sized Businesses
Healthcare costs are rising 18% for small-and mid-sized businesses as employers grapple with a surge in inflation and medical expenses, a Morgan Health report shows.
Police seek suspect in reported assault at Attleboro business
Police said an individual created a disturbance and assaulted an employee at a business on Frank Mossberg Drive on Monday
Cannon Ballers to Host July 4th Extravaganza at Atrium Health Ballpark
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers are excited to announce a fun-filled Independence Day Extravaganza at Atrium Health Ballpark, bringing together baseball, live entertainment, and highlighted by the largest and most spectacular fireworks display in the region, celebrating America’s 250th anniversary in unforgettable fashion. Fans can expect a breathtaking,
Martin Bashir recalls being 'gobsmacked' by Michael Jackson telling him he slept in the same bed as children
Journalist Martin Bashir appears in the new Netflix documentary 'Michael Jackson: The Verdict,' in which he details filming the controversial 2003 special 'Living With Michael Jackson.'
Sharks As Climate Scientists?Here’s How They Improve Ocean Forecasts.
A new study shows that data from tagged sharks can improve ocean forecasts by up to 40 percent in some regions, offering a surprising new tool for understanding and predicting climate patterns.
Study finds link between neighborhood opportunity and mental health-related hospitalizations in youths
The study, published in the journal Psychiatric Services, is the first to examine relationships between neighborhood opportunity and specific mental health-related diagnoses and hospitalizations at a population level.
AI Startup Collate Raises $95 Million To Automate Life Sciences Paperwork
In this week’s edition of InnovationRx, we look at breakthroughs from ASCO, Harrison.ai's U.S. expansion, Clear's move into healthcare and more.
Report: Cardinals will not trade Josh Sweat
Speculation about edge rusher Josh Sweat's future with the Cardinals has picked up over the course of his absence from the team's offseason program, but a report on Wednesday tosses some cold water on thoughts of a trade.
Several female teachers at Uxbridge High School diagnosed with breast cancer in recent years
Specialists are also reviewing the cases to “assess the statistical likelihood of common causes,” officials said.
Sports Is The ‘Antithesis Of AI,’ JPMorgan Expert Says, And Team Valuations Will Surge
The craze will lead to “fabulous” investment opportunities in live events, according to the bank’s Asset & Wealth Management CEO.
‘Destiny 2’ Fans Drown PlayStation’s State Of Play In ‘Destiny 3’ Demands
Destiny 2 players are pulling out all the stops to try to get Sony to listen to them that they want Destiny 3 made.
What’s The Deal With The Jello Cube In ‘God Of War Laufey’?
God of War Laufey features a bizarre companion, a bouncy cube that does not seem to fit in with the world at all. What's its deal?
‘Marathon’ Season 2 Launch Was Fumbled At The Worst Possible Moment
Marathon just launched season 2 but it ran into immediate server issues that made the game unplayable for most of the day.
The Texas Business Court - A New Forum for Complex Disputes
By Byron F. Egan A key driver behind the DExit movement is Texas’s investment in a specialized forum for complex business disputes. The Texas Business Court represents a significant shift in how commercial litigation is handled in the state.
New Report Examines How Foster Youth View Abortion
A new report reveals the perspectives of California foster youth and explores the barriers to understanding and accessing reproductive health care, including abortion.
