SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " ROME " 980 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Chrome And Safari Warning—If You See This, You’re Being Hacked
These attacks put your passwords, accounts and data at risk — what to know.
Screening highlights legacy of Utica’s Old Main
A new documentary explores the history of Utica’s Old Main asylum, with a local screening drawing a full audience at the Oneida County History Center.
Lenovo’s 13-inch ‘Sapphire’ Chromebook tablet just checked another box on my high-end wish list
As we approach the actual release of ‘Sapphire’ - the highly anticipated, Lenovo-built Chromebook tablet with some decidedly Google-y features - this device just keeps getting better. Over the past...
Opinion: What ‘Steal a Brainrot’ means for the future of youth entertainment
When you Google “Steal a Brainrot,” it’s hard to discern which sources are credible — largely because I’ve never played and have no barometer for what is accurate, but also because there are no peer-reviewed secondary sources on the game. There is no concrete documentation informing the mechanics of “Steal a Brainrot” besides “Brainrot Wiki”...
Exploring health consequences of Asthma-COPD overlap syndrome in a national study
Scientific Reports - Exploring health consequences of Asthma-COPD overlap syndrome in a national study
Chrome for iOS to get a guided Safari data migration feature
Google is working on an on-device data migration feature on iOS that will let Safari users import their browsing data directly into Chrome.
Federal Reserve Inquiry Clouds Trump’s Supreme Court Bid to Oust Lisa Cook
The court is set to hear Ms. Cook’s case challenging her firing as the Justice Department investigates Jerome H. Powell, the central bank chair.
CrashFix Chrome Extension Delivers ModeloRAT Using ClickFix-Style Browser Crash Lures
Researchers uncovered a CrashFix campaign where a fake Chrome ad blocker crashes browsers to trick users into installing the ModeloRAT malware.
Will the Supreme Court let Trump take control of the Fed?
Days after the revelation that the Justice Department is investigating Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, the Supreme Court will debate President Trump’s ability to remove the Fed’s board members.
Credential-stealing Chrome extensions target enterprise HR platforms
Malicious Chrome extensions on the Chrome Web Store masquerading as productivity and security tools for enterprise HR and ERP platforms were discovered stealing authentication credentials or blocking management pages used to respond to security incidents.
Frank Lago, Gloria Romero Roses lead Primary fundraising for empty HD 113 seat
Nearly 2 months after the vacancy popped up, the Governor still has called a Special Election.
Johnson Named Assistant Sports Performance Coach
ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Head Sports Performance Coach Terry O'Neill has announced the hiring of Jeromey Johnson as the next Assistant Sports Performance Coach at Washington University in St. Louis. He comes to WashU with more than 10 years of experience in sports performance and will begin his time on the Danforth Campus is Tuesday, January 20.
The Ricoh GR IV Monochrome Will Cost an Extra $700
The GR IV Monochrome costs $2,199.95. That’s $700 more than the base model, which represents a 46% price increase.
A Top Fed Official Says the Trump Administration’s Threats Are ‘About Monetary Policy’
Neel T. Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, defended Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, in an interview. He also said interest rates should be held steady this month.
President Trump says his power in the US is 'limited by my morality'
President Trump discussed his "morality," Iran and the DOJ's investigation of Jerome Powell in an interview with CBS Evening News.
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.
Live updates: Trump speaks about US economy in Detroit
President Donald Trump will address the Detroit Economic Club as his justice department investigates Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
Pirro says Federal Reserve ignored US attorney outreach on Powell testimony, alleged cost overruns
Federal Reserve independence under fire as Justice Department issues grand jury subpoenas tied to alleged cost overruns and Chair Powell’s congressional testimony.
Bessent unhappy with criminal investigation of Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has told people that he is unhappy with the decision to criminally investigate Fed Chair Jerome Powell, a source with knowledge of the matter told CNN.
DOJ's Fed probe sparks GOP backlash: From the Politics Desk
Plus, meet the new Trump super PAC megadonors.
Anthropic’s new Cowork tool offers Claude Code without the code
Built into the Claude Desktop app, Cowork lets users designate a specific folder where Claude can read or modify files, with further instructions given through the standard chat interface.
DOJ investigation of Powell sparks backlash, support for Fed independence
The Trump administration’s criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, which Powell said was an attempt to exert more control over the Fed.
Dollar weakens after US prosecutors launch criminal investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
Federal Reserve Chair Powell under criminal investigation over HQ renovation, report
U.S. prosecutors investigate whether Fed Chair Jerome Powell allegedly mischaracterized renovation details during Senate Banking Committee appearances.
Romer: 2026 business outlook
As we enter 2026, many Eagle County businesses are asking the same questions: What will the economic landscape look like? Where should we focus our energy? And how do we prepare for the uncertainties that...
