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Brigitte Bardot, icon of French cinema, dies at 91
Brigitte Bardot, whose later years were marked by animal rights campaigns and far-right political sympathies, has died at the age of 91.
‘An icon in this town’: Dallas Regional Chamber chief Dale Petroskey steps down
In early July, Dallas Regional Chamber Petroskey announced he’d be stepping down from his high-profile post, citing a desire to spend more time with family...
Brigitte Bardot, French film icon turned far-right provocateur, dies at 91
Actor reshaped French cinema before retreating from global fame into animal rights activism and far-right politics.
How an underrated Gboard feature fixed my biggest typing fear on Android
One small button, but a big relief
The single best Google Keep feature that turned me into a power user
Supercharged my productivity
Nvidia's Groq deal rattled Silicon Valley. Here are 5 other AI startups split apart in Big Tech's new deals.
Traditional acquisitions have become rarer. Nvidia's deal for Groq sounded familiar to many in the tech industry.
Switch Online's 'Missions And Rewards' Brings Back Previous 2025 Icons
Get them while you can!
Mexico's movers and shakers: 7 political figures you need to know
Mexico's top political figures include Security Minister Omar García Harfuch, business leaders like Altagracia Gómez, ambassador Ronald Johnson and more.
2025 an active year on the Greenwich business scene as another iconic business said goodbye to the avenue
The closures of longtime businesses in the community has left a melancholy feeling among local merchants and residents.
The scariest word this year for workers from DC to Silicon Valley
"Efficiency" defined the 2025 job market from the federal government to Silicon Valley.
Mexico’s year in review: The 10 biggest news and politics stories of 2025
As we did at the end of 2023 and 2024, Mexico News Daily looked back at the past 12 months and selected 10 news and politics stories that we believe were among the biggest of 2025.
Seven iconic Houston businesses that have stood the test of time
Explore iconic Houston businesses, from Arne's to Phoenicia, that have thrived for decades with loyal customers and deep community roots.
Timothée Chalamet's character in 'Marty Supreme' is based on a real hustling ping-pong icon from the 1950s
In "Marty Supreme," Timothée Chalamet plays the charismatic ping-pong playing hustler Marty Mauser. He's based on a real person.
Nintendo bringing back various icons for 2025 releases
Nintendo has announced a new promotion for Switch Online in which it’s bringing back a series of icons that were released throughout the year. Eight games will be featured in total. Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, F-Zero 99, Kirby and the Forgotten Land + Star-Crossed World, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and Kirby...
In a new deal, Nvidia hires Groq's top engineering talent, including its founder, who built AI chips at Google
A new type of dealmaking is on the rise in Silicon Valley as Nvidia reaches a non-exclusive deal with a chip startup and hires its top engineers.
In Memoriam: Remembering those in politics, culture and media who died in 2025
Meet the Press NOW looks back at the icons in politics, culture and media who we lost in 2025.
Mexicans Valeria Páez and the Cueva twins claim Panam Sports Junior Awards
Mexico’s Mía and Lía Cueva and Valeria Páez collected major honors at the Panam Sports Junior Awards this week.
Opry Entertainment Group Unveils Star-Studded New Year's Eve Celebrations at Nashville Venues
Opry Entertainment Group is ringing in 2026 with an unforgettable lineup of New Year’s Eve events across Nashville’s most iconic venues.
Expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies to raise health insurance costs for thousands
WCIV ABC News 4, Charleston, South Carolina provides coverage of local and national news, sports, weather and community events in the region, including North Charleston, Mt Pleasant, Summerville, Hanahan, Goose Creek, Rantowles, Cottageville, St George, Moncks Corner, Jacksonboro, Ravenel, Cottageville, Walterboro, Sullivans Island, Dewees Island and Folly Beach.
Jim Beam is pausing production at its iconic Kentucky bourbon distillery
Distilled spirits have seen a major decline in exports to big markets like Canada, and domestic consumption isn't making up for the shortfall.
