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Recycling Business CEO Appointed to Board of Trustees
Matt Kripke was named by Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine to serve a six-year term that ends July 1, 2031.
Senyar Swamps Sumatra
A rare tropical cyclone dropped torrential rains on the Indonesian island, fueling extensive and destructive floods.
Column | The World Cup has always been about politics
The tournament played a role in early 20th century nation building, Jonathan Wilson says in a new book, and it is still political today.
Central Wisconsin high school sports highlights for Dec. 4
Tomahawk and Antigo double-dip in competition.
NASA Selects 2 Instruments for Artemis IV Lunar Surface Science
NASA has selected two science instruments designed for astronauts to deploy on the surface of the Moon during the Artemis IV mission to the lunar south polar
Millennium suffered big losses in one of the $81 billion hedge fund's favorite strategies last month
Teams run by big-name portfolio managers such as Glen Scheinberg and Pratik Madhvani suffered significant losses in November.
Rebecca Heineman, Transgender Video Game Pioneer, Dies at 62
Fleeing an abusive home life, she went on to win a national Space Invaders tournament, taught herself to program and left a trail of popular games in her wake.
Ashish Jha to step down as Brown University public health dean
PROVIDENCE — Ashish K. Jha, one of the nation’s leading public health experts who became a household name during the Covid pandemic, is leaving his post
AI finds its way into Apple's top apps of the year
Although Apple has continued to avoid naming a dedicated AI app or AI chatbot as its app of the year, AI was showcased among this year's winners.
Bigleaf Networks Named to Inc.’s 2025 Best in Business List in Best in Innovation
BEAVERTON, Ore., December 04, 2025--Bigleaf Networks is proud to announce its inclusion on the Inc. Best in Business list in the Best in Innovation category. Inc.’s annual Best in Business Awards celebrate the exceptional achievements and contributions of companies that have made a profound impact on their industries.
Kelly Sheffield says volleyball is 'held back' with NCAA tournament TV deal
Kelly Sheffield believes volleyball is 'held back' with a TV deal that puts the first two rounds of NCAA tournament entirely on a streaming service.
This company gives away free trips and luxury cars to its top employees every year
ThreatLocker rewards two employees every holiday season with luxury vehicles, like a Hummer EV or a Porsche Panamera.
City leaders face questions as lawsuit alleges corruption in entertainment hub rejection
KFOX14/CBS4 went directly to Sunland Park City Hall in an attempt to question city leaders named in a new lawsuit that accuses them of improperly blocking a mul
Japan’s Takaichi is winning fans not with politics but with her style and ‘work, work, work’ mantra
TOKYO (AP) — The pledge by Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year. The ultraconservative Takaich…
David Yohai Named a 2025 Media & Entertainment MVP by Law360 - Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
David Yohai, senior partner in Weil’s nationwide Complex Commercial Litigation practice, has been featured as a Law360 Media & Entertainment MVP for 2025, one of just three attorneys in the U.S. to receive the honor. This is the second time David has been selected for this accolade.
Zahilay names 3 nominees to replace him on King County Council
The King County Council will interview the three candidates at its meeting on Tuesday and then choose one to serve through next year's election.
RWJBarnabas Health’s Mark E. Manigan and George Helmy Named 2026 BINJE Power Players
Mark E. Manigan, President and Chief Executive Officer, and George Helmy, Executive Vice President, Chief External Affairs and Policy Officer of RWJBarnabas Health, the largest, most comprehensive academic health care system in New Jersey, have been recognized as 2026 Power Players by BINJE. The BINJE Power Players List honors more than 100 CEOs, principals, managing partners and executive directors who are shaping the future of business in New Jersey.
Nominate a Small Business for the Crowns of Enterprise Awards
2026 marks the 15th year that the Crowns of Enterprise Awards will recognize the hard work of small businesses and the economic impact they have on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. The winners will be named during an awards ceremony in May 2026.
NCAA women's volleyball tournament: Bold predictions, must-watch players and more
Ahead of the tournament, our ESPN college volleyball experts give their take on five big questions.
