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Mamdani, Schlossberg, and the rise of ‘aesthetically literate’ politicians
The online popularity of Mamdani, Schlossberg and AOC may signal a shift: is this the era of 'aesthetically literate' politicians?
The best history and politics books of 2025
The revolutionary spirit in politics and architecture; histories of free speech and civil war; plus how the Tories fell apart and Starmer won
Have Politics Hijacked Education Policy? (Opinion)
School boards should be held more accountable to student learning, says this scholar.
The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine
A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.
Marcos vs. Marcos: The New Front in Philippine Politics
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is under fire for an enormous graft scandal that is unfolding under his watch. One prominent voice is his sister Senator Imee Marcos.
Jersey City voters will decide on former NJ Gov. Jim McGreevey’s comeback attempt
Jersey City voters will head to the polls Tuesday in a runoff to decide whether former Gov. Jim McGreevey, who resigned from the governorship in scandal more than 20 years ago, will succeed in making a longshot political comeback and become their next mayor.
Mexico Political Risk Hits Peru Level as Sheinbaum Support Sags
Mexico’s political risk has crept up to levels seen in Peru, as Mexicans voice mounting frustration over cartel-fueled crime, corruption and a stagnant economy.
This book is our favorite holiday gift for metro-area birdwatchers
“Bird City" is a look at birding in the metropolitan region, told through the adventures of a talented reporter formerly with The Asbury Park Press.
Shall future military leaders be mere ideological drones?
As my regular reader will recall (Hi, Jeff!) from my mentioning it here dozens of times, I spent the largest part of my 25-plus years as an active-duty Air Force officer teaching at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Though I taught a wide range of courses during the 15 years I spent there […]
Athletics intent on joining sport’s Goliaths but knows it has long way to go
Jon Ridgeon is overseeing World Athletics’ reach for a younger audience but has to battle it out with football and F1
Holiday events entice New Haveners to shop at small businesses
Downtown New Haven and Union Station featured two celebrations of the city’s small businesses on Saturday.
Analysis: Trump struggles with Venezuelan dilemma as Maduro digs in and storm builds at home over potential ‘war crime’
President Donald Trump’s Venezuela regime change adventure is in danger of degenerating into a strategic, political, and legal morass.
The health care talks to watch
Senators will be voting on health care in about a week. Their chances of success are not good.
U.S. ski resorts are bracing for a steep drop in international travel due to politics
Canadians usually head south for the skiing, shopping and nightlife in American ski towns. But due to cross-border politics, tourism to the U.S. is down, and some resorts are worried.
UK mulls ban on crypto cash in politics — putting Farage in firing line
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK was the first U.K. political party to accept donations in cryptocurrency — and now the government is considering a ban.
Senate barrels toward failure on health care
A bipartisan breakthrough appears unlikely ahead of next week's scheduled votes.
Nintendo Announces 50th Maximus Cup Event For Tetris 99
Celebrating the release of Kirby's new game
Here's a list of the 15 must-see high school basketball games of the season
The list starts with a Catholic League showdown Friday
S.F. Mayor Lurie takes another political gamble with latest Sunset supervisor pick
Alan Wong, who Lurie swore into office Monday as the Sunset’s new representative on the Board of Supervisors, has for years backed a variety of progressive politicians and policies.
SIU’s Simon Institute hosts Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar on nation’s political contradictions
Paul Starr, a Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar at Princton University and the founding co-editor of The American Prospect magazine, will join Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute for a virtual conversation on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
Big snow falls on Small Business Saturday
NEW ULM — Snow fell on New Ulm on Saturday as shoppers visited local retailers for Small Business Saturday, a nationwide promotion designed to encourage community shopping after Black Friday. New Ulm Area Chamber of Commerce President Sarah Warmka said even with the snow many businesses reported steady traffic and strong sales. At A to […]
Entertainment and more in the Mid-Ohio Valley
PARKERSBURG – The Artsbridge calendar for the week ahead: TODAY * Anything Goes: Wild Things, all member exhibition of the West Virginia Watercolor Society, Parkersburg Art Center * Belpre Holiday Lights, Civitan Park, Belpre * Festival of Trees Display, Blennerhassett Hotel and Spa * Shannon Hammer, naturalist photography display, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., WesBanco, […]
The Colts’ remaining schedule is a gauntlet
The Indianapolis Colts’ road to rediscovery will be a tall task.