Kalamazoo salon owner faces financial uncertainty after car crash damages business
WWMT-TV Newschannel 3 provides local news, weather forecasts, notices of events and entertainment programming for Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Battle Creek, South Haven, Paw Paw, Portage, Otsego, Texas Township, Oshtemo, Plainwell, Allegan, Holland, Saugatuck, Holland, Wayland, Kentwood, Middleville, Hastings, Marshall, Three Rivers, Sturgis, Constantine, Coldwater, Albion, Wyoming, Hudsonville, Allendale, Byron Center, Hudsonville, Grand Haven, Muskegon, Sparta, Rockford, Belding, Greenville, Ionia, Cedar Springs and their surrounding areas.
Legendary rock star defends his ‘terrific’ relationship with Trump: ‘Not everybody loves Jesus’
The rock icon didn't hold back when discussing political divisions.
I started using Gemini to create notes in Google Keep, and it's been a game-changer
Stop typing, start prompting
If not pet, why pet shape? Science says raccoons aren't quite there : Short Wave
Dogs are man’s best friend. And it’s no secret that we at Short Wave love cats (Regina has four)! Both of these iconic pets have been domesticated – evolved and adapted to live alongside humans – for millennia. And a recent study suggests that the common raccoon may be on its first steps towards joining them. So how do scientists look for signs of domestication and what do those signs mean? And could you have a litter box trained raccoon in your lifetime? We talk to the study’s lead author, Raffaela Lesch, to find out.Interested in more animal science stories? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
GoLocalProv | News | The Politics of Tragedies – “The Sunday Political Brunch”—December 21, 2025
By all measures, it has been a tough week. From the fatal shootings at Brown University and an MIT professor’s home, to the murders of an iconic Hollywood couple. There were also new developments in the Epstein case, some key votes in Congress, and another presidential controversy. Let...
Scientists build 'most accurate' quantum computing chip ever thanks to new silicon-based computing architecture
Researchers say they have created the world's first scalable atomic quantum processor that achieves record-breaking 99.99% fidelity.
Fresno City Council selects business park alternative for SEDA, directs further analysis
KMPH Fox 26 is the Central Valley's news leader, covering Fresno, California and the surrounding area, including Clovis, Madera, Hanford, Visalia, Biola, Kerman, Tranquillity, San Joaquin, Reedley, Coalinga, Avenal, Lemoore, Tulare, Selma, Caruthers, Tollhouse, Three Rivers, Porterville, and Merced.
Zack Scrivner granted mental health diversion amid felony abuse and weapon charges
KBAK CBS 29 and KBFX Fox58 are the news leaders for Bakersfield, California and serves surrounding communities including Oildale, Lamont, Shafter, Wasco, Buttonwillow, Maricopa, Tehachapi, Arvin, California City, Delano, McFarland, Ridgecrest and Taft.
Five Takeaways From the World’s Biggest Earth Science Meeting
The world’s biggest Earth science conference had a shocking backdrop this year, with the Trump administration announcing that it plans to close an iconic climate research lab. Suffice to say, that changed the tone of the gathering.
Science Quiz: Sea Turtle Sex and Fruit-Shaped Planets
Put your science knowledge to the test with this week’s news quiz. Play now.
Watch live: House convenes hearing on implementation of CHIPS and Science Act
Federal officials are set to testify Thursday morning before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee on implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to bolster domestic semicon…
CMA warns federal cuts to American Academy of Pediatrics undermine children's health
CMA President and pediatrician René Bravo, M.D., issued the following statement following the U.S. Department of Health...
SSM Health St. Mary's celebrates Christmas with annual Joy Day
KRCG offers coverage of news, sports, weather and local events in the Columbia and Jefferson City, Missouri area, including the communities of New Bloomfield, Shaw, Boonville, Ashland, Hallsville, Sturgeon, Centralia, Mexico, Auxvasse, Fulton, California, Tipton, Eldon, Wardsville, Westphalia and Sedalia, Missouri.