Elections to top science bodies test Croatia’s gender equality in research
Croatia’s track-record on gender equality in science has been both questioned and lauded in recent months, following both bad and good news on the topic. On the one hand, a senior awards committee was announced without a single woman researcher included. On the other, the national science academy welcomed its first cohort of fellows with more women than men.Members of the committee, which gives national awards recognising scientific achievement, are proposed by the ministry of science and endorsed by the parliament. The current line-up does include a woman, but she is culture minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek rather than a researcher. Even then, she didn’t make it into the photograph released to announce the appointments on April 16. “The image speaks a thousand words,” says Tanja Rudež, a science journalist for Jutarnji List newspaper. “I am surprised that none of these men, all well-known scientists, saw a problem with the fact that there was not a single successful female scientist on the committee,” she told Science|Business.Ivan Đikić, a prominent Croatian biochemist based at Goethe University Medical School, commented on LinkedIn that the news illustrated a “sad truth” about the state of science in Croatia.“It [. . .] reveals a system where women, despite contributing a substantial share of high-quality, internationally competitive science, are systematically excluded from the very processes that determine recognition and influence,” he wrote. Some 60% of researchers in Croatia are women, according to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, and they perform well in international competitions. For example, of the 12 European Research Council (ERC) grants awarded to Croatian researchers, seven went to women.“So how is it possible that decision-making bodies are still dominated by men over 60, while not a single female ERC laureate is involved in the selection process?” asked Đikić. “This is not a marginal oversight; it is a structural failure.” The ministry of science did not reply to a request for comment. The awards committee is not unusual. For example, a scientific advisory body announced by the ministry of demographics in April comprises 35 men and five women. The board of the Croatian Science Foundation, newly appointed by the parliament, is a little better, with five men and two women, but still unequal. “This is especially significant because such bodies do not merely distribute prestige. They shape research priorities, funding allocation and long-term scientific development,” Marija Lugarić, chair of the parliament’s committee on gender equality, told Science|Business. “Representation here matters not only symbolically, but materially.”Referring to the awards committee and the board of the science foundation, Lugarić says that while both bodies were appointed by parliament, neither met the minimum 40% gender balance threshold that Croatian law and EU guidelines expressly recommend for public bodies.Đikić wants to see EU institutions put pressure on the government to ensure basic standards of fairness, transparency and democratic governance in science policy are met. “Meaningful change will not come without pressure,” he wrote. “It must intensify both within Croatia and at the level of European institutions. Anything less undermines the credibility of Europe’s commitment to excellence and inclusion in science.”Rudež also underlined the importance of talking and writing about this topic, “because public opinion in Croatia does influence changes in the status and visibility of women in science.”The European Commission has not yet responded to a request for comment.Good news from the academyA more positive story came from the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts on 21 May, with the announcement of seven new women fellows and five men. This is the first time in the academy’s 165-year history that women have outnumbered men in a new intake.One of the new fellows, two-time ERC grantee Iva Tolić, credits the academy leadership with trying to be more modern and inclusive, representing the whole community better. “The academy is really aware that so far, before this election, there were very few women,” she told Science|Business. “So, they are actively trying to make this more equal.”Related articlesExplained: How the MSCA is close to achieving gender balanceCall for EU to leverage academic freedom in global talent raceRudež is more cautious, noting that despite the academy’s “breakthrough this year [. . .] it is still a predominantly male institution, with only 18% women.”This reflects a wider imbalance in Croatia’s research landscape. “The key levers of power in science are still in the hands of men,” she went on. “For example, all 14 rectors of private and public universities are men.”Similarly, Lugarić says a structural glass ceiling still exists in Croatian science, which is “most visible precisely where power is exercised.”She cites data from the Commission’s She Figures 2024 report, which shows that Croatia ranks second in the EU for gender equality in research and innovation overall, with an equality index of 79.6 out of 100. It is in the top five for women’s career advancement, participation in research; representation across all research sectors and for scientific publications.In stark contrast, it ranks second to last when it comes to women in decision-making positions in science. “This is not a coincidence,” Lugarić says. “It is a structural pattern.”Informal barriersThe persistent under-representation of women in the highest structures of Croatia’s academies, boards, award committees and leadership positions is not down to formal barriers, Lugarić says, but arises from more subtle obstacles such as “informal networks, persistent expectations regarding traditional gender roles and the unequal distribution of care responsibilities.”Tolić would like to see more support for young women in terms of affordable housing and child support, and higher salaries. Currently, she says, salaries in science stay low for the first 10-15 years, while housing and spaces in kindergarten are limited and expensive. “You have to work a lot, you get very little money, so it’s not great to have a family in this situation,” she says.But despite the challenges, Tolić is optimistic, saying that gender equality in research in Croatia is “definitely improving and going in the right direction.” The situation is particularly promising in biology, she adds, where most full professors, heads of department and deans of faculties are women. Lugarić, too, see the glass ceiling “very slowly, cracking,” and cites the academy election as an example that structural change is possible. Yet the situation in the national awards committee is a “stark reminder that without a conscious, systemic commitment to gender balance, progress will remain slow and uneven.”