Tamara Keith and Amy Walter on the political reaction to Trump's boat strikes
'Silence is not an option': Kat Cammack sides with constituent who obtained restraining order against Cory Mills
Lindsey Langston of Columbia County said the troubled Congressman threatened to release intimate videos post-breakup.
Last Call for 12.1.25 – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida
A digest of the day's politics and policy while the bartender refreshes your drink.
This organization is trying to use AI to reshape American politics
Using artificial intelligence to identify congressional districts where independent candidates could win, an organization called the Independent Center is aiming to disrupt the two-party system.
'Tis the season: 'Ron DeSanta' wrapping paper available for holidays
'America's Governor' can be under America's Christmas trees this year.
The issue that's scrambling both parties: From the Politics Desk
Plus, Indiana lawmakers return to take up redistricting, even with the outcome uncertain.
Why AMC Entertainment Stock Got Mashed on Monday
Many an investor eye was on the holiday weekend, a crucial stretch for movie exhibitors.
Holiday gift guide 2025: Something for every sports fan on your list
From books and apparel to sports cards and art, we have something here for all ages.
Are university policies holding science back? Study shows how patenting boosts pure research
When UC Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna first began studying how bacteria fight virus infections, she had no idea it would result in one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the century. ...
Trump’s quest for political retribution is impeding the Justice Department : The NPR Politics Podcast
President Trump has vowed to seek retribution from his perceived political enemies and to reward his political allies. We discuss how that focus is playing out at the Justice Department, where career prosecutors and other civil servants are no longer calling the shots. How does this partisan shift affect major court cases, from redistricting in Texas to James Comey’s prosecution?This episode: senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith, justice correspondent Carrie Johnson, and senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson.This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye.Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
Full-length Replay: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd gives his interesting and authentic opinions on the biggest sports stories of the day.
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Trump admin 're-examining' all Afghans imported after DC shooting
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.
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.
White House gives new details on Trump’s health following exam
The White House released the results from the president’s October health exam on Monday.
Candid Politics: WI Governor Candidate David Crowley
In this edition of Candid Politics, The Badger Herald took a walk along Lakeshore Path with WI Governor David Crowley. Crowley’s difficult childhood largely motivated his path toward becoming a community organizer, state representative and current Milwaukee County Executive. Watch the full video to hear about Crowley’s platform, political experience and more. Interview by George...
Read Instagram chief Adam Mosseri's memo ordering staff to the office five days a week in 2026
Instagram back-to-office policy: Adam Mosseri demands full-time in-person work in 2026, fewer meetings, and faster product prototypes.
Opinion: Chicago's fiscal crisis demands a pro-growth strategy
Solving Chicago's $1.2 billion budget gap calls for pro-growth policies and real cost reforms to restore stability, writes the Chicagoland Chamber's president.
Even Microsoft’s retro holiday sweaters are having Copilot forced upon them
Microsoft has not one, not two, but three new sweaters available for $60 to $80.
Trump MRI results drop as White House confronts mounting questions over president’s health
President Donald Trump's October MRI scan found no cardiovascular abnormalities and confirmed excellent overall health, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced.
Microsoft’s ugly sweaters return with Clippy, Xbox, and Zune brown options
All three holiday sweaters can be purchased at Microsoft’s company store.
Proposed redistricting map shakes up congressional races as candidates are drawn out
Several challengers, both Republicans and Democrats, face new political battles in their races for Congress.
New Jersey Politics Round-Up | The Brian Lehrer Show
Mike Hayes, WNYC/Gothamist reporter, rounds up some of the latest political news in New Jersey.
