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The era of agentic business applications arrives at Convergence 2025 - Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog
At Convergence 2025, Microsoft explores agentic business applications and how organizations build AI-first autonomous enterprises. Learn more.
Serena Williams on how she pursues longevity – and how you can too
Serena Williams has been a health extremist all her life. She's now partnered with Lingo, a continuous glucose monitor that tracks blood sugar levels.
Pebble's founder introduces a $75 AI smart ring for recording brief notes with a press of a button
After rebooting the Pebble smartwatch, founder Eric Migicovsky is expanding his company's device lineup with a new smart wearable: an AI-powered smart ring known as Index 01. Named for the finger where the ring is meant to be worn, the new $75 ring is not meant to be a competitor to the always-on, always-listening AI devices, like the AI pendant Friend, but instead offers a way to record quick notes and reminders with a press of a button on the ring's side. AI only comes into play via the open source, speech-to-text, and AI models that run locally on your smartphone, via the open source Pebble mobile app. That is, if the Ring's button is not being pressed, it's not recording. (And this is a press-and-hold gesture, too, which means you can't start the ring's recording and then let go to surreptitiously record a conversation.) You can wear the stainless steel ring while in the shower, washing hands, doing dishes, or in the rain, but you would have to take it off for other water-related activities, like swimming. At launch, it's water-resistant to 1 meter. The ring is also not a fitness tracker or sleep monitor. It doesn't record details about your heart rate or health. And it's not there to be your AI friend. "I'm not trying to build some AI assistant thing," Migicovsky told TechCrunch in an interview. "I build things that solve one main problem, and they solve it really well," he explains. "I think of as external memory for my brain...that's what this is. It's always with you." Plus, the ring has been designed to be highly reliable and privacy-preserving, he says, as all your thoughts are stored on your phone, not in the cloud. There is no subscription. Migicovsky has been wearing the ring for three months now and says he cannot imagine going back to a world where he doesn't always have a memory device with him. "The problem is that, during the day, I get ideas or I remember something, and if I don't write it down that second, I forget it," he says. The ring solves this problem, he adds, without becoming another device you need to charge. "The battery lasts for years," Migicovsky claims. Technically, the ring is said to support roughly 12 to 14 hours of recording. On average, the founder says he uses it 10-20 times per day to record 3-6 second thoughts. At that rate, he'll get about two years of usage. When the ring's battery dies, you can ship it back to the company for recycling. When using Index, you can record up to five minutes of audio, which can be saved to the ring and synced to your phone later. This makes sense for recording briefer, personal thoughts and notes, even when you don't have your phone handy, but it wouldn't work for recording a longer chat, like a presentation, meeting, or in-person interview of some kind. The ring also supports 99+ languages and has a bit of on-device memory, in case you're not in Bluetooth range of your device, where the recording is ultimately saved and transcribed. (The raw audio is retained, too, in case the speech-to-text is garbled due to loud background noise). If you own a Pebble smartwatch or one from another brand, your recorded thought can even appear on the watch's screen so you can verify it's correct. The ring works with Pebble's mobile app, which offers notes and reminders, but can optionally integrate with your phone's calendaring system, too, or other apps, like Notion. And the ring's software is open source, which makes it hackable by the community, the founder points out. Because of its open nature, the ring's button is already programmable. In addition to the press-and-hold gesture, you can program the ring to do other things with a single or double press, like play or pause your music or control the shutter on your phone's camera. You could use it to send a message through the universal chat app Beeper, which Migicovsky also created, or you could add your own voice actions via MCP. A new approach to hardware Migicovsky acknowledges that hardware can be difficult to get right -- as the previous exit of Pebble to Fitbit showed. (Fitbit, too, was later acquired by Google in 2021). "I didn't earn any money during Pebble -- we exited, but it was not a great exit," Migicovsky admits. This year, however, he decided to reboot the Pebble project after Google open sourced the PebbleOS, which opened up the door to new hardware. With his new company, Core Devices, Migicovsky plans to do things differently. Still, the founder doesn't regret his previous choices, he clarifies. "I wouldn't have gone back and changed anything. I loved what we built. I loved what we did. I love the company that we built, but it's not the only way to build a company," he told TechCrunch. " And, speaking as an ex-YC partner, there are -- there's a time and a place for building a venture-backed startup. Some companies are phenomenal when they raise money and build a big team, and I tried that...I think what I'm doing now is trying an alternative path, which is start from profitability," he says. The new company is a small team of five, self-funded, and focused on sustainability. So far, Core Devices has shipped the Pebble 2 Duo smartwatch with a black-and-white display. Its first run sold out, and the company is now preparing to ship the upgraded version, the Pebble Time 2. The newer device, which has seen 25,000 pre-orders, is a stainless steel watch with a larger, color e-ink screen. As for the Index 01, the ring's pre-order offer ends in March 2026. After that, the price increases to $99. It currently comes in silver, polished gold, and matte black and works with iOS and Android devices. Customers can select from eight ring sizes and three colors.
