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Barry Manilow opens up about ‘agony’ of lung cancer surgery recovery: ‘I am getting stronger’
Barry Manilow shared a health update, saying he is "getting stronger" after lung cancer surgery forced tour postponements through March 2025 for recovery.
Empowering Communities to Tackle Structural Racism Through New Health Equity Training Series
At a time when too many families are still forced to choose between buying groceries or paying rent, seeking care or staying silent, HCN Global is launching the ninth edition of the Culture of Health / la Cultura de Salud, a multicultural, bilingual multimedia programming series that addresses social determinants of health affecting Latino and Black communities in the US. This year the multimedia series will feature a new webinar series to help community leaders identify and address one of the r
Prolonged Mideast crisis could shut oil output itself
If export routes via the Strait of Hormuz remain blocked, producers could be forced to halt production as storage fills up.
Samsung Forced to Sweeten Galaxy S26 Ultra Pre-orders Already
Samsung quickly upped their best Galaxy S26 Ultra deal to $980 off with a new $30 credit.
Clinton Halts Epstein Deposition After Republican Leaks Photo of Her Testifying
Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, had requested a public hearing if she was going to be forced to testify in the House Oversight Committee’s investigation, but the G.O.P. chairman had refused.
Galaxy S26 ‘Now Nudge’ is basically Google Pixel’s Magic Cue, but you’re forced to use Samsung Keyboard
Samsung is completely changing directions this year, and among moves like adding Perplexity as an AI assistant instead of relying...
Column: You should try a combat sport
"The shared physical suffering, the forced humility in the face of a more skilled sparring partner and increased physical confidence can fill in some of the holes our modern, ultra-digital society often leaves."
The ACA health coverage subsidy lapse hit 22 million people. Here are some of their stories
The lapse of enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act marketplace insurance has forced families to make difficult financial choices.
600 people forced to sleep on grounded planes after heavy snow
Six flights were unable to take off before Munich Airport's curfew. Staffing issues then meant passengers were stranded on the planes.
7 Central Florida eateries shut down over health violations
Last week, seven more restaurants across Central Florida were forced to close after a visit from a health inspector, according to state records.
Vt. business blames Trump tariffs for first layoffs in nearly 50 years
A Westford business says the president's tariffs drove sales down and forced layoffs.
Boise business reopens in new location after crash forced closure
Woodland Park business forced to close after mold contamination discovery
Hunt & Homestead Marketplace in Woodland Park closes due to mold contamination as owner proposes new landlord safety requirements to city council.
McTominay opens up about recent injury and future at Napoli
Napoli star Scott McTominay sees himself at the club for ‘a very long time’ but admits he must ‘manage’ a tendon problem that forced him to miss the last two games.Napoli and Scotland star McT...
Washtenaw Health Project reports sharp drop in healthcare marketplace enrollments
Executive Director Jeremy Lapedis says families are forced to choose between health insurance and basic necessities as costs increase.
Nonequity Partners: It’s Not Personal, It’s Just Business
Nonequity partnership isn't beloved by those forced into it.
HMAC announces closure, forced by dispute with city over unpaid entertainment taxes
Harrisburg Midtown Art Center announced its closure on Tuesday, stating it couldn’t procure essential operating licenses from the city after failing to pay its entertainment taxes. “We acknowledge that entertainment tax is owed,” HMAC, which initially opened in 2009, wrote on Facebook. The venue has already been effectively closed for the past two weeks, according […]
Why Is Mamdani Threatening a Property Tax Hike?
The mayor says the city will be forced to raise property taxes if Governor Hochul and Albany refuse to increase taxes on the wealthy.
Peru’s Congress Removes President Jerí After Four Months in Office
Peru’s President José Jerí was ousted by congress after just four months in office, as lawmakers forced him out for failing to declare meetings with Chinese businessmen and for allegedly hiring unqualified young women to work with him.
Dolphins reportedly release edge rusher Bradley Chubb
Chubb had 47 tackles, 8.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles last season.
Dolphins reportedly release Bradley Chubb
Chubb had 47 tackles, 8.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles last season.
Country star calls off 2 more shows after health issue forced him to leave stage early
The country music star has had a rough couple years of health issues.
NY youth mental health settlement: Governor’s budget fails to fund
A class-action lawsuit forced the state to overhaul youth behavioral health services. But the governor’s proposed budget includes no new investment.
Adam Silver forced to address competitiveness, Clippers, more crises amid commissioner's most challenging year
Silver addressed the media at NBA All-Star Weekend in L.A., and there was not a shortage of burdensome topics
White House Withholds Funding for NASA Science Missions Despite Recent Budget Bill
NASA has been forced to pause funds for Chandra X-Ray Observatory and other missions until further notice.