Woman shot multiple times at Athens business, 74-year-old arrested
Athens-Clarke County police are investigating a shooting that injured a woman inside a business early Monday.
Commentary: What WA’s elections say about Oregon politics
Oregon political observers hoping to extract lessons of some kind from the votes of Nov. 4 aren’t completely out of luck thanks to their neighbor on the north side of the Columbia River Elections in various states this month drew national attention and pundits read them closely for longer-term implications, but not in Oregon, where […]
Congress begins final session of 2025 with healthcare (and a dash of AI policy) on the docket
At the top of lawmakers' economic agenda is a promised vote on healthcare left over from the 43-day shutdown fight. Also being debated are two limited AI measures that have a last chance for action in 2025.
Survey: New York cellphone ban helping student engagement, teacher effectiveness
92% of respondents said the transition to the policy, implemented at the beginning of this academic school year, went smoothly.
Think the viral meme of that legislator is funny?
Political philosopher says rampant schadenfreude among electorate poses risk to democracy.
AI becomes a political wedge issue, creating odd bedfellows across parties
MAGA media personality Steve Bannon described the fight on the right as one between populists and "broligarchs" in the tech industry.
André Carson drawn out of Indy House district in proposed redistricting map
Carson's home near downtown Indianapolis, currently in the 7th District, which he's held since 2008, would now be in the ninth congressional district.
Netflix’s #1 Movie Right Now Is a Holiday Crime Flick Packed with More Twists Than a Box of Candy Canes
Netflix’s newest holiday hit mixes romance, humor, and an unexpected heist, complete with charming leads and a plot twist viewers can’t stop talking about. Get all the details here.
GUEST COLUMN: What Washington’s elections say about Oregon politics
Elections in various states in November drew national attention and pundits read them closely for longer-term implications, but not in Oregon, where voters who received ballots (this writer did not) had little more than local ballot issues and other mostly low-key contests.
Inside this year’s White House holiday decor
It took 150 volunteers working for one week, with 25,000 feet of ribbon, 120 pounds of gingerbread, more than 10,000 butterflies and a 6,000-piece Lego portrait of President Donald Trump’s likeness to deck the White House halls this year.
Exchanging a holiday gift? Science is on your side. | News
Gift givers aren't nearly as offended by returns as the recipient may think, SDSU marketing research shows.
Hearing in case that could rewrite the rules of religion in politics
A Texas hearing saw pushback to the federal government's recent reversal of a decades-long precedent that banned churches from endorsing politicians.
Buddy Dyer says Bale Dalton is the best Democrat to take on Cory Mills
'I’m honored to support him, and I encourage others who want a steady, principled voice in Congress to join me.'
'Do it right:' Trump posts cryptic message after ballroom setbacks
President Donald Trump and his chosen architect have clashed over the enormous construction project at The White House.
Netanyahu's unusual pardon request sets up political test
Benjamin Netanyahu's request for a pardon to "promote reconciliation" in Israel has sparked huge debate, as the prime minister's long-running corruption trial continues to divide Israeli society.
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.
Monday Morning Politics; NJ's Congressional Race & Jersey City Mayoral Election; Holiday Travel, Then and Now; HIV Prevention Drugs | The Brian Lehrer Show
Monday Morning Politics; New Jersey's Congressional Race & Jersey City Mayoral Election; Holiday Travel, Then and Now; HIV Prevention Drugs
Living near marijuana shops may increase chance of health issues, study finds
A recent study from the Washington State Institute for Public Policy found that people across the state who lived near licensed marijuana stores were more likely to be diagnosed with cannabis use disorder.
The Voice of Alabama Politics examines Jones bid, power rates, PBS, libraries
Bill Britt, Susan Britt and Josh Moon analyze Alabama’s governor race, energy policy, public media and library censorship debates.
The New Art of the Peace Deal
The Trump administration’s business-first approach is rewriting the rules of peacemaking, for better or for worse.
