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Cardinal Michael Czerny on Pope Leo's first year as pontiff, politics and the church
Shevrin Jones launches CD 24 bid, calls for ‘a new generation of leadership’
Jones launches his campaign from the church founded by his parents in Pembroke Pines.
Free Press Opinion: Where politics are concerned, churches should keep first things first
If the mission of a Christian church is to proclaim the lordship of Jesus Christ and ask those who would follow him to lead a similar life, why would it use part of its primary Sunday service to promote political candidates the leader of the church believes should be elected?
Christ the Good Shepherd to hold Parish Festival
Christ the Good Shepherd’s annual Parish Festival will be held Friday (4-8 p.m.) and Saturday (2-8 p.m.) in the church parking lot and in the parish hall, 135 E. Fourth
Pope Warns Main Threat Common to Religion and Science Is Denial of Objective Truth
Pope Leo XIV pointed out that both science and the Church clearly teach that caring for the planet is threatened by the irresponsible exploitation of both people and the natural world.
Caroline Cotter concert to benefit Dolly Fisher Fund
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Caroline Cotter will perform a special concert at the First Congregational Church of Blue Hill on Sunday, Sept. 20, at 2 p.m. to raise money for the church’s
Catholic Church slowly takes up mental health ministry to respond to growing needs
Phoenix Bishop John Dolan lost three siblings and an in-law to suicide and has spoken out about the church's need to accompany those suffering from mental illness and their families.
Diocese introduces Mental Health Ministry, invites all to special Mass
Earlier this month Pope Leo shared his October prayer intention for mental health ministry to be established throughout the Church, helping to overcome the stigma and discrimination of people with mental illnesses. In the Columbus diocese, the Vicariate of Catholic Social Doctrine has worked since January to animate Mental Health Ministry and support families, clergy, […]
Israeli strike kills five in Gaza, including four women, health officials say
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dawoud Abu AlkasCAIRO/GAZA, Oct 3 (Reuters) - An Israeli airstrike killed at least five Palestinians, including four women, in an apartment building in Gaza City early on Saturday, health and civil defence service officials said.Among the dead were a Christian mother, Maisa Abu Dawoud, and her daughter Mary, medics and the church said.There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.The strike destroyed the apartment building and started a fire.
Bishop Burbidge outlines Christian approach to mental health amid ‘staggering’ crisis
A U.S. bishop is highlighting the nation’s growing mental health crisis, while pointing to the “divine medicine” offered by Christ through the work of the Church. On Jan. 19, Bishop…
Pray with the Pope | For mental health ministry
The Holy Father invites the faithful and people of good will to pray that the Church may become an open house, able to accompany without judging and without casting aside those who face difficulties with their mental health.
Zambia bishops instruct clergy and faithful to stay out of partisan politics
“The Church is not and must never be a mouthpiece for any political party or candidate,” the Zambian bishops stated. Read more in this roundup of world news that you may have missed this past week.
Skillet’s John Cooper claims he endured ‘brutal’ abuse from church of 30 years, depression that inspired ‘After the Storm’
Skillet frontman John Cooper has shared how a painful split from the church he served for nearly 30 years plunged him into one of the darkest periods of his life, triggering depression, anger,
Can U.S. Catholicism become Trump’s political religion?
An analysis by Appia Institute’s Marcello Neri argues that the battle over the future of American Catholicism is increasingly intertwined with Donald Trump’s political project—and with competing visions of the Church’s global role
Pentagon updates list of recognized religious affiliations after backlash from Mormon lawmakers
The Pentagon has updated its list of verified religious affiliations for service members used in HR systems and removed the “Christian” designation from several faiths after facing backlash over the weekend that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was not designated as Christian.
Pope Leo XIV’s October prayer intention is ‘for mental health ministry’
VATICAN CITY (Vatican News) – Pope Leo XIV has dedicated his October prayer intention to mental health ministry, calling on the Church to listen without judging and accompany those who suffer without excluding them. In a video produced by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, the pope prayed that the Church may be an “open house” … Continue reading
Clearwater OKs street handovers for entertainment center
The proposed $50 million entertainment center is backed by the Church of Scientology.