Apple's M5 iPad Pro Returns to All-Time Low Black Friday Prices at Up to $180 Off
Amazon and Best Buy today opened up big discounts across the M5 iPad Pro lineup, offering as much as $180 off select tablets. Prices start at $899.00 for the 256GB Wi-Fi 11-inch M5 iPad Pro at Amazon, down from $999.00. All deals in this sale match — or beat — the record low prices we tracked during Black Friday. 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.
iFixit Launches Free iOS Repair App With AI-Powered FixBot
iFixit today announced the launch of a new iFixit app that's available to download from Apple's App Store (and the Play Store on Android devices). It includes all of the iFixit repair guides in a format that's ideal for mobile devices, along with a workbench that keeps track of repairs, a battery lifespan predictor, and an AI repair buddy called FixBot. The iFixit repair app is able to monitor an iPhone's battery in real time, providing graphs of how a battery deteriorates over time.
Trust in science is low among minorities for a reason, research finds
Researchers at Northeastern trace distrust of scientists among certain groups to massive gaps in representation within science itself.
Louisiana abruptly cuts two Medicaid contracts, putting care options for 488,500 in limbo
Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration is abruptly ending contracts with two of the six companies that provide Medicaid insurance in Louisiana, a move that could leave 488,500 residents uncertain of what health care they will have starting Jan. 1.
Drew Brees announces new multi-level go-kart track opening at Surge Entertainment in New Orleans
Drew Brees said the attraction is expected to open by Christmas and will offer fun for all ages.
Some Mormons take issue with BYU's sports funding
NPR's Scott Detrow talks with Kevin Reynolds, who has reported on Brigham Young University's efforts to attract star athletes and coaches, which some say are in conflict with religious principles.
Disney extends contract with Jimmy Kimmel for another year through May 2027
The late-night host has signed a one-year extension to stay on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" through May 2027.
MIT affiliates named 2025 Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Fellows
MIT postdoc Zongyi Li, Associate Professor Tess Smidt, and seven additional MIT alumni were named 2025 Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Fellows. The fellowships will support their work in AI against difficult and intractable problems.
Non-Banks Are Now a Big Banking Business
Hello and welcome to the newsletter, a grab bag of daily content from the Odd Lots universe. Sometimes it's us, Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway, bringing you our thoughts on the most recent developments in markets, finance and the economy. And sometimes it's contributions from our network of expert guests and sources. Whatever it is, we promise it will always be interesting.
AirPods Pro 3 Matching Black Friday Low Price of $219.99 on Amazon
Apple's AirPods Pro 3 have returned to the low price of $219.99 today on Amazon, down from $249.00. We first tracked this deal during Black Friday, and today is one of the first times it's returned since that event ended. 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.
Educational Video Game Helps Kids Learn Science, Study Finds
By I. Edwards HealthDay ReporterMONDAY, Dec. 8, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Video games often have a bad reputation as being a distraction, but a new study suggests they may help kids build important science skills. University of Georgia researchers created an educational video game that helps elementary school students learn about ...
The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC) release the 11th edition of the Family Planning Market Report - Clinton Health Access Initiative
The 2025 Family Planning Market Report presents an analysis of public-sector contraceptive procurement trends from 2020–2024, complemented by qualitative insights on the 2025 funding outlook following the dismantling of USAID and the anticipated impact of these broader funding shifts. This year’s report serves as a critical reference point for understanding the state of the family...
Uber is turning trip and takeout data into insights for marketers
Uber has said its ad business is on track to generate $1.5 billion in revenue in 2025. It's hoping a new insights platform will encourage more spend.
China’s exports grow 5.9% in November despite major drop in US shipments
China’s exports returned to growth in November following an unexpected contraction the month before, although shipments to the United States dropped nearly 29% from a year earlier in an eighth straight month of double-digit declines.