Women's Euros 2029: Germany chosen to host Uefa tournament
Germany will host the 2029 Women's European Championship, Uefa announces.
Amazon Fire TV's new AI feature lets you jump to scenes by describing them to Alexa+
Amazon says you can describe the scene to Alexa by mentioning details like the actor or character's name, or a memorable quote.
Coco Gauff and Victor Wembanyama named on Forbes 30 Under 30 Sports list
Brooke Raboutou and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander also named on the annual list that cites innovators in sport to watch for 2026
Spotify’s Top 10 Sports Podcasts and Audiobooks of 2025
A few familiar names appear in this year’s most popular podcasts, as well as one about the “darker side of national parks.”
School Specialty's New Edition of Its Phenomena-Based Science Curriculum--FOSS Pathways™--Wins Parent and Teacher Choice Award
School Specialty, a leading provider of supplies, furniture and curriculum for the education marketplace, today announced that its newly released FOSS Pathways™ Edition for PreK–5 has been named a Parent and Teacher Choice Award winner. The new edition of the highly-respected Full Option Science System™ (FOSS®) curriculum, developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley, introduces a next-generation, phenomena-based, hands-on science program designed to meet rigorou
2026 World Cup: The Most-Watched Sporting Event in History?
Excitement is building ahead of the tournament staged in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
UnityPoint Health names new oncology leaders to expand cancer care across Iowa
UnityPoint Health has appointed two new leaders to guide its oncology services as the health system works to expand access to cancer care across Iowa.
Bad Bunny Remains the Reigning King of Spotify
The Puerto Rican megastar's latest project Debí Tirar Más Fotos was also named this year's top streamed album on the platform
Madison Square Garden Entertainment and Cisco Announce Multi-year Partnership
Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. announced today a new, multi-year partnership with Cisco, naming the worldwide leader in networking and security An Official Partner of Madison Square Garden.
A glow-up, in the name of science
Discover a top Christian university in Minnesota, offering undergraduate and graduate programs with affordable tuition and strong career preparation.
Satellites Detect Seasonal Pulses in Earth’s Glaciers
From Alaska’s Saint Elias Mountains to Pakistan’s Karakoram, glaciers speed up and slow down with the seasons.
Shultz named CEO of Radial Entertainment
Oaktree Capital Management, parent company of Radial Entertainment, the newly formed global entertainment company managing the FilmRise and Shout! Studios brand
High school sports highlights for Dec. 2
Highlights and scores from area games on the ice and the hardwood.
Lowell science teacher named 2026 Mass. Teacher Of The Year
Tara Goodhue credits her success to having the best students in the state.
‘It was disheartening;’ local businesses see a decrease on Small Business Saturday
One store closed early because they didn't have many customers.
Luigi Mangioni claimed he was a homeless man named 'Mark' in surreal, newly revealed bodycam footage of his arrest
Handcuffs and Christmas carols feature in police bodycam video of Luigi Mangione's arrest, revealed in court Tuesday for the first time.
Paramount & Pluto Vet Jeff Shultz Named CEO Of Radial Entertainment, Parent Of Shout Studios And FilmRise
Jeff Shultz, a former Paramount and Pluto TV exec, has been named CEO of Radial Entertainment.
Radial Entertainment Taps Jeff Shultz, Former Paramount Streaming Exec, as CEO (EXCLUSIVE)
Jeff Shultz, former head of strategy for Paramount Streaming, has been named CEO of Radial Entertainment, the FilmRise and Shout! Studios.
NASA's PUNCH Tracks Comet Discovered by SOHO Spacecraft
From August to October, NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission tracked comet 2025 R2 (SWAN) — one of the thousands of comets
National organization recognizes LION Mobile Clinic for advancing rural health
Penn State College of Medicine’s LION Mobile Clinic has been named one of Pennsylvania’s 2025 Community Stars by the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health.