Advancing Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health: Key Advocacy Messages for the 39th African Union Summit
At the 39th African Union Summit, PMNCH underscores urgent priorities to advance women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health across Africa, where preventable deaths remain disproportionately high despite longstanding commitments. In 2023, more than 70% of global maternal deaths occurred on the continent, with an estimated 182,000 women dying from pregnancy-related causes, alongside nearly 58% of global under-five deaths, almost half of newborn deaths and a stillbirth rate of 21.7 per 1,000 total births. PMNCH’s key messages call for accelerated implementation of existing commitments, stronger financing for sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, prioritization of fragile settings, and reinforced partnerships to translate political will into measurable progress.
If You Want To Keep Using Your HomePod, Update It Now
This forced update may be the first sign we'll finally see a new HomePod, or 'HomePad.'
Scott McTominay expected to recover for Roma clash
Napoli snatched the three points against Genoa thanks to a late penalty from Rasmus Hojlund, but the Neapolitans were concerned about Scott McTominay’s forced substitution. At the end of the first 4...
New Zealand mosque shooter tells court mental health forced him to plead guilty
A white supremacist who killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in New Zealand seven years ago said on Monday that he was irrational when he pleaded guilty, local media reported, as he sought to overturn his conviction in a New Zealand court.
GoFundMe set up after burst pipe floods two Pratt Street businesses in Hartford
Two Hartford businesses on Pratt Street were forced to close after flooding on Friday night damaged their establishments.
Target’s forced-smile rule creeps out shoppers as business struggles
These Central Florida restaurants were closed down last week over health concerns
Last week, five more eateries across Central Florida were forced to close after a visit from a health inspector, according to state records.
I created a Black-owned business directory — ICE forced me to remove it
Rose Barboza explains why ICE activity in Maine forced her to take down a directory of Black-owned businesses she spent years building.
Children at gymnastics meet witness double shooting during violent robbery at nearby business
A violent robbery witnessed by multiple children in Jacksonville’s Lakeshore neighborhood sent two men to the hospital and forced nearby businesses — including a kids’ gymnastics meet — to shut down in the middle of the day.
Microsoft Steps Back from "AI Everywhere" in Windows 11 to Focus on Core Features
If you're tired of seeing Microsoft's AI features like Copilot, agentic workloads, and Recall forced into their products, you're not alone. Microsoft has finally confirmed that it will be stepping back from its "AI everywhere" strategy. According to an exclusive report by Windows Central, the intern...
Living in the US for decades changed me more than I realized
After living in the US for decades, returning to Australia brought unexpected culture shock and forced me to rebuild a sense of home.
Many Richmond businesses close as part of nationwide general strike against recent ICE actions
After many businesses throughout Central Virginia were forced to shutter their doors or alter their hours due to impacts from the winter storm, many have decided to close again on Friday, but for a…
Leon Goretzka move collapses: Atletico Madrid move onto other options
Atletico Madrid have been forced to look at other alternatives to Leon Goreztka with just four days left in the transfer window, after the Bayern Munich midfielder turned down a move to the Metropolit...
Tim Walz says he’s done with politics: ‘I will never run for office again’
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz declares "I will never run for an elected office again" amid massive fraud scandal that forced him to abandon 2026 re-election bid.
6 more Central Florida restaurants close over health violations
Last week, half a dozen eateries across Central Florida were forced to close after a visit from a health inspector, according to state records.
A closer look at what Congress protected in the FY 2026 Commerce, Justice, and Science bill—and how lawmakers plan to hold agencies accountable
"What we're trying to do here is make sure that the Congress's powers under the Constitution are upheld and can be enforced," Sen. Van Hollen (D-Md.) said.
Clawdbot creator says Anthropic 'forced' name change
Clawdbot, the viral AI agent that caused techies to buy up Mac Minis, is now Moltbot after Anthropic reached out about name and mascot similarities.
Analysis: Twice within a week, Trump is forced to tone down big second-term power grabs
Even President Donald Trump’s push for total, unchecked power may struggle to overcome the potent combination of political reality and moral outrage.
Freezing temperatures force San Antonio farmers’ markets to close, impacting small businesses
Freezing temperatures and harsh winter weather over the weekend forced farmers’ markets across San Antonio to shut down, cutting off a key source of income for many small businesses, especially vendors who rely on busy Saturday and Sunday crowds.
Eric Dane forced to miss event due to 'physical realities' of ALS
Eric Dane was forced to drop out of another event this weekend amid the "Grey's Anatomy" star's battle with ALS.
