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'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.
Grady Health System opens Decatur outpatient center
Grady Health System is opening its Flat Shoals Parkway Outpatient Health Center this week.
'There’s a lot of harassment' | Madisonville business owner looking for solutions after safety issues
Liz Field of The Cheesecakery told us the harassment and issues have gotten worse within the last year, and now she’s at her wits' end and doesn’t know what to do.
BREAKING: New historic entertainment district designated in Downtown Madison
🚂 GREEN CUP DISTRICT IN MADISON: Check out the newest entertainment district in North Alabama.
Does Congress see war crimes in Venezuela?
Amid reports Pete Hegseth ordered a second strike on a Venezuelan boat, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine about how Congress is handling oversight of the Pentagon.
Raptors, Trail Blazers plan to learn from respective losing streaks
The Toronto Raptors aim to regain their winning touch during a five-game homestand that starts Tuesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Apple Artificial Intelligence Head to Leave After AI Struggles
Apple Inc. artificial intelligence head John Giannandrea plans to step down from the job, ending a challenging stint at the iPhone maker.
The issue that's scrambling both parties: From the Politics Desk
Plus, Indiana lawmakers return to take up redistricting, even with the outcome uncertain.
NBA power rankings: Thunder dominate as Lakers, Pistons chase
The Oklahoma City Thunder are not only the first team to 20 victories, they also lead the NBA in net rating (12.7).
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. ...
Bills show resilience in overcoming mistakes, injuries by dominating Steelers
Put aside the turnovers, middling passing production, poor tackling and all the other issues that have hounded the Buffalo Bills for much of this season
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.
Does Recent Business Model Shift Make DocuSign a Better Value for Investors in 2025?
Curious if DocuSign is trading at a bargain or if recent changes have made it less appealing? Let’s break down what has been happening and what it could mean for anyone eyeing the stock. DocuSign’s stock has experienced some volatility recently, climbing 5.2% in the last week, but still down 23.2% year-to-date and 13.6% over the past 12 months. Analyst discussion has focused on DocuSign’s evolving business model and strategic partnerships, both of which have been making headlines and...
What's Up: December 2025 Skywatching Tips from NASA
The 3I/ATLAS comet makes its closest approach to Earth, the Geminid meteor shower sparkles across the sky, and the Moon and Jupiter get close for a conjunction.
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.
From Barton to Breakthrough Science
Dr. Taylor Medlock-Lanier, Class of 2020, has spent the last five years in her lab at the University of Georgia surrounded by containers of planarians—tiny flatworms with an extraordinary superpower. Cut one in half, and within a week, it will regrow its missing parts, including its entire brain. She’s been asking these tiny creatures a
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...
Nightreign Reveals Its Deadliest Field Boss And I Don't Believe It
Bell Bearing Hunter's placement is raising questions
Premier League predictions: Chris Sutton v Felix White
BBC Sport football expert Chris Sutton takes on Felix White - and AI - with his predictions for the midweek Premier League fixtures.
The Red Sox are already crying poor
As free agency begins, the Red Sox want you to believe they don’t make money.
White House reveals new details on Donald Trump's MRI
President Trump’s MRI showed perfectly normal cardiovascular and abdominal results, with the White House saying he remains in excellent health.
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.
Strange Chernobyl dark fungus may 'eat' radiation and even help...
This dark discovery is breaking the mold.
At least 9 Indiana Republicans were targeted in swatting attacks amid redistricting pressure from Trump
The threats came after Trump publicly called on state lawmakers to pass new congressional maps that would benefit Republicans.
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.
This Unbeatable LG OLED Deal Takes the Cyber Monday Crown
Nab this stunning LG OLED C5 smart TV at a deep discount at Amazon and Best Buy.
Jeffries seeks to raise pressure on GOP centrists over expiring health care subsidies
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is pressing centrist Republicans to help Democrats extend ObamaCare tax credits before they expire at the end of the month. Jeffries has offered…
Johnson and Trump Try to Avoid an Upset House Loss in Tennessee
Speaker Mike Johnson put the president on speakerphone during a Monday stop in the state, underscoring the unusual amount of national attention on a House special election.
Forsberg: Jordan Walsh emerging as the 'violent defender' C's were promised
After Jordan Walsh's career night, Chris Forsberg breaks down how the young Celtics wing has become a legitimate difference-maker on defense.
WHO issues guidance on GLP-1 drugs for obesity, calls them a "scientific breakthrough" and "new chapter"
Science Power-up: Where Biomanufacturing Can Take Us This Century
Explore how fundamental science is shaping the future of everyday items we all rely on, from food to plastics – and how artificial intelligence and data will power the technologies of tomorrow in biomanufacturing.
Cyber Monday AirPods Deals - Get Year's Best Prices on AirPods 4 ANC, AirPods Pro 3, and More
Cyber Monday is one of the best times of the year to shop for AirPods, and in 2025 we're tracking massive discounts across nearly every model, including AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 3. Note. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Strong Flare Erupts From Sun
The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 9:49 p.m. ET on Nov. 30, 2025. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured
In rare move, Gov. Jeff Landry intervenes in House GOP leadership race. Here's why.