WCC publishes “HIV and Mental Health: What Can the Church Do?”
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has published “HIV and Mental Health: What Can the Church Do?” by Dr Sue Parry, a practical and theologically grounded resource for congregations ready to respond to one of the most complex pastoral challenges of our time.
WCC Faith and Science Working Group: rethinking what it means to be human
The Faith and Science Working Group is part of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on Health and Healing. It evaluates modern technological and scientific advancements through theological and ethical lenses, focusing on human dignity, digital justice, and existential risks.
Catholic institutions join global gathering on Church’s mental health ministry
Catholic institutions and leaders gather in Rome under the patronage of the Pontifical Academy for Life to strengthen the Church’s ministry to people ...
‘Blessed’: Frederick Haynes, pastor and candidate, on his politics, faith and health
WASHINGTON (RNS) — ‘The church has been so supportive that, I mean, they've been more excited about my campaign than I have,’ Haynes said of his historically Black Dallas megachurch.
Politics, The Vote And The Black Church - The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint
Today, the Black Church is a key stop on the agenda of every political candidate seeking a sure vote. This is why so many of them race to the church to be seen and smiled at, the Sunday before every election.
Mental Health, the Church's Commitment: "It is not a marginal issue; it belongs to the heart of the mission" - Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development
On the occasion of World Mental Health Day, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has, for the first time, issued a message signed by ...
World’s largest movie screen in Clearwater? Council member has questions
Mike Mannino wants to know more about plans for an entertainment complex downtown announced by a company affiliated with the church of Scientology.
Latter-day Saint Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland hospitalized due to 'ongoing health complications'
Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been hospitalized for treatment of "ongoing health complications,"
Archbishop Golka to Celebrate 40 Days for Life Mass at Marisol Health
At the heart of the Church’s defense of life is a simple but powerful response: prayer. This October, Catholics across the Archdiocese of Denver are invited to come together in that prayer as Archbishop James R. Golka celebrates a special 40 Days for Life Mass at Marisol Health.The Mass will be celebrated on Friday, October 23, at 2:00 p.m. in the garden at Marisol Health, 2894 Olive Street in Denver. Together, the faithful will give thanks to God for the precious gift of life and pray for mothe
Why the Church Has Never Feared Science
From Copernicus to contemporary research, Catholics have long understood scientific inquiry as a partner with faith in the search for truth.
EDITORIAL: Is Science Good or Bad?
The answer to this isn’t as obvious as you might think. According to some Christians, science is bad when it tells us the earth came into being over millions of years. But other times science is good, such as when it gives the church tools to evangelize, and when it helps us travel around to […]
The Gospel Coalition (TGC)
The Gospel Coalition supports the church by providing resources that are trusted and timely, winsome and wise, and centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pope warns main threat common to religion and science is denial of objective truth
Pope Leo XIV pointed out that both science and the Church clearly teach that caring for the planet is threatened by the irresponsible exploitation of both people and the natural world.
Q&A: Eric Mason on Ministering to Men and Witnessing in Politics
The Philadelphia-based pastor discusses how the church can engage Black men and have a biblical approach to government.
The Shade Room (@theshaderoom)
In a recent conversation, T.I. expressed his views on the church, suggesting that it can be a business and that leaders often manipulate the word for personal gain. He emphasizes the importance of personal connection with God, stating that you don't need a middle man to hear your prayers. Explore the complexities of faith and leadership in this thought-provoking discussion.
Faith coalition wins pledges from Miami-Dade leaders on housing, mental health
About 800 residents packed the church to demand local leaders commit to making changes.
‘A sacred space of healing’: Church of Jesus Christ transforms health center in Liberia
A health center in Liberia was in ruins until it was transformed into “a sacred space of healing” through a project funded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Oklahoma Historical Society book talk examines peyote history, making of the Native American Church
The Native American Church was legally incorporated more than 100 years ago to protect peyote use. The early history of the church is chronicled in Peyote Politics, a book at the center of an Oklahoma Historical Society discussion happening this week.