The most powerful news photos of the year
The most powerful news photos taken by Getty Images photographers in 2025 captured political unrest, natural disasters, and other major news events.
Behind the holiday lights, small businesses hustle to be at Snowport
Vendors can pay over $27,000 in rent for their Snowport booth.
Capitol agenda: Health deal hinges on Trump
Capitol Hill factions are trying to figure out what the president wants and how to entice him to their side.
Sports Daily: Chiefs aim to stay in playoff hunt in upcoming game against Houston
The busy holiday week is behind us. We have Chiefs, college football, college hoops and more to talk about. Paul Mills and Joshua Brisco join the show.
9 mistakes to avoid making at a work event, according to etiquette experts
According to etiquette experts, avoiding leadership and hiding behind your phone are things you should never do at a work event or holiday party.
Politics: 2025Talks - December 1, 2025
Politics in the United States and around the world.
Future Focus: Vaccine Politics, EU Hiring, and Campbell’s Crisis
From vaccine polarization to EU hiring challenges and a Campbell PR crisis, here’s what business leaders need to know now.
Science must move from materialism to mystery
Theoretical physicist and neuroscientist Àlex Gómez-Marín argues that modern science has become trapped in a framework that mistakes matter for the whole of reality. In this wide-ranging interview, Gómez-Marín challenges the foundations of materialism, defends the scientific study of near-death experiences, and calls for a new type of science grounded in mystery and a renewed sense of the sacred. He suggests that abandoning materialism could open the door to a deeper understanding of consciousness, death, and the purpose of human existence. Simon Custer: You are both a theoretical physicist and a neuroscientist, and you have also been fiercely critical of materialist theories of mind and consciousness. What do you think the ultimate nature of reality is?Àlex Gómez-Marín: I don't know what the ultimate nature of reality is, but what I try to first assess is whether the stories that they [mainstream science] have told us about it are right, or maybe whether there are other alternatives. That's why I've been a fierce critic of materialism. As a scientist, I realized that they had sold us this idea that to be a good scientist you also had to subscribe to many other -isms, like materialism, reductionism, and even secularism. And so first I think one needs to unmount these -isms, and then, as is happening today in consciousness studies, we have a huge landscape where there isn't only one game in town, the idea that matter is the only thing that really exists. But because we are studying the hard problem of consciousness, it may be the case that other views of reality, like idealism, or even dualism, or other theories like dual aspect monism... these are philosophical ideas that now, I think, have room in science to be taken seriously. How does something like materialism relate to dualism or idealism? What is materialism in the first place?Well, materialism is the philosophical position that matter is the only really ‘real’ thing in the universe. And I think that worked kind of well because science started 400 years ago and Galileo made that split, I call it the foundational wound. It was a great business move.He said, let's start doing science on that portion of reality that lends itself more easily to mathematization and measurement. So, for some reason, the solidity of this table or the movement of planets lend themselves very well to this foundational idea of science. But as time went on, 400 years later, we realized that we had forgotten the other side, which is what really matters.What really matters is pain, is love, is feelings, sensation, consciousness, which is very hard to define, but very intimate. We all know what it is. It's that thing that disappears when we go into deep sleep and comes back in the morning. SUGGESTED VIEWING On the edges of knowledge With Michael Shermer, Rupert Sheldrake, Güneş Taylor It's what it is like to be, as Nagel said. It's the feeling of being alive. So, materialism is good to study certain things, but then when it ossifies into this ideology and then is dressed like science, now it's preventing us from understanding these key questions that are really that everybody wants to know.Why are we here? Why do we feel reality? Where do we go when we die? And so we need other ways. We need pluralism. I'm only asking for having more options on the table and taking them seriously. Why does materialism fail to explain consciousness? For example, if you were to lobotomize me, I would not be a functional human being. What do you say to someone who might think that materialism adequately explains the mind?Well, here we could speak about different things. We could talk about physics or about neuroscience. I happen to have training with both.For instance, for neuroscientists, 99% of them, I'm not included in that portion, believe that the brain can only be a productive organ. It's an organ that somehow, somewhere, consciousness emerges. It's like a lamp. And then something happens, magic happens, and then consciousness emerges.That's the position you need to be if you're a materialist