What it costs to live in America’s iconic holiday movie towns
Redfin Real Estate reports on the affordability of iconic holiday movie towns, revealing high prices in places like Winnetka, Illinois, and NYC, while others are more accessible.
Google releases Find Hub app for Wear OS
As previously spotted in a promo video for the Pixel Watch 3, Google has released a Find Hub app for Wear OS.
OpenAI is the latest in Silicon Valley to hire a former British politician
The ChatGPT maker has hired former British Chancellor George Osborne to run the global arm of its "Stargate" AI infrastructure initiative.
Many iconic, beloved North Jersey businesses closed in 2025. See list
2025 was tough for restaurants and brick-and-mortar retail, given inflation, sluggish rate cuts and President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Resonac CEO on Business Outlook
Hidehito Takahashi, President and CEO of Resonac, discusses his outlook for demand and business growth for the Japanese semiconductor materials supplier, and says the company will seek to procure rare earths from Australia and Europe. He speaks with Annabelle Droulers and Avril Hong on "Bloomberg: The Asia Trade". (Source: Bloomberg)
‘Bo Schembechler would never stop throwing up’: How Michigan’s scandal reveals college sports’ transformation
Legendary Michigan-based columnist Mitch Albom says Bo Schembechler would be sickened by today's college sports landscape where player poaching and money have replaced loyalty in an era unrecognizable to the iconic coach.
Beloved ‘90s sitcom to come back for second reunion special
The cast of this iconic sitcom will reunite for a special with new unaired material from its original run.
Science Crossword: Pointing South
Play this crossword inspired by the January 2026 issue of Scientific American.
The war on saturated fat, never based on good science, can now end
As people cut more saturated fat, the nation grew heavier and sicker — not healthier.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' election night coat sold at auction for $50,800. Photos show the iconic look.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis wore a purple maternity coat on election night in 1960. Sotheby's estimated the coat's value at between $6,000 and $8,000.
Lawsuit: Spurs icon David Robinson accuses business partner of diverting more than $34 million
San Antonio Spurs legend David Robinson filed a lawsuit last week alleging his business partner diverted tens of millions of dollars to fund a new venture without his knowledge.
Blindsided: Iconic Gainesville businesses included in 49 ADA lawsuits
Owners forced to settle or spend after dozens of mirror suits.
HRC Mourns Loss of Entertainment Icon and LGBTQ+ Activist Rob Reiner…
The Human Rights Campaign is mourning the loss of legendary actor, director and LGBTQ+ activist Rob Reiner and his wife Michele.
Trump’s Business Model Is to Break Europe
Washington wants a free hand for Silicon Valley and Russia investment. The EU is an obstacle—and the far right is an ally.
Destiny 2 Equilibrium Loot Table: Dungeon Weapons and Armor
Here's our full Destiny 2 Equilibrium loot table, including all dungeon weapons, armor, cosmetics, and more.
Affable comedy acting legend Dick Van Dyke turns 100 years old
Comedy icon Dick Van Dyke is celebrating his 100th birthday. Van Dyke hit the century mark on Saturday, some six decades after he sang and danced with Julie Andrews in
Affable comedy acting legend Dick Van Dyke turns 100 years old
Comedy icon Dick Van Dyke is celebrating his 100th birthday.
The rise and fall of Hooters
Since 1983, Hooters has been an iconic brand. But in 2025, its franchisor, Hooters of America, went bankrupt. Can the original founders save it?
IKEA's new wireless charger is as cute as it is practical
IKEA has a new collection of wireless chargers, including one that looks like a silicone donut.
NASA’s Webb, Curiosity Named in TIME’s Best Inventions Hall of Fame
Two icons of discovery, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and NASA’s Curiosity rover, have earned places in TIME’s “Best Inventions Hall of Fame,” which
Science Quiz: Sneaky Parasites and Productive Pizza
Put your science knowledge to the test with this week’s news quiz. Play now.