What’s being built, bought and planned in Ascension Parish
Here are the latest property transactions, issued permits and upcoming business-related events in Ascension Parish. Issued permits New construction for a 10,483-square-foot building at The Church International on La. 42 in Prairieville. The project is valued at $3 million, with Living Solutions Construction as the listed contractor. New construction permit for an 11,840-square-foot PEMB mixed-use […]
Mormon leader decries explosion in sports gambling, prediction markets
A leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says an explosion in online prediction markets and sports betting is fostering greed among young people.
Bishop Dolan: Faith and science both necessary to care for mental health
As the ongoing mental health crisis presents a significant pastoral challenge for the Church, US Bishop John Dolan of Phoenix calls for true support ...
Moses was the ‘first capitalist’ and Cain the ‘first socialist.’ Thus saith this LDS influencer from the past
Conservative LDS writer Cleon Skousen has been dead for 20 years. But his approach to the Bible and politics remains very much alive in the church and the nation.
Mormon leader decries explosion in sports betting, prediction markets
A leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says an explosion in online prediction markets and sports betting is fostering greed among young people
Clearwater advances Church of Scientology street vacations request
The Church of Scientology applied for those vacations through its affiliated development entity, Myrtle Development LLC.
Bishop Dolan: Faith and science both necessary to care for mental health
As the ongoing mental health crisis presents a significant pastoral challenge for the Church, US Bishop John Dolan of Phoenix calls for true support ...
VIDEO: Champion Immersive's Buddy System In The Paddock
Every winning horse race is a team effort, but some require more teammates than others. Ahead of last Saturday's Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Stakes, Eclipse Award winner Immersive was accompanied by outrider Lee Lockwood and his horse LM Jokester in the Churchill Downs paddock, providing the 4-year-old ...
Mormon leader decries explosion in sports gambling, prediction markets
A leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says an explosion in online prediction markets and sports betting is fostering greed among young people
St. Raphael’s Church announces season of dining and entertainment
St. Raphael’s Episcopal Church has announced a full lineup of special events for the 2026 season, marking a joyful return to the church’s parish hall. With a mix of beloved traditions and exciting live entertainment, the season is designed to keep the community well fed and thoroughly entertained. “We are thrilled to be back in […]
President Jeffrey R. Holland hospitalized with 'ongoing health issue'
President Jeffrey R. Holland has been hospitalized to be treated for ongoing health complications, according to a statement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Religious ‘homecoming’ of sorts brings pork and politicians to Fancy Farm
The pastor of the church where Kentucky’s annual political picnic occurs explained how his faith informs his politics.
This simple metal tube helps scientists predict drought before it happens
We’re in a perilous moment for water. But the Church Sampler is one of the many devices scientists can use help us make better decisions.
Clearwater City Council approves street transfers tied to EVO Entertainment Center
After hours of heated debate and public comment, Clearwater City Council voted 3-2 Thursday night to approve another street transfer tied to the Church of Scientology.
A Fiesta’s Serious Business
As if in pilgrimage, three resolute singers carried a melody down the nave toward the stage to open La Donna Musicale’s concert at the Church of the Covenant last Sunday. Their seamless blend with the ensemble’s five musicians set the tone for a program of love and longing that moved across some fiv
LDS Church President Jeffrey Holland hospitalized with 'health complications'
President Jeffrey Holland of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been hospitalized for health complications
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!
Pope Leo says ‘honest science’ is essential, warns truth itself is under attack
The pope said the church’s embrace of rigorous and “honest science” is now not merely valuable, but “essential.”