because if the only really ‘real’ thing is matter, then you need to say, just give us some more time and money and we'll figure out how mind emerges or is produced from matter. There are many philosophically sophisticated ways of criticizing this.Now there's another option, which is the brain as a permissive organ. This was said by William James more than 100 years ago.Now then the brain wouldn't be like this machine, like for instance, a heat engine whose smoke is consciousness, which is what we would have in the first big model, the productive model. But in the permissive model, the brain would be a kind of a filter. And so the brain would still have a very important role in consciousness, but it wouldn't be a productive role.It would be permissive, much like a filter or much like a prism which would receive light. And - I'm speaking metaphorically - it would receive the light of the mind and then it could reflect it and refract it.Now, with these two big options on the table, I think we can make progress into what I call the edges of consciousness, which are all these experiences, weird experiences that many people have, but we don't talk about enough, like near-death experiences, precognitive dreams, synchronicities. These experiences are very important for humans and they have a place in the permissive hypothesis and they are literally impossible in the productive hypothesis. So that's yet one more reason to explore alternatives to materialism. There may be anecdotal evidence for near-death experiences, but is there robust evidence that would be accepted by the majority of scientists who subscribe to the scientific method?Sure. And the plural of anecdotes, someone said, is data.And there's a lot of data. Actually, this year is the 50th anniversary, half a century, since Dr. Raymond Moody realized that we have two ears and one mouth and started listening to what his patients had to say about their experiences while they were clinically dead.The heart had stopped, breathing had stopped in these patients. These patients would come back and tell him these amazing stories that some people may say are hallucinations, but for the patients were hyper-real, like seeing light at the end of the tunnels, seeing deceased family members waiting for them, feeling bliss.___I would say the evidence suggests that the mind can survive the death of activity of the brain.___And so he and others started taking them seriously and writing their accounts down. And then you can do a science based on that material of experience that people have. Now, on the more objective side, more recently people have started to measure what's going on in the brain when people are clinically dead and brought back. This has opened a proper field of study, which is near-death studies.Evidence is a difficult word, because sometimes people think that when you say evidence, this is just the final proof. Evidence is like in a jury. You bring testimony, you bring pieces of data that point in one direction or another.I would say the evidence suggests that the mind can survive the death of activity of the brain. When brains are broken or shut off, there can still be mind going on. And that's revolutionary.That would entail that when we die, it's not game over, which, by the way, is the thesis of materialism. If consciousness survives, materialism dies. It's game over for materialism if something of us continues after we die. Do you think that there is mental continuity after death?Well, I think so, and I believe so, and I could also say I may have experienced it myself, because four years ago I had a near-death experience. I was in the hospital, I lost a lot of blood, and I saw those beings at the end of the tunnel, three beings, and there was yellow light. I was in a well, I was looking upwards, and I hadn't read about NDEs by then, but when I came back from this experience, I decided I would try to integrate this also in my professional life. Not just my personal life, of course, but my professional life as a physicist and as a neuroscientist. So I may have had the experience of glimpses of what an afterlife would be, and I'm not ashamed to say it in this way, and then one can do science of it, and then one can do philosophy of it.One can think about what -isms we were discussing, what views on reality would allow those experiences to be really ‘real,’ as opposed to, well, poor guy, the brain was kind of broken, it must have been a hallucination. Do you have a view about whether individuality or “the ego” persists after death, or whether we sort of merge into some sort of cosmic consciousness instead?I don't know, but my view would be along those lines you're suggesting. I think we could speak about a kind of universal mind, and then the problem is not how we emerge from matter, but how we fragment from a more holistic consciousness into these individual eddies and then when we die, this kind of dissipates.But I'm not sure. For instance, idealism would promote that view, but then what would survive of us after these eddies just vanish and become again the big Consciousness, I'm not sure what that would be. I don't know for sure, but I would tell you I believe something of us survives.And there are other lines of research, not just near-death experience, that can address this really hard question of survival. For instance, there are children who remember previous lives. This was studied by Ian Stevenson at the University of Virginia for more than 50 years.