'Mercy' unseats 'Avatar: Fire & Ash' atop the box office
Some 250 theaters were forced to close, from Texas to Maine
'Mercy' unseats 'Avatar: Fire & Ash' atop the box office
Some 250 theaters were forced to close, from Texas to Maine
'Mercy' unseats 'Avatar: Fire & Ash' atop the box office
Some 250 theaters were forced to close, from Texas to Maine
“SaaS is dying as a business category”
As AI agents commoditize software, companies such as Wix, monday and Nice confront a forced reinvention of growth, pricing and value.
Popular spirits distillery permanently shuts down, no bankruptcy
A challenging business funding and financing environment forced the spirits distillery to permanently close its doors.
8 more Central Florida restaurants shut down over health violations
Last week, eight Central Florida eateries were forced to close after a visit from a state health inspector, according to state records.
Popular alcohol brands could be forced to sell off inventory after bankruptcy setback
Stoli vodka and Kentucky Owl bourbon makers face potential asset liquidation as creditors push to convert Chapter 11 bankruptcy to Chapter 7 proceedings.
Galaxy S26 Ultra may not see a price hike, but it could cost you in other ways
Due to a significant rise in the price of memory chips, Samsung could be forced to make changes to maintain the Galaxy S26 Ultra's pricing.
Polish minister warns of ‘dangerous precedent’ as Hungary’s Orbán grants asylum to fugitive politician
By using asylum to block extradition, Budapest is testing whether EU law can still be enforced between member states.
Prominent Seattle lobbying firm defaults on debts, ousts founder
Ron Dotzauer, the swaggering, cowboy hat-wearing political consultant, has been forced out of his longtime firm, Strategies 360 after defaulting on debts.
'Cyberpunk 2077' VR Mod Taken Down Following Legal Complaint, But There May Still Be Hope
Luke Ross, the prolific VR modder, has been forced to remove his popular Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod, citing legal concerns from CD PROJEKT. The News Ross released word via his Patreon on Saturday that Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt had issued a DMCA takedown notice for the removal of the game’s unofficial VR mod—just one […]
Rams shake off wild TD pass by Caleb Williams to force OT, beat Bears 20-17 to reach NFC title game
CHICAGO (AP) Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams survived an incredible throw by Caleb Williams that forced overtime, beating the Chicago Bears 20-17 on Sunday night to advance to the NFC championship game.
Microsoft’s first Windows 11 update of 2026 stopped some computers from shuting down
Microsoft was forced to release an emergency update after the first Windows 11 update of 2026 stopped some computers from shutting down or hibernating.
Ex-Assassin's Creed Boss Sues Ubisoft Over Alleged Forced Firing
Marc-Alexis Côté was previously in charge of Ubisoft's biggest franchise
Mama Africa's Marketplace in South Shore may be forced to close, owner says
It looks like a South Shore neighborhood staple is going to have to close its doors for good, if the shop can't find a suitable place to go.
Two years after new leaders promised change, Louisiana Democratic Party is still a mess
It’s been nearly two years since a group of upstart Democratic Party activists and voters, frustrated by years of neglect and failure, forced out the Louisiana state party’s chair and some other entrenched leaders. But what has happened since?
King County to begin enforcing in-person work requirement
King County employees will soon have to work in the office at least three days a week, a policy that's been in effect but not enforced.
ROACH PARTY: Health violations shut down over a dozen Central Florida eateries
Over a week into the new year, over a dozen more Central Florida restaurants have been forced to close up shop after a visit from a health inspector.
Frustration mounts inside White House over Pirro’s handling of Powell investigation
White House officials are heaping blame on DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro over her office’s criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, faulting her for blindsiding them with an inquiry that has forced the administration into a dayslong damage control campaign, four people familiar with the matter told CNN.
Chicago police warn about string of forced business burglaries on North Side
Amateur sleuth earns £2m reward for exposing research fraud
A British scientist has forced a leading US cancer research institute to pay a $15m legal settlement after trawling through scientific papers in his spare time
Caribbean travelers spending thousands extra after airspace closure
After the US raid on Venezuela forced flight cancellations, some travelers can't get home for another week and are having to spend thousands extra.
How Trump's tariffs ricochet through a Southern California business park
America's trade wars forced Robert Luna to hike prices on the rustic wooden Mexican furniture he sells from a crowded warehouse here, while down the street, Eddie Cole scrambled to design new products to make up for lost sales on his Chinese-made motorcycle accessories.
How Trump's tariffs ricochet through a Southern California business park
By Timothy Aeppel VALENCIA, California, Jan 9 (Reuters) - America's trade wars forced Robert Luna to hike prices on the rustic wooden Mexican furniture he sells from a crowded warehouse here, while
'This is one of the big moments in college football': Demond Williams Jr.'s case will test if contracts can be enforced
Williams entered the transfer portal days after signing a contract to return to Washington.