A look at new construction projects and property deals in Ascension Parish
Ascension Parish recently announced new construction projects, property transactions and upcoming business events, Ascension Business Report writes. The parish issued permits for two major projects, including a $3 million, 10,483-square-foot building at The Church International on La. 42 in Prairieville, with Living Solutions Construction as the contractor, and a $400,000, 11,840-square-foot pre-engineered mixed-use metal building […]
Scientology-backed Clearwater entertainment complex clears roadblock
The church requested the city transfer parts of two roads and an alley to build out the $50 million center.
Mormon Leader Decries Explosion in Sports Gambling, Prediction Markets
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints warned Saturday that an explosion in gambling driven by online prediction markets and sports betting is fostering greed, particularly among youths, while producing “nothing of value.” D. Todd Christofferson, one of the ...
Standing Committee recommends adoption of four new business items, discusses relationship of the Church of the Brethren and Eder Financial
The Standing Committee of district delegates to the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference held meetings from Thursday evening, June 25, through Saturday afternoon, June 27, in Fort Wayne, Ind. Annual Conference moderator Don Fitzkee presided, assisted by moderator-elect Dennis Beckner and Conference secretary David Shumate.
LDS activist excommunicated from the church speaks out on women’s rights across Colorado
Forty-Five Years Ago This Week: “Women must demand — now and if necessary at the peril of our lives — that we be granted civil rights in the same way rich white men in this country were granted them: constitutional decree,” said Sonia Johnson, co-founder of Mormons for the Equal Rights Amendment. Johnson spoke in […]
Mormon leader decries explosion in sports gambling, prediction markets
A leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says an explosion in online prediction markets and sports betting is fostering greed among young people.
‘Her recovery literally is miraculous’: Walmart Heart celebrates Church Hill girl after series of health issues
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — The Church Hill community gathered at Walmart in Kingsport on Saturday to support a girl who has made a remarkable recovery after facing serious health issues. Charleigh M…
Clearwater approves Scientology road requests for entertainment center
The Clearwater City Council this week approved the transfer of portions of two roads and an alley to the Church of Scientology for a planned $50 million entertainment center. The city also approved th...
Can the Church Help the Left Win? -
In the APSA Public Scholarship Program, graduate students in political science produce summaries of new research in the American Political Science Review. This piece, written by Ximena Caló, covers the new article by Guadalupe Tuñón, [...]
Clearwater to vote on Scientology-backed entertainment center next month
The Clearwater City Council next month is expected to vote on requests from the Church of Scientology to take over two streets and an alleyway for a proposed $50 million entertainment complex. But Cou...
James Talarico Said He Wouldn’t Accept Any Endorsements From the Pulpit. He Just Did.
The Democratic nominee for Senate has decried such political engagement from pastors, saying that the church-state boundary is “sacred.”
Bishops from violence-stricken countries emphasize importance of mental health
During a press conference at the Vatican at the end of the gathering, “A Healing Presence: The Church’s Call to Mental Health Ministry,” several ...
Understanding mental health through listening and sharing
The second day of the conference, “A Healing Presence: The Church’s Call to Mental Health Ministry,” reflects on the state of mental health among ...
Why do we suffer? Religion and science may now agree.
A Reflection for the Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church, by Sebastian Gomes
Mormon leader decries explosion in sports betting, prediction markets
A leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says an explosion in online prediction markets and sports betting is fostering greed among young people
These 10 albums have surprising ties to cults and unconventional religions
Every religion has a musical tradition no matter how small the church or strange the belief. Some of this music was recruitment propaganda, some was not. Either way, fringe faiths among musicians is not a new phenomenon.
Clearwater approves street handovers for $50 million Scientology-backed entertainment center
The Clearwater City Council voted to move forward with vacating portions of three public rights-of-way for the parking lot of a proposed $50 million entertainment center backed by the Church of Scientology.
Feedback Friday: ‘Closer Look’ listeners react to intensifying daily politics, protests
This comes as tensions continue to rise in Minnesota after the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Earlier this month, Lemon and Fort both reported on a protest at Cities Church in St. Paul. It has been alleged that an ICE official serves as a pastor of the church, which sparked the protest. Following the incident, the Trump administration promised retaliation against Lemon.