___Research takes place within a selection mechanism that also sometimes reinforces things that are not very scientific.___It's amazing research. He went all over the world, especially in the East, and collected all these case studies, all these stories. In plural, these were data of kids, very young age, who would describe up to 40 items that then he could go and verify.There was no internet. There was really no way the kid could know. Why would the kid say that when I was living in this other body and I was a woman and that's how my house would look like or that's how I would die, right? Again, there is evidence, not proof, but there's evidence not only that something weird and interesting is happening as we cross the threshold, but also when we come back to this life.Scientists should not be afraid of studying this, but they are because there's stigma. There's usually stigma upon the enigma, and this is so unfortunate. And one of the reasons is because of the ideology of materialism, because those things cannot be possible. What is wrong with the politics of science such that they have generated this stigma?So many things. Science is a human activity to begin with.So it falls prey to all our passions and ego and greed. That's one thing. Science is a job for the good and for the bad.You need to get a salary. You need to get grants. Research takes place within a selection mechanism that also sometimes reinforces things that are not very scientific.And then, we didn't have time to unpack this, but science for many years become entangled, as I was suggesting before, to other -isms, materialism, secularism. So anything that smells like the afterlife, people may think has to do with God, and then they freak out.Anything that suggests that there's something about the mind that may not need a physical material substrate to exist, it smells like non-materialism. So, all these -isms are ideologically blocking that kind of research, and then there are all these sociopolitical constraints as to what should be studied and what shouldn't be studied.I call it the backstage of science. Sometimes we scientists or science communicators seem to speak as if the data is the only thing that matters. We say, well, data and theory.But then there's a third leg of this stool, which is all the politics that goes behind the scenes. And we often don't speak about this, and it's quite vicious and petty, and it's very real. Why is materialism so attractive to most scientists?Well, an easy answer is because we've grown up with it.It's what the educational system promotes, and that's what you hear when you go to university. So it's like growing in a culture. It feels like the air in which you breathe.So it's very hard to begin with to detect, well, maybe there's another alternative. Maybe there are other ways of doing science, other environments in which one could do science. That's one reason.And other reasons maybe are more profound, and I'm not qualified to explain them, but I could say, looking at this 400-year history of science, since it started around 1623 with Galileo's book The Assayer, that science went and coupled with all what's going on in the West.And so the fall of religion, you could say, and science presented us this new alternative that then could be coupled very well with other -isms, and this idea of growth, and then science losing its good twin brother, which was philosophy. There's a whole natural history of science starting as philosophy, kind of emancipating or breaking out from philosophy, and then marrying technology, and then marrying other social systems.From that point of view, materialism is a very convenient idea to propose. There were attempts, like the German idealists tried to do a more romantic science. But no, the idea prevailed, like Francis Bacon said: You should pursue nature through all her corners, he said, and make her spill her secrets.Our attitude towards nature in the science that dominates is very much reflecting how we treat nature in our society, in our culture, like a resource to extract secrets by force and then dominate it. How is materialism related to the notions of growth and progress? What's wrong with having a productive citizenry?This is another very interesting and very difficult question to answer.But there's this recent book coming out by Paul Kingsnorth. In it, he explains this idea of the machine and this idea of progress. And this, again, this conflation of more is better, of we need to go forward always, and convincing us that the way to do that is to continually extract more from nature. But because we don't have the religious context anymore, because God is dead, then what do we have? We have what we can do as humans with our own gadgets.It's kind of the story of the Promethean fire. We will just build anything to make ourselves God.A good example today is transhumanism. Transhumanism is this pseudo-religion dressed in technoscientific language whose goal is very religious. They promise immortality, they promise redemption, they promise transformation of the entire natural world, but it's done by human means through technology. Are you suggesting that we can't have ethics without religion?Well, we should have ethics with or without religion. That's another pruning that has happened in science. We say, forget about aesthetics, although some physicists still think that beautiful means probably true, and forget about politics. We pretend there's no backstage of science, and even let's forget about ethics.