New beginnings: Provo business owners reemerge with separate ventures, but same purpose
After a Provo shop was forced to close in February, one of its owners and two previous business owners opened a new space for coffee and community.
At UN, Somalia slams Israel’s Somaliland recognition as ‘threat’ to peace
Somalia says it is concerned the recognition serves as a pretext for the forced relocation of Palestinians.
How national politics rode along in the patrol car in 2025
From political violence and immigration enforcement to shifting criminal justice policy, 2025 forced local law enforcement to absorb the consequences of national decisions — regardless of ideology
Ubisoft is rolling back Rainbow Six Siege servers after being forced to shut them down
Rainbow Six Siege players will have to wait until Ubisoft resolves this major breach that led to a complete server shutdown.
Knights falter again in shootout, lose to Avalanche 6-5
Vegas squandered a pair of two-goal leads and were unable to get the second point after Colorado forced overtime with a late goal.
Man accused of robbing customers, employees at gunpoint inside Eastpointe business
Authorities said a suspect pulled out a gun, forced customers and employees at an Eastpointe business to the ground, and stole their money.
Organizers of Christmas Eve Super Feast say Houston Health Department made them throw out ‘significant’ amount of food
The City Wide Club of America, the organization that hosts the Christmas Eve Super Feast, says they are deeply concerned and frustrated after they say they were forced to throw out a significant amount of food after an inspection by the Houston Health Department.
Alexander Isak: Liverpool fear 'significant' lower leg injury for striker
Liverpool fear Alexander Isak has sustained a significant lower leg injury after the striker was forced off against Tottenham on Saturday.
TikTok reaches deal with investors on its US business
The deal comes more than a year after Congress passed a law that forced the Chinese company to divest its US operations or face a ban.
GenAI users Larian forced to build Divinity around RAM shortage caused by GenAI
Larian's new Divinity game is having to be made with the current RAM storage in mind - a shortage caused by generative AI tools like the ones Larian employ.
State-County Mental Health Talks Blow Past Deadlines
“Let’s be real. If all we are doing is restoring somebody—which, to be blunt, is forced medication and flash cards on basic court procedures like ‘Who is a judge?’ ‘What does your lawyer do?’—it is not treatment.”
RODENTS GALORE: These 5 Central Florida restaurants shut down over health issues
Another five Central Florida eateries were forced to shut down, and they all reportedly shared one feature in common: rodent droppings.
Blindsided: Iconic Gainesville businesses included in 49 ADA lawsuits
Owners forced to settle or spend after dozens of mirror suits.
Apple and Google forced into emergency patching 0-day
: Both admit attackers were already exploiting the bugs, with scant detail and hints of spyware-grade abuse
Universal Health Services (UHS): Reassessing Valuation After Strong Q3 Earnings Beat and Revenue Growth
Q3 earnings power recent move in UHS shares Universal Health Services (UHS) recently delivered an upbeat Q3 earnings report, with revenue jumping about 13% year on year and topping expectations. This reinforced confidence in its operations during a tough backdrop for hospital operators. See our latest analysis for Universal Health Services. The strong Q3 print has helped Universal Health Services hold on to a solid uptrend, with the 90 day share price return of 16.1% and one year total...
The Trump Effect: How One Man’s Politics Rewired Europe
From defense to trade to climate policy, Trump’s second term has shaken Europe’s foundations and forced leaders across the continent to adapt to a new transatlantic reality.
Amazon Pulls AI Recap Video After 'Fallout' Mess
Amazon is being forced to repeatedly learn a lesson: use AI slop, and get people yelling at you until you don't.
Why Indiana is such a major unforced error for Trump
The Indiana state Senate’s rejection of President Donald Trump’s redistricting push is one of the most significant GOP rebukes of Trump to date, and at a particularly inauspicious time for him.
Republicans struggle to unite on health care as Obamacare subsidies expire
Recent weeks have showcased a free-for-all of competing GOP ideas and reinforced deep partisan divisions over the issue.
I was an ambitious Amazon exec who thought burnout was for the weak. Then I had to solve my own.
Burnout at Amazon forced this executive to embrace real self-care, set boundaries, and rediscover balance without alerting coworkers.
Jets takeaways, report card from NFL Week 14 loss to Dolphins
Takeaways from the Jets’ 34-10 loss to the Dolphins on Sunday.
Ukrainians get creative to keep businesses alive amid winter blackouts
Small businesses have been forced to get creative to keep their doors open and customers happy while power supplies remain unreliable.
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.
FEMA workers reinstated after suspension and investigation over letter criticizing Trump’s overhaul of agency
A group of FEMA workers has been reinstated after three months of forced leave and an investigation into alleged misconduct for signing an open letter to Congress that criticized the Trump administration’s overhaul of the disaster relief agency and warned it could put American lives in danger.
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.