Amazon Game Studios announces two new ‘Tomb Raider’ games coming in 2026 and 2027
Lara Croft returns in a reimagined version of her 1996 debut and an all-new adventure that builds on her iconic legacy, both powered by Unreal Engine 5.
Inside the 2025 UVA Conference on Ethical AI in Business
The University of Virginia convened faculty, technologists, economists and even fiction writers at The Forum Hotel on the Darden School of Business Grounds to explore “minding the gap” between AI’s promise and shortcomings.
Amendment 29: F.6 Science Activation Final Text and Due Date.
The Science Mission Directorate Science Activation Program encourages all people to actively participate in science through activities and resources developed
Gift top-selling books for the holidays from USA TODAY
From iconic moments in sports history to the unforgettable careers, these photo books are as much memorabilia as they are conversation starters.
Instagram's new 'Your Algorithm' tool gives you more control over the Reels you see
You can select which topics you want to see more or less of, and your recommendations will adapt accordingly.
(BPRW) USHER and Big Sean Announce $1 Million Entertainment Incubator to Power the Next Generation of Creators with Generous Support from Ilitch Sports + Entertainment and Emory University Goizueta Business School | Black PR Wire, Inc.
(Black PR Wire) DETROIT, MI — Global entertainment icons and Boys & Girls Clubs alumni USHER and Big Sean have announced a landmark $1 million investment in Detroit youth with the creation of the Detroit Entertainment In...
Tech billionaires eye AI moonshots as Trump slashes science funding
Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos are trying to recreate what capitalism destroyed. The key difference is artificial intelligence
Galaxy S26 leak reveals Samsung’s big move into magnetic accessories
Samsung’s Galaxy S26 is reportedly set to debut a full lineup of Qi2-ready accessories, ranging from carbon and silicone to clear cases.
Review: TheatreWorks’ ‘Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley’ a perfect holiday entertainment
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s production of Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon’s “Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley” begins with the
A Chinese app that started with lipstick reviews is now where Silicon Valley's Chinese tech workers swap AI intel
Chinese app Rednote started off as a shopping app. Now, it's one of the hottest hubs for Chinese tech workers in Silicon Valley to talk shop about AI.
Revival of St. Petersburg's iconic Science Center moves forward
The long-awaited revival of St. Petersburg's beloved Science Center is officially underway, following the city council's decision to sell the property to the St. Pete STEAM Group.
Premier League outbursts: 10 of the most iconic
After Mohamed Salah's extraordinary interview about his Liverpool future, we have looked at some of the other big Premier League outbursts
The maker of the Yankees' iconic stadium clock files for bankruptcy after smartwatch gamble backfires
E. Gluck Corporation — maker of Armitron watches and the Yankees' stadium clock — filed for bankruptcy after a failed push into the smartwatch market.
Why an 18-year-old founder is still going to college
An 18-year-old founder is building her AI startup during high school — and explains why she doesn't buy the Silicon Valley dropout myth.
Medical Laboratory Science major partners with IU health
The medical laboratory science major has transitioned to a new partnership with Indiana University Health for hands-on student training.
Graeagle business owner takes Hot August Nights helm
Hot August Nights announces Lisa Jansen as its new executive director, bringing fresh leadership to one of Nevada’s most iconic annual events as it gears
Miley Cyrus Offers Positive Update on Godmother Dolly Parton Amid Health Issues
Miley Cyrus shared an optimistic update on her godmother Dolly Parton after the country music icon sat out from a number of recent appearances due to health concerns.
Commentary: Don't kill college football's best tradition. Compromise to keep USC vs. Notre Dame
Notre Dame should agree to USC's request that the two teams play early in the season. Its stubborn approach threatens to end an iconic rivalry series.
Apple's Johny Srouji could continue the company's executive exodus, according to report
The Apple exec largely responsible for the transition to in-house silicon may have one foot out of the door.
Mike Piazza's iconic post-9/11 home run gave us more than sports back
Taylor University basketball fans storm court as part of iconic...
Thousands of Taylor University students stormed the basketball court as part of the prestigious school's cherished -- yet chaotic -- annual "Silent Night" Christmas tradition on Friday night.