Scientists simulated a nuclear fireball and found a surprise in the fallout
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recreated part of the intense chaos inside a nuclear fireball to better understand how radioactive fallout forms. Their experiments revealed that the way vaporized materials cool can dramatically change the particles that eventually form, especially for volatile elements like cesium.
The cult of objectivity has broken consciousness science
With 22 competing theories and no consensus in sight, the science of consciousness is lost. In this exclusive IAI interview, Berkeley psychedelics researcher and bestselling author of a new book on consciousness Michael Pollan insists that even though consciousness lies beyond traditional forms of scientific investigation, we should resist becoming dualists who see it as something radically different from ordinary stuff in the world. Instead, he makes the case for reimagining science itself: it must stop reaching for objective descriptions of physical reality, and instead embrace subjectivity as the indispensable core of all inquiry. Alasdair Craig: How did your experiences with psychedelics get you interested in consciousness?Michael Pollan: One of the things that happens on psychedelics is that they foreground consciousness. What formerly seemed perfectly transparent and ever present—and yet, non-existent, as water is to fish—suddenly you see it. The metaphor I use in the book is that psychedelics sponge the windscreen. Suddenly you realize: wow, there’s a windscreen, there is this phenomenon that’s mediating my relationship to reality. This is not an unusual realization on psychedelics. I think a lot of people are called to think about consciousness after psychedelic experiences. So that was the proximate inspiration for A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness (2026).And then there was a more specific way in which psychedelics influence the book. That was a particular experience I had on psilocybin. I had the sensation that the plants in my garden were conscious and returning my gaze, with their own point of view and agency, and I got curious as to how to evaluate an insight like that. I mean, what’s the truth quotient of insights you have on psychedelics? And I was reading William James—who, of course, wrote beautifully about mystical experience—and he said, we can’t judge the metaphysics here, but we should pay attention to two criteria: (1) How useful is it to think this is true? He was a pragmatist, of course. And (2) can we subject it to other ways of knowing to validate it? Because maybe we should treat these insights as hypotheses. And that’s kind of how I approach psychedelics, as a great generator of hypotheses, but they need to be tested against other ways of knowing. And so that led me down this long path exploring the science of plant intelligence and plant sentience.AC: I love your phrase, “smudging the windowpane of conscious experience.” So do you now start to think, actually, even when I’m not on psychedelics, I’m just seeing a screen all the time, which is not reality, but rather is my conscious experience, behind which reality is hidden?MP: Well, you know, not when I’m brushing my teeth and making breakfast! But yes, in meditation, certainly. I mean, one of the things you realize is that my experience happens to be this way now, but it could be another way. And many things can affect it. My morning coffee changes the screen in various ways, sharpens certain things.___The only tool we have to understand consciousness is consciousness.___There’s this wonderful metaphor in Aldous Huxley’s book, The Doors of Perception, where he thinks we channel consciousness, and that what the brain does is edit it, and there’s a reducing valve. And psychedelics open the reducing valve wider. I don’t know that I’m ready to buy into the idea that consciousness exists outside brains, but I do love that metaphor because there are times when you are more conscious than others. I know I’ve switched from window pane to valve, but you know, a camera aperture can open wider or narrower. And I do have a sense of that. I have a sense of when I’m being less conscious, and when I’m being more conscious, by which I mean, you know, more present, taking in more sensory information. So when you start thinking about consciousness as a matter of degree, that changes things also.I think when we scroll on social media, obviously, we’re conscious. But minimally so, because we don’t have to generate our own thoughts. We’re basically taking these little hits from other people and thinking their thoughts.The process of writing this book made me kind of relativize everyday consciousness as just one type, which is exactly what William James said. Normal consciousness is one type, separated by the flimsiest of screens from the other types.AC: If we stick with the metaphor of the smudge on the window that you get when you take psychedelics, it seems like we’re saying that consciousness has become like an object that you’re looking at, right? You’re looking at the smudge and that just is consciousness. But sometimes we’ll talk about consciousness as a state that you’re