NASA, ESA Sun Observatory Marks 30 Years
As ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA’s SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) turns 30 on Tuesday, a lot has changed in how we understand our Sun
Millie Bobby Brown Has A New Name
During a YouTube interview entitled “Stranger Things Quiz On Me,” Noah Schnapp was asked if he knew his co-star’s real name.
Avahi Named to Inc.’s 2025 Best in Business List in Best AI Implementation
The annual list recognizes industry-leading companies for exceptional achievement and impactSan Francisco, CA, Dec. 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avahi is proud to announce its inclusion on the Inc. Best in Business list in the Best AI Implementation category. Inc.’s annual Best in Business Awards celebrate companies that have made a profound and lasting impact on their industries. Jack Singh, CEO of Avahi This recognition reinforces Avahi’s commitment to accelerating digital transformation by de
Kemp, state officials head to Panama for business development mission
Port Authority and Economic Development staff accompanied the governor and first lady to Panama.
Vaulted Deep Named "Best in Business" By Inc. Magazine for Scaling Critical Waste Infrastructure while Delivering Carbon Removal
Vaulted Deep has been named to Inc.'s 2025 Best in Business list for scaling the first commercial infrastructure for simultaneously managing organic waste while delivering permanent carbon removal. The recognition in the Best Startups category follows a year of growth across Vaulted's operations, infrastructure, and commercial traction. In 2025, Vaulted expanded its operating capacity, delivered more than 23,000 tonnes of verified CO₂ removal, and secured long-term agreements with Microsoft and
Resultant Named to Inc. Magazine's 2025 Best in Business List for Social Good
INDIANAPOLIS, December 02, 2025--Resultant has been named to Inc. Magazine's 2025 Best in Business list in the "Social Good" category.
SharkNinja Named to Inc.’s 2025 Best in Business List for Innovation and Marketing
NEEDHAM, Mass., December 02, 2025--SharkNinja, Inc. (NYSE: SN), a global product design and technology company, announced today its inclusion on the Inc. Best in Business list in the Innovation and Marketing categories. Inc.’s annual Best in Business Awards celebrate the exceptional achievements and contributions of companies that have made a profound impact on their industries.
Premier League considers 2026 Summer Series in Asia
Clubs have been ask for their views on a pre-season tournament next summer, with Hong Kong and Chinese city of Shenzhen potential hosts.
Logitech Named to Inc. Best in Business 2025 List
Logitech Sight's Smart Switching feature, powered by RightSight 2, recognized in Best AI Implementation Category for enhancing hybrid meeting equity Intelligent multicamera framing listed in Best AI Implementation category Honored for AI tech that fixes poor hybrid meeting experiences Company selected based on ingenuity, industry impact, superior execution Today, Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) was named to Inc. Best in Business 2025 list. The annual awards celebrate the exceptional achievements and contributions of companies that have made a profound impact in their industries. Based on the AI-powered Smart Switching feature of Logitech Sight tabletop conference camera, the company has been recognized in the Best AI Implementation category. The AI-powered Smart Switching feature of Logitech Sight automatically selects the best angle between multiple cameras. The experience to the remote viewer is like that of a TV production. Logitech developed Smart Switching in response to a
Library offers custom ornaments for children’s holiday reading program
The Old Forge Library has begun a holiday reading incentive for children, offering personalized wooden ornaments crafted by Dennis Kenny for completing 10 books.
Allen County Coroner identifies victim of deadly Piere’s Entertainment Center stabbing
21Alive Morning News
Broadening Science and Bridging Divides in a Complex, Interconnected World
Investment in science is a pillar for any dynamic, equitable modern society, and promoting scientific literacy across all levels of society can help foster innovation, dialogue, and consensus that crosses disciplinary and cultural boundaries.
Nebraska volleyball enters NCAA tournament with new era confidence
The new Dani Busboom Kelly era of Nebraska volleyball has begun with its first undefeated season since 2000. Is a championship next?
Ubisoft's Splinter Cell remake gets another new game director, but it's the original director returning
Ubisoft's Splinter Cell remake has landed itself a new game director, and it's a name you may recognise.