AI making mark in Vietnamese entertainment
In music, AI is reshaping the creative process by composing and performing pieces. Many tracks created wholly or partially with AI have even gone viral, featuring catchy tunes, meaningful lyrics, and captivating visuals.
iam8bit sues Skybound Games for $4m, claiming breach of contract and theft of designs
Iam8bit is suing Skybound Games for £2.9 million ($4 million), alleging breach of contract, fraudulent expenses, theft …
Financial influencer tracks 'quiet millionaires': Here's the No. 1 strategy they all share
Financial influencer JC Rodriguez reveals how ordinary people become millionaires through consistency, not flashy investments, in 'quiet millionaires' talks.
Ancient 'dirty dishes' may have led archaeologists astray for decades
A new study questions if Bronze Age dishes really do have traces of olive oil.
Paranovus Entertainment Technology Ltd. (NASDAQ:PAVS) Looks Inexpensive After Falling 94% But Perhaps Not Attractive Enough
The Paranovus Entertainment Technology Ltd. ( NASDAQ:PAVS ) share price has fared very poorly over the last month...
Where you’ve seen Mel from ‘Tracker’ before
'Tracker' introduced a new character named Mel during season 3
Billionaire who moved business to Florida now selling final property in blue city at discount
Billionaire Ken Griffin set to complete Chicago real estate exit as final condo reportedly goes under contract.
A 180-Year Assumption About Light Was Just Proven Wrong
"Light doesn't just illuminate matter, it magnetically influences it."
A 180-Year Assumption About Light Was Just Proven Wrong
"Light doesn't just illuminate matter, it magnetically influences it."
Yuletide settles upon the shire at Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire grounds [photos]
Yuletide has once again settled upon the shire at the grounds of the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. The Rapho Township attraction’s annual presentation of olden-time holiday entertainment includes characters such as
New system to keep track of people's health in Jersey
Health chief says the project provides "a powerful way" to keep an eye on people in their homes.
Texas scraps women and minority-owned business support in sweeping contracting shift
Texas retools its Historically Underutilized Business program into VetHUB, limiting eligibility and revoking race / sex-based certifications.
Ireland Contracting Nightly Sports Call: Dec. 5, 2025
Olivia Nuzzi to leave Vanity Fair amid troubled book rollout
The former New York Magazine journalist has been ostracized in Washington since her allegedly unethical dalliance with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
City of Hope, Hoag and UCI Health chose to build in Irvine, what makes the area attractive for health-care investment?
The billions of dollars in investments coming online more than double the number of hospital beds in the city, add thousands of jobs and makes Irvine a “biomedical, biotechnical” center…
Stop Charging Your Android Watch Daily. Here Are 7 Tips for Longer Battery Life
From Samsung's Galaxy Watch to Google's Pixel Watch and other Wear OS models, these settings can add hours of extra battery life for sleep and fitness tracking.
Weekend reads: ‘The fall of a prolific science journal’; Clinical trials by ‘super-retractors’; ‘How to Study Things That May Not Exist’
Giving Tuesday was this week, and, like many organizations, we asked for your support. The work we do is funded in part by your donations. If you value our work in rooting out scientific fraud and …
Rail construction costs accessibility business hundreds of thousands
The latest setback came when contractors destroyed the sidewalk that people in wheelchairs needed to access the company’s vehicle display space on Dillingham Boulevard.
Governor McMaster's order sparks debate on minority business opportunities in SC
Gov. Henry McMaster’s executive order restricting state agencies from awarding business contracts based on race is prompting a debate over fairness, opportunity
Trump asks RFK Jr. to ‘fast track’ vaccine schedule review
The president weighed in after the health secretary’s vaccine advisers recommended a major change to the shots routinely given to children.
NJ plane fiasco shows how 'cosmic rays' from another galaxy can...
"The pilots recovered quickly, but yes, it could have been worse."
Faculty cite political climate driving student migration to SEC schools from northeast
SEC schools attracted students seeking stability as Northeastern colleges face enrollment declines and campus protests, with Auburn University avoiding Gaza-related disruptions.
4 ChatGPT Prompts To Turn Your Business Idea Into Reality In 2026
Learn how four practical ChatGPT prompts can help anyone refine a business or side hustle idea, avoid common mistakes, and gain traction in 2026.
Science journal retracts widely cited study that claimed Roundup is safe
The Trump administration, meanwhile, aims to shield its manufacturer from lawsuits.
Science journal retracts study on safety of Monsanto’s Roundup: ‘serious ethical concerns’
Paper published in 2000 found glyphosate was not harmful, while internal emails later revealed company’s influence
KFF Health Tracking Poll: Knowledge and Views of Medication Abortion
This KFF Health Tracking Poll finds that many, including women of reproductive age, remain unfamiliar with