___Science needs to be in the service of mankind.___Scientists, when they become more like engineers, they're just thinking how to make things work so that they can go to the moon, go to Mars, make machines that think, but they don't think whether that's a good idea.And also consider metaphysics. Many scientists for a long time pretended, and maybe that comes from the stream of positivisms, that really one doesn't need metaphysics at all, except that materialism is always the metaphysics running the system.You see, it's not just ethics. It's the pruning of all of these, you could say, five main legs of philosophy that just makes a kind of unconscious science, a science that doesn't really know what it's doing. It's doing it very well locally, but it just doesn't know what it's doing globally. Do you think science has to have an ultimate vision and purpose behind it for it to be effective or for it to be meaningful and transformative?Yes, a way I would say that is that science needs to be in the service of mankind. And it hasn't been that. And we can see it through, you know, when we discovered the secrets of the atom, and all of a sudden, the Manhattan Project, and then we create nuclear weapons.And now we're trying to crack how machines may think, and now we're creating this mess, right? So science needs to be in service of mankind, not in service of a few ideas that maybe want to make more money or just dominate upon nature. What about planes, trains, automobiles, and modern medicine? Hasn't science served mankind by helping us develop those technologies?Yes and no. I see where you're going, and it's fair.I came here by plane, and it's a blessing. When I almost died, the surgeons did their job, and they saved my life. But these two forced choices between Luddites and Silicon Valley types, I think, of course, it's a false dichotomy.Progress, in a way, it's good, but we often don't speak about the dark side of the moon. We say the great things that progress has brought, and we don't speak about the disasters, the side effects that it has come with, and the same when we promise new technologies. We tend to think that any technology is great, that email is going to save us so much time because we don't need to write letters and send them anymore.Is that true? I spend so many hours a week writing emails. Let's just say there are great things about it and bad things about it. People like Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, for example, argue that we've made moral progress over time because of the Enlightenment. Do you think that's totally wrong-headed?I think he's emphasizing a side of the moon, and he does that very well, and you can find tons of plots where there's a slope going up and say it's great. But I think he should also tell the not-so-friendly story.But if your ideology is just to resist and continue to explain that the Enlightenment is the best thing ever and reason is the best thing ever… this feels to me like you're worshipping these abstractions.I'm very critical of it and also of these, again, science communicators and scientists that say, Oh, science says, in the name of science, experts say. It's like, come on, let's be careful because we can shoot ourselves in the foot by putting forth to the people an image of science that we know is not really true. Recently there's been a resurgence of spirituality and of people who say that they're spiritual but not religious, especially in the United States. If materialism is going away, what is going to fill that gap? Are we going to return to traditional religion? Do you see that being connected with the rise of the political right?I'm not a fortune teller, so I don't know what's going to happen. But, yeah, we could say we're in this post-materialist age and even post-secular age. One cannot come back to the past, but maybe just to contact with the roots is a good idea.What do I mean by that? I think we need to do a science 2.0, a science that says thank you to Galileo and thank you to materialism, but we need to reinvent even a new kind of scientific method. We need to do so in a culture where we realize humans cannot thrive in a vacuum where there's this idea that the sacred has to be removed.Now, how do we do that without bringing in back all the vices of religion? I don't know. I'm from a Catholic country.Here we are in England, so there are differences and interreligious dialogue has always been a challenge. But I think maybe a way of putting it is: after all these conflicts and branchings I was quickly alluding to, science from philosophy and then also from religion, now there's a time of reconciliation perhaps and maybe debates in the proper sense, like exchange of ideas in service of learning and getting into something higher than both poles. We need science to talk to religious people and it's interesting when people say they're spiritual and not religious.I think this is just a