Big Sean, Usher invest $1M each to launch Detroit Entertainment Innovation Incubator for youth
Big Sean and Usher, both global entertainment icons and Boys & Girls Clubs alumni, have announced a $1 million investment each in Detroit youth through the creation of the Detroit Entertainment Innovation Incubator.
Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros. in Deal Valued at $82.7 Billion
A deal "could potentially be killing three birds with one stone," argues one Wall Street analyst, while another one touts "iconic franchises that could be exploited for decades to come."
Science Quiz: Strange Weather and Desert Planets
Put your science knowledge to the test with this week’s news quiz. Play now.
John Gruber Shares Scathing Commentary About Apple's Departing Software Design Chief
In a statement shared with Bloomberg on Wednesday, Apple confirmed that its software design chief Alan Dye will be leaving. Apple said Dye will be succeeded by Stephen Lemay, who has been a software designer at the company since 1999. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Dye will lead a new creative studio within the company's AR/VR division Reality Labs. On his blog Daring Fireball, longtime Apple commentator John Gruber has since reacted to the news with some scathing commentary about Dye.
'We're adding possibilities' MUSC Health Opens Phase 3 of West Ashley Medical Pavilion
WCIV ABC News 4, Charleston, South Carolina provides coverage of local and national news, sports, weather and community events in the region, including North Charleston, Mt Pleasant, Summerville, Hanahan, Goose Creek, Rantowles, Cottageville, St George, Moncks Corner, Jacksonboro, Ravenel, Cottageville, Walterboro, Sullivans Island, Dewees Island and Folly Beach.
France Legend Thierry Henry Joins FOX Sports as FIFA World Cup 2026 Analyst
France icon and World Cup winner Thierry Henry joins FOX Sports as a lead analyst for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Abby Phillip’s 'A Dream Deferred' chronicles Jesse Jackson’s rise to political esteem : NPR's Book of the Day
Rev. Jesse Jackson is well-known as an icon of the American Civil Rights Movement, a protégé of Martin Luther King Jr., and a steadfast activist — but he has quite a past in electoral politics, too. A Dream Deferred charts Jackson’s rise to political prominence during his 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns, as the first major Black candidate for U.S. president. In today’s episode, author and CNN anchor Abby Phillip talks with NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe about her debut biography, and how Jackson himself approached politics and activism with separate mindsets.To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Jennifer Lopez, Gwyneth Paltrow & More Attend 'THR's Women in Entertainment Gala
Goldie Hawn, Jennifer Lopez, Kerry Washington, and Regina Hall were just some of the iconic actresses to grace the red carpet for The Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment gala Wednesday ... and we have pics from the epic event!
Micron to exit consumer memory business amid global supply shortage
Memory chipmaker Micron Technology said on Wednesday it will exit its consumer business, as it doubles down on advanced memory chips used in artificial intelligence data centers amid a global supply shortage of the essential semiconductors.
Defending NASA science in the face of sweeping budget cuts
Casey Dreier was awarded the 2025 Icon Award for Individual Achievement Dec. 2.
Sports betting is legal in Missouri. These icons, lawmaker were among the first
The three bets signified the rollout of the legal sports gambling industry in Missouri, which won narrow approval from voters.
As political winds shift, top chipmaker TSMC looks beyond Taiwan
The lifeblood of Silicon Valley — advanced microchips — pumps from a science park on Taiwan's west coast, mostly from TSMC, the world's biggest chipmaker. But now the company is looking abroad for places to grow.
With new bids, Warner Bros. Discovery looks to narrow the auction field
Paramount, Comcast and Netflix are poised to submit a second bid on Monday, kicking the auction into high-gear.
Warriors icon Steph Curry reveals heartfelt advice for young Sharks superstar Macklin Celebrini
Warriors icon Steph Curry revealed his heartfelt advice for young Sharks superstar Macklin Celebrini on NBC Sports Bay Area's "Dub Talk."
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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