Full-length Replay: Big 12 Men's: K-State at Arizona
Jerome Tang and the Wildcats take on the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats at the McKale Memorial Center.
‘Mind Your Business’: Local Openings, Closings and Updates in October-December 2025
The end of 2025 brought the announcements of some closures, expansions, and new businesses on the horizon across the greater Chapel Hill area.
Apple's 2026 Low-Cost A18 MacBook Pro: What We Know So Far
Apple is planning to release a low-cost MacBook in 2026, which will apparently compete with more affordable Chromebooks and Windows PCs. Apple's most affordable Mac right now is the $999 MacBook Air, and the upcoming low-cost MacBook is expected to be cheaper. Here's what we know about the low-cost MacBook so far. Size Rumors suggest the low-cost MacBook will have a display that's around 13 inches in size.
How to Watch Vikings vs. Packers: Time, TV Channel and Live Stream
Learn which TV channel or how to live stream the NFL Week 18 Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers game, Sunday, Jan. 4.
Zack Polanski offering voters fantasy solutions, says head of Fabian Society
Joe Dromey, head of the Labour thinktank, urges his party to take on the ‘twin populisms’ of Reform UK and the Greens
Google Chrome's Reading Mode on Android gets a huge revamp to make it more seamless to use
This is exactly what it needed
Chrome for Android rolling out Reading mode redesign that's easy to trigger
Chrome on Android has offered a Reading mode for several years now, and Google is now significantly redesigning it.
Performative Cruelty and the Politics of Fear: From Vienna to the US Border
Performative cruelty is an ancient practice, even though the phrase itself is new. Gladiatorial fights (Ancient Rome, c. 264 BCE–5th century CE) in arenas like the Colosseum were intentionally staged...
Trump says he'd still like to fire Jerome Powell
Trump also said he would be launching a "gross incompetence lawsuit" against the Fed chair.
Trump says he might sue Fed Chair Jerome Powell for ‘gross incompetence’
It isn’t clear what specific claims could be brought against Powell or when.
How one chocolatier survived when cocoa prices soared
When cocoa prices doubled, chocolatier Jerome Peñafort of Mr. Bucket Chocolaterie refused shrinkflation by finding new ways to innovate.
Full-length Replay: Juve Stabia vs Südtirol
From Romeo Menti Stadium in Castellammare di Stabia, Napoli, Italy.
Recap: The Best Integrated and Elegant Sports Watches of 2025
From accessible steel to haute horlogerie, the integrated sports watch evolves again. And here are the best ones of 2025.
‘Holiday heart syndrome’: Doctors warn of potential health risk
According to the American Heart Association, more people die between Dec. 25 and Jan. 1 than any other time of year.
Westwood One Sports Unveils Sports Talk Lineup
ATLANTA and NEW YORK, Dec. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cumulus Media’s Westwood One today unveiled its new Sports Talk lineup, debuting Monday, December 29, 2025. This bold expansion delivers nonstop sports conversation, expert analysis, and fan engagement across all major platforms. The new programming lineup features a mix of established voices and rising stars, giving listeners access to compelling content around the clock. The Jim Rome Show will remain in its prime 3 pm – 6 pm ET weekday sl
Fowler in his pomp - on this day in 1995
This was the year when Frank Bruno finally became a boxing world champion, when Oasis let (What's The Story) Morning Glory? Michael Jackson's Earth Song was topping the charts, usurping Robson & Jerome, and Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise had left its musical mark weeks earlier. Curly Watts was marrying Raquel in Corrie, there were footballers serving bans for kicking fans and there were grey kits that were soon to become a thing of controversy.
Democratic socialists gain visibility in Detroit amid national movement
Detroit City Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero and Council member-elect Denzel McCampbell both identify as democratic socialists.
Republican former ally blasts Trump on Reiner’s death: ‘Not about politics’
The Republican responded sharply to the President Donald Trump's statement, in which he said Reiner's death was due to a "mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME."
Featured Chrome Browser Extension Caught Intercepting Millions of Users' AI Chats
Urban VPN extensions collect AI prompts, responses, and browsing data from millions through hidden code.
Trump says Rob Reiner had 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' in post on his death
Officials are investigating the death of the Hollywood director as a homicide.
Chicago Bears ‘optimistic’ Rome Odunze will play in Week 15
The Chicago Bears feel optimistic about Rome Odunze's return for their Week 15 matchup against the Cleveland Browns.
I work in AI security at Google. There are some things I would never tell chatbots.
Harsh Varshney, who works on Chrome AI security at Google, shares four tips for protecting your data and identity when you talk to AI chatbots.
The Petrolhead Corner: Celebrating F.A. Porsche's 90th Birthday
A unique chance to step into Porsche's Sonderwunsch facility and check out a very special 911 GT3 to celebrate 90 years of F.A. Porsche.