way of saying, no, I don't want to go back, I want to go forward. But at the end of the day, religions have offered us practices and grounding that we now desperately need. Everybody can and should just meditate or pray or do whatever they want, but we're in a crisis and it's time for reconciliation. What do you say to critics that say you are merely projecting our need for meaning onto a fundamentally indifferent universe?Yeah, I know that the typical science communicator says something like this. But we're not projecting. Human beings feed on meaning.It's the other way around. If you're a materialist, because the only thing that there is is matter, all that comes next, free will, consciousness, meaning, this is a kind of illusion that we need to explain.They're just craving for meaning, but there isn't really for them. I would also like to remind my materialist friends that for decades, if not centuries, they've said in the name of science, we know that this and this and this doesn't really exist. I think now they sense they're forced to say, well, actually, we don't know. We've been saying, for instance, that there's nothing after you die, and now probably they need to admit that they don't know the answer.___We need to do a science 2.0, a science that says thank you to Galileo and thank you to materialism, but we need to reinvent even a new kind of scientific method.___So it's a moment to open up possibilities and also to gently but fiercely critique these claims that I think harm society. If you say in the name of science, get on with it, when your father dies, you'll never see him again. Well, what the F do you know about it? You haven't studied the literature, you haven't had any of those experiences, and basically what you're doing is you're just doing marketing on ideology. This needs to stop. Do you think that it's scarier for some people to entertain the thought that there might be life after death, compared to a materialist worldview where you just die, given that there might be consequences for unsavory behaviour?Well, death and dying is scary. It's maybe the ultimate ending. It's a limit on life, and when we're in this conquest mode, we don't like limits.And it also has, there's a shockwave backwards, so I think if you change your notion of what death is or may be, you live differently. It also has consequences, as you're saying, for the future because this is not our only goal here and we come back in whatever form. And again, different religions would say different things. I the East, they are more happy with the idea of reincarnation, and here in the West, there are other preferences. But in any case, it changes how we live, and that's really what matters.It's not about just projecting or imagining what we'll be after, but how we live now and also how we treat those who are dying. So it goes from the individual to the families, to the hospitals.Now in the near-death research I do, this has ramifications at all these levels, all the way to society.But our society is thanatophobic. It has a phobia of death. We don't want to hear about death, and this is another thing we need to put on the table and be willing to talk about it. Do you think that we might get closer to answering ultimate questions like why is there anything at all if we jettison materialism?That’s an excellent question, Simon. Two things: we should stop treating reality, I believe, as a great sudoku, as an enigma, as something that with intelligence, money, and time that we will crack and instead treat reality more like a mystery. And what you do for in front of a mystery is not to be the clever guy in a class and say “I’ll solve you” but more like “I will bow and you will transform me.”I know this sounds a bit like a scientist speaking like a mystic. But I think this reorientation is needed. In the end, we won’t crack the big questions, but they will transform us. If we free ourselves from this prison of materialism, the way we will explore these questions will be freer, more creative, and in service of mankind. Do you think exploring mystery is the reason why we are here?I think we are here because, and this pseudo-theological argument I’m making off the cuff, But the One, the Absolute, if there is such a thing, had everything except limitation. We are that absolute experiencing that contingency. It’s like an act of divine proprioception. It’s a wonderful adventure, it’s just incredible to be alive. Perhaps we have forgotten why we are here and the whole point is to experience the flesh.Let me end by saying this. I criticize materialism harshly. I bang on this dead horse, because I think it’s dead. But matter is a great mystery. So maybe my invitation is as follows: hey materialist friends, come here, let’s work on materialism 2.0! Consciousness is a mystery, but matter is also a mystery. The fact that we can have an intersubjective experience consensus, the fact that we can apply mathematics, that we can measure things... the physical world we take for granted, but it is a great mystery too.Maybe that’s related to your last question: why are we here? Why did spirit decide to incarnate? Being in the flesh may be a great thing if spirit decided to do so.Àlex Gómez-Marín, thank you very much.My pleasure.
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