Governors have often picked speakers of the House and presidents of the Senate, but weighing in on the Republican Caucus leadership is unusual.
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.'
Dr. Willie Lockett to Serve as Guest Speaker at Health Sciences Short-
Coahoma Community College is proud to announce that Dr. Willie Lockett, Jr., Director of Respiratory Care at Coahoma Community College, will serve as the guest speaker at the Short-Term Programs Pinni
iPad Mini Drops to New All-Time Low Price of $349 for Cyber Monday
Amazon and Best Buy have introduced new low prices on the iPad mini 7 for Cyber Monday, starting at $349.00 for the 128GB Wi-Fi tablet, down from $499.00. You'll also find a few deals on cellular models during this sale. Note. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
‘The tools to imagine solutions’: Science educator inspires Pakistani children
Science Fuse, a social enterprise, primarily teaches children in impoverished areas, including the Machar Colony slum area in Karachi.
Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Elects Little Rock Volleyball Coach Van Compton
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – One of the most decorated coaches in Little Rock Athletics history is adding another major honor to her résumé. The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame announced Sunday that Trojan head volleyball coach Van Compton has been elected for induction into the 2026 Class. Compton will be formally inducted on April 10, at Oaklawn in Hot Springs.
Indiana lawmakers convene with redistricting top of mind
Republicans who control the House chamber have said there's no doubt that redistricting will pass that chamber. But the fate of any proposal to emerge remains uncertain in the Senate.
Olympic sports weekend recap: Mikaela Shiffrin as peerless as ever in slalom, makes 4th Olympics
Mikaela Shiffrin extended a slalom win streak but still has work to do in another event.
How upcoming business leaders are using AI to prep for high-stakes deal negotiations—and everyday interactions
Students at American University’s Kogod School of Business are learning how to use AI to sharpen the way they negotiate everything from job offers to high-stakes mergers.
Early Fantasy baseball 2026 breakouts
Top 2026 fantasy breakout picks and key early players to target for big upside.
Science on Tap: The science behind food
Wisconsinites tend to take pride in being the dairy state, encouraging the love of everything from cheese curds to custard to cream puffs.But are you aware of how much research goes into perfecting the products?
I tried the biggest burgers at 5 fast-food chains and ranked them from worst to best
The biggest burgers from McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, In-N-Out, and Shake Shack were all different in flavor profiles and price points.
Former USDA-ARS Lead Scientist and Researcher Brendan Niemira Takes Over as Chief Science and Technology Officer at IFT
Former USDA-ARS lead scientist and researcher Brendan Niemira takes over as the new Chief Science and Technology Officer at IFT.
5 takeaways from Broncos' 27-26 overtime win vs. Commanders
Here are five quick takeaways from the Broncos' wild win on 'Sunday Night Football.'
Lane Kiffin picks LSU to highlight college football coaching carousel chaos
It was a crazy weekend in sports from Lane Kiffin taking the LSU job to all of the NFL upsets
The Nintendo Switch 2 is $50 off at Walmart during Cyber Monday
An unexpected hardware discount.
Higher health costs force financial trade-offs: Investors 'worry about all these moving pieces,' top advisor says
Rising health premiums and expenses on top of already higher costs for everyday items are forcing people to make trade-offs in their budgets.
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.
Netflix Makes Screencasting From Phones To A Bigger Screen Almost Impossible
If you wanted to watch Netflix on a TV, you could always screencast a show or movie from your phone directly to a smart TV. That's no longer possible.
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.
Today's biggest science news: X-class solar flares | Chernobyl fungus | Modern humans interbred with 'hobbits'
Monday, Dec. 1, 2025: Your daily feed of the biggest discoveries and breakthroughs making headlines.
Ebola outbreak in Congo declared over by health officials
An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now over, Congolese health officials announced on Monday, after the country went 42 consecutive days without recording a new case.
Understanding tea's health benefits and risks
The review confirms that tea, particularly green tea, plays a crucial role in preventing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), obesity, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
Exploring Denmark’s Tardigrade Fauna through Citizen Science
In a groundbreaking study that intertwines the realms of citizen science and systematic biology, researchers have successfully unveiled an intricate tapestry of tardigrade fauna residing in Danish cryptogams. Tardigrades, or “water bears,” are microscopic, water-dwelling ani
New Editorial Leadership for Twin Cities Business
MSP Communications announces appointment of Platt and Rybak to new roles.
Rams upset by Panthers; Chargers win, but Justin Herbert is injured
The Rams are no longer the top seed in the NFC after losing, while the Chargers win, but Justin Herbert breaks his left hand.
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.
New Breakthrough to Strengthen Bone Could Reverse Osteoporosis
A potential treatment for millions.
League of Legends 2026 S1 Gameplay Changes: Atakhan Removed, New Plates on T2 & T3, Nashor Back at 20
Dive into in-depth analysis and latest updates in the world of League of Legends Esports with Sheep Esports.
The CNRS is breaking free from the Web of Science
From January 1st 2026, the CNRS will cut access to one of the largest commercial bibliometric databases, Clarivate Analytics'
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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