From Eleanor the Great to Emily in Paris: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut stars the 96-year-old June Squibb, while Netflix’s lovable tweefest sees its heroine move to Rome
Google and Apple roll out emergency security updates after zero-day attacks
Apple released patches for all of its flagship devices to fix security flaws under attack. Google also updated Chrome to remediate one vulnerabilty exploited in the attacks.
Award of Merit, Sports/Entertainment: New Alamein City Tourist Promenade
Located along the Mediterranean coast, the $36.6-million project transforms the waterfront into a vibrant public promenade.
Mosquitos use it to suck blood. Researchers used it to 3-D print
A mosquito proboscis repurposed as a 3-D printing nozzle can print filaments around 20 micrometers wide, half the width of a fine human hair.
Google's new browser experiment turns your open tabs into custom apps
Imagine if Chrome could build the app you need before you think of it.
Google's Gemini AI comes to Chrome on iPhone and iPad
After rolling it out on desktop and Android earlier in 2025, Google is finally bringing its built-in Gemini AI experience to iPhone and iPad.
Chrome for iPhone rolling out built-in Gemini integration
After teasing in September, Google Chrome for iOS is now more widely rolling out a built-in Gemini experience.
UAMS to provide training for 75 community health workers in rural areas of the state
75 community health workers are slated to receive training by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and the Arkansas Office of Skills Development, as
Fed meeting updates: Federal Reserve to decide on interest rate cut at final 2025 meeting
The Federal Reserve is nearing a decision on interest rates. Jerome Powell could announce a third consecutive rate cut at December's Fed meeting.
The Fed could cut interest rates tomorrow — here's how it would hit your wallet
Jerome Powell will soon announce the next Fed decision on a potential interest rate cut. The Fed is missing key economic data on jobs and inflation.
9 items to remove from your closet before 2026, according to professional stylists
From light-wash denim and leggings to monochrome jewelry, stylists shared which clothing and accessory trends are out as we enter the new year.
WebGPU is now supported by all major browsers
WebGPU could bring AAA games to browsers in 2027 WebGPU has cleared its last big hurdle. The new GPU API is now enabled in stable releases of Chrome and
Full-length Replay: Roma vs Juventus
From Tre Fontane Stadium in Rome.
Gratitude As Business Advantage
Discover why gratitude is a true competitive and business advantage and how a simple shift in focus can fuel clearer thinking and better outcomes.
Google just announced 2025’s best Chrome extensions — which ones are you using?
In 2025, Chrome behaves more like an AI-powered operating system, with extensions driving most of the upgrades.
Google shares 10 of its favorite Chrome extensions from 2025.
The list is heavy on extensions that use AI like Monica and Sider that can summarize web pages and videos, Quillbot for proofing or generating text, and eJOY that can expand your vocabulary while surfing the web. But Google also gives a shoutout to the simple but powerful image editing tools in Adobe’s Photoshop extension. [Image: https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/google_chrome.jpg?quality=90&strip=all]
Amy Schumer dropped 50 pounds to battle disease that 'can kill you' if untreated
Comedian Amy Schumer opens up about her health journey, Cushing syndrome recovery, and using Mounjaro medication after losing 50 pounds for her wellbeing.
Library offers custom ornaments for children’s holiday reading program
The Old Forge Library has begun a holiday reading incentive for children, offering personalized wooden ornaments crafted by Dennis Kenny for completing 10 books.
Netflix ends casting from mobile devices for users of newer TVs
You should still be able to cast from your phone or tablet to older Chromecast or Google Cast devices if you're on an ad-free plan.
Netflix kills Google Cast support on 'most TVs,' still charges more for Chromecasts
In a wild turn of events, Netflix has killed support for Google Cast on the vast majority of products. Through...
Trying to cast Netflix from your phone? You might have an issue.
If you've got an older Chromecast, you might be in luck. Otherwise...
Netflix Kills Casting From Its Mobile App to Most Modern TVs
Netflix has quietly removed the ability to cast content from its mobile apps to most modern TVs and streaming devices, including newer Chromecast models and the Google TV Streamer.
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.
Netflix turns off casting on newer TVs and Chromecasts
It wants you to use the app instead
Walmart amazing Cyber Monday deal on this top-rated laptop is only $109
The Chromebook has over 7,400 five-star reviews.
The Only Laptop Deal That Delivers the Best Bang for the Buck Is Still on Sale for Cyber Monday
The two-in-one Lenovo Duet 11 Chromebook is great for its versatility, but its biggest draw is its affordability.
Is your old laptop dying? Cyber Monday is a great time to upgrade your Apple or Windows devices
We found record-low prices on easy-to-use Windows laptops, MacBooks and Chromebooks for work, school and home.