Nan Yao Named MRS Fellow for Contributions to Materials Science
Nan Yao has been selected for the 2026 class of Materials Research Society Fellows for his distinguished research accomplishments and contributions to the advancement of materials research world-wide.
Apple just named a new AI chief with Google and Microsoft expertise, as John Giannandrea steps down
The move is being characterized as a shake-up, but was seemingly inevitable in retrospect.
Madison leaders launch new entertainment district to boost downtown business
Mayor Ranae Bartlett says this project shows the city’s commitment to the future of downtown Madison.
Scott Benson named vice chancellor for business and finance at UNK
He has served in the interim role since July.
Dr. Rhonda Richards named Dean of John Massey School of Business | Southeastern Oklahoma State University
Southeastern Oklahoma State University has announced the appointment of alumna Dr. Rhonda Richards as Dean of the John Massey School of Business. Richards has served as Interim Dean of the Massey School – which includes AACSB-accredited business programs, AABI-accredited aviation programs, and BC
What's Up: December 2025 Skywatching Tips from NASA
The 3I/ATLAS comet makes its closest approach to Earth, the Geminid meteor shower sparkles across the sky, and the Moon and Jupiter get close for a conjunction.
Charles Barkley, Dick Vitale to join forces on 2 college basketball broadcasts, including Vitale's first NCAA tournament game
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
Wright State’s Raj Soin College of Business ranked among the best for entrepreneurs by Princeton Review
Wright State’s Raj Soin College of Business is the only university in Ohio named to the Princeton Review’s Top 50 Graduate Schools for Entrepreneurship Studies for 2026. Continue reading →
From Chiefs to Cardinals: Missouri’s Sports Betting Market Expected to Soar
Today (Monday) marks a big change for Missouri sports fans—sports betting is officially live. As operators go online, the big question is what bettors need to know about gambling responsibly. Christopher Boan, an analyst at BetMissouri.com, told Missourinet that the main thing to remember is to stick with a name you know. “Obviously the nine […]
Jan Eberth named head of the Department of Population Health Sciences
Eberth comes to the university from Drexel University in Philadelphia, where she spent the past three years as professor and chair of health management and policy. Prior to that, her education and career were divided between Texas and her native South Carolina.
Portland Business Journal Selects Relay Resources President and CEO for 2026 Executive of the Year Award
PORTLAND, Ore., December 01, 2025--Dr. Jennifer Camota Luebke, president and CEO of Relay Resources — the Pacific Northwest’s leading social enterprise nonprofit advancing disability inclusion in the workplace — has been named a 2026 Executive of the Year by the Portland Business Journal.
USA's Worst-Case Group: 'No' to Norway but Alexi Lalas, Landon Donovan Want Ghana
U.S. Soccer legends Alexi Lalas, Stu Holden, Landon Donovan and Cobi Jones name the teams they want to avoid at the 2026 World Cup draw.
Estes Park Health is now part of UCHealth
Estes Park Health's new name is UCHealth Estes Valley Medical Center (EVMC), reflecting the care it provides throughout the valley. Its staff is now employed by UCHealth.
Indigenous knowledge and science join forces to save the choro mussel in Chile
Huellelhue means “place for swimming” in Mapudungun. It’s also the name of one of the rivers that flow through the Lafken Mapu Lahual Multiple-Use Conservation Area, established in 2005 in southern Chile’s Los Lagos region. The name of this area is more than just a grouping of words, says Eduardo Vargas, president of the Nirehue […]
Lesley Netter-Snowden named executive vice president and chief business officer
Kennesaw State University President Kathy S. Schwaig has appointed Lesley Netter-Snowden as executive vice president and chief business officer (EVP/CBO) effective immediately, following a national search.
Dentons recognized as “Entertainment Law Firm of the Year 2025” by Lexology Index Awards
Dentons is proud to announce that it has been named “Entertainment Law Firm of the Year 2025” by the Lexology Index Awards which celebrates excellence across the global legal landscape.
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.
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Australia’s Star Entertainment names Mathieson Jr. as new chair By Reuters
Australia’s Star Entertainment names Mathieson Jr. as new chair
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