in, rather than an object you can perceive. You’re either conscious or you’re not conscious. So it’s difficult to really know what sort of thing we’re talking about when we talk about consciousness, right?MP: Yeah. When you say that consciousness is an object, what’s the subject? Consciousness also? The only tool we have to understand consciousness is consciousness. So we’re in a closed loop and when we get a perspective on consciousness, we’re not achieving any distance from it. That’s one of the problems with studying consciousness. Science is predicated on an objective, God’s eye view of things, and you never get that. There’s no such thing. SUGGESTED VIEWING The brain filters consciousness With Àlex Gómez-Marín But, yeah, there is this sense, I think, that consciousness is something you can approach. Certainly, when you’re writing and trying to recreate a conscious experience, it’s a fiction, but you’re standing back from it, and looking at it. But there’s no real subject-object distinction.AC: That’s so interesting, because when philosophers start talking about consciousness, they often talk about what they call “qualia”, which is their word for the felt experience of, say, the color red. And I think that way of speaking often makes us think of the qualia as an object, which you can see out there: the redness of red. But, as you say, we also want to collapse the subject-object distinction when we talk about consciousness. So there’s something strange going on here…MP: Oh, yeah, there are many strange things going on! *AC: Let’s talk about the varieties of consciousness. Apart from perceptions, there are, pains, emotions, thoughts, and so on. What is it that holds all this diversity together so that they all count as instances of consciousness? What is it that they all have in common?MP: Yeah, that’s a really good question. I mean, there is sensory information, right? Which we perceive coming from the world outside ourselves. And then there’s internal information, which is what’s called interoception. And this is very important too. This is where feelings come from—what are sometimes called homeostatic feelings—that are intended to get the brain to keep us in these narrow ranges of temperature and glucose and so on. That’s a very important part of consciousness. And according to some researchers, who I think are probably right, this is where consciousness begins, with these very primal feelings, like hunger and thirst and warmth and itch, and things like that. And then there’s this third thing, which is our thinking about thinking.And what holds all this together is, I think, the sense of self. Consciousness generates a self: it is probably an organizing principle. All this stuff is happening to the self. It’s a construct, I think, but it is very useful. It can connect all these different streams of consciousness to a single being or a place, metaphorically speaking.* AC: The first half of your book is about the science of consciousness. Is consciousness just another thing, like black holes or the origin of life, which we don’t yet understand, but which we should have every hope that science will one day get to the bottom of, or is there something special about consciousness that makes this unlikely?MP: It depends how you define science. As we define science now, it’s going be very difficult. Science since Galileo has had a set of rules or assumptions, which is that the proper remit of science is to deal with the objective, quantifiable, third-person world. And the physical sciences have done amazing work under that set of limitations. Galileo—for tactical reasons, not for philosophical reasons—said science should not deal with the soul, which at the time was what consciousness was considered to be. So what is subjective, what is qualitative, what is first person, we’re going to leave to the church, he said. And this was a good agreement, and it probably kept many scientists from getting burned at the stake. But it leaves science in an awkward spot, now that it wants to venture into that territory of qualities, of first-person experience. And I don’t think it has the proper tools. I think it will have to add to its toolkit in some way, and find a way to bring in phenomenology, or lived experience and introspection, which science is usually dismissive of.The challenge—we alluded to it earlier—is that the only tool you have to study consciousness with is consciousness. And what I mean by that is, the whole scientific enterprise is a manifestation of consciousness. As much as scientists like to flatter themselves with this idea that they attain a godlike perspective on what they study, when it comes to consciousness, there’s no such thing. And it’s fine for all the things you can step outside of and study from that perspective. But two areas it won’t work are consciousness and cosmology.___It could be that we live in this anomaly of not believing nature is conscious. And maybe psychedelics are teaching us something we’ve forgotten.___With cosmology, too, you have to study the universe from inside the universe. It’s not that cosmologists haven’t made progress. We know a lot about the age of the universe and expansion and things like that. But we can’t penetrate what happened before the Big Bang. We just don’t have the tools because we can’t stand outside.The fact that there are 22 full-scale theories of consciousness tells you all you need to know: we’re kind of lost. And I was surprised to find that we are more lost than I thought we were when I started this. I thought that there’d be leading theories, or that we had experiments that we could conduct that would nail some of this down. And the fact is, we don’t.So, I don’t know if science can solve it. But, of course, we can change the rules of science. A really influential book for me was a book called The Blind Spot, by two physicists, Marcello Gleiser and Adam Frank, and a philosopher, Evan Thompson. It’s a reminder that science is a social practice. It’s organized in a certain way and it can be organized in a different way. But it has this huge blind spot at the center of it, which is its failure to recognize that it is a form of consciousness itself, and it doesn’t have a good way of taking account of lived experience.AC: On the one hand, I think you want to resist traditional dualism, which would say that consciousness is something magical, something supernatural, right? But on the other hand, you’re accepting that there is this division in reality between the stuff that you can investigate objectively and measure, and so on—the stuff that science has been good at finding out about—and consciousness, which, for some reason, you can’t objectively measure. Some would take this to suggest that the dualism is actually right. Is there a way of reconciling these two strands of your thinking?MP: To call it magical is full of value judgement. I mean, you could just say immaterial. The interesting thing is, I think, that intuitively we’re all dualists. And I don’t know whether that’s because we’re children of Descartes and other cultures are less dualist than we are. Or it may be because that’s how consciousness feels. It feels different than the body. It feels separate from the body. But I don’t think we should trust that intuition.AC: So let’s think about ways that science might be changed to get at consciousness. I suppose the starting point would be the way that you begin the second half of your book. You have this nice line from William James, where he says, “We now begin our study of the mind from within.” Could you give us some sense of the ways of studying the mind from within? What does this involve?MP: I don’t know what that science looks like. But one of the points I’m making is that it depends on the humanities. I found that I learned as much, if not more, about consciousness, from reading novels and poetry. There is a sense of the fullness and complexity of consciousness that you don’t get in any scientific account. I interviewed this stream-of-consciousness writer and I approached her as an expert on consciousness, and she is. So I think that dialogue is really important.I’m reading Ben Lerner’s new novel, Transcription. Just read the first page of this novel: it’s a man falling asleep on a train, going to conduct an interview, and there is the experience of being in the train, facing backwards, there’s the view outside, but there’s a reflection of himself through which he’s seeing outside. There’s the memory of dropping his kids off at school. All this is going on in one moment of consciousness. Scientists aren’t going anywhere near that. But I think it’s useful for them to think about. That’s where we’re trying to go: like, how does such a layered experience happen? You know, it also makes you wonder, could a computer ever do this? And it gives you some doubt.*AC: Before we get to computers, perhaps we could talk briefly about plants. How did you come to feel that they are sentient?MP: Well, it was a psychedelic experience, and it’s not unusual on psychedelics. In fact, there’ve been studies about how people become animists during psychedelic experience. Their belief in animism arises after a single psychedelic experience.You know, most scientists would say this is all a myth. But we have only 400 years of the age of enlightenment and science. Before that, we were animists, and if you go around the world, most indigenous cultures are still animists, and children are animists, by and large, until they go to school. So it could be that we live in this anomaly of not believing nature is conscious. And maybe psychedelics are teaching us something we’ve forgotten.As I said, I wanted to test this idea, and see whether there was conventional scientific evidence for it. And there’s fascinating work going on in a field that calls itself—in a rather cheeky way—plant neurobiology. These are people who fully realize there are no neurons in plants, but they’re trolling conventional botanists! And they’re doing experiments that are demonstrating that plants can learn and remember, which is kind of amazing: how do you store a memory without neurons? They’re finding plants that can solve problems, that can hear and see. In fact, they have 20 senses to our five or six. For example, a bean plant looking for something to twine, and given a pole within eight inches or so of it, knows where that pole is and will aim its spiraling reach at that pole. What is that about? Is it bouncing signals off of it?One of the spookiest things is the fact that the same anesthetics that put us out put plants out. You might think that plants are already out, but they’re not. They’re just slow. If you take a plant with a fast behavior, like a Venus flytrap, and give it an anesthetic, it will stop reacting. So you have to ask yourself, what is lost when the plant is anaesthetized? Some state of alertness, of awareness, of its environment, of reactivity. I’m not prepared to call that consciousness, but maybe it’s sentience—which is a simpler form of consciousness, and involves the ability to sense what’s going on in your environment and assess what’s good and bad for you and act appropriately. That may be a universal quality of life.AC: Let’s turn from plants to AI. You point out that LLMs are trained on the internet rather than direct interactions with reality. You put this really nicely when you say the internet is not the world so much as a shadow cast by the world. So LLMs are living in this kind of shadow world, or in Plato’s cave, as you put it. What’s the significance of this for AI consciousness and moral consideration? And, to recall the beginning of our conversation, if we’re stuck behind a veil or screen of consciousness, are we also stuck in a kind of shadow world?MP: I don’t think they’re the same shadow worlds because our world includes nature and other people. And even if it’s mediated in some ways... There is a reality out there, and we are in relation to it, through consciousness. There’s friction with it. What’s missing from the LLMs is that friction with the real world. There’s more to the world than human representation, which is what they’re dealing with. And that means that so far, AI is a cultural technology for combining thoughts we’ve already had. SUGGESTED VIEWING Cracking the code for thought With Roger Penrose, Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski, Max Tegmark, Güneş Taylor Genuine creativity is more than collage. A lot of what AI does now is tantamount to collage, putting this with that and you know, that’s part of art, certainly. But there are also genuinely new ideas that come into the world that don’t come in through manipulating the representations we already have. So it remains to be seen whether AIs can be truly creative in that more radical sense.But my arguments against AI becoming conscious have to do with the fact that the idea of AI consciousness is based on this faulty metaphor that the brain is a computer. There are dimensions in which the brain is like a computer—it certainly does its share of computation. But computers have this sharp distinction between hardware and software, and brains don’t. In a brain, hardware and software are identical. Every memory is a physical change to the brain. Brains are not interchangeable in the way computers are. So this idea that you could take the consciousness out and somehow run it on another substrate, a silicon substrate, seems foolhardy.Anyway, it’s a more extended argument, and I may be wrong. And when we move to computers that aren’t based on silicon—neuromorphic computers and things like that—all bets may be off.AC: Regarding your point about LLMs being stuck in the world of our representations—the internet or whatever—and not being able to interact with reality, are these representations, the world of the internet, themselves part of reality? We’ve created the internet, but it’s still a real thing that exists. And so while the LLMs may be trapped within that part of reality, they’re nevertheless within reality and interacting with it and so on. So it’s not obvious that there’s a barrier there to them becoming conscious and being creative.MP: Yeah, I mean, if our consciousness is built out of human culture, which is what we’re talking about with all those representations. But I tend to think consciousness comes a bit more out of nature and friction with the natural world, but...AC: So there’s a fundamental divide between the natural world and human artefacts?MP: And we lose track of that, and especially people in this computer world. You know, the people who are creating these AI systems, my guess is they’ve been into video games since the age of three, and they didn’t go outside a lot. And their own contact with nature is somewhat limited. I could be wrong, it’d be a very interesting thing to ask, all the wizards of AI, whether they like to go fishing and hiking and do things like that. Or were they on computers from a very early age? I interviewed Blake Lemoine, the Google engineer who came to believe that LaMDA, the Google LLM out at the time, was conscious and deserved personhood. It was very clear that he didn’t see a distinction between this bubble in which he lived and the real world. And I think we’ve all been distanced from the natural world, and this is taking us even further away. But it’s still there, you know, and we still have bodies, and we’re still mortal, and we don’t live in a simulation.AC: I think that’s a great place to finish. Michael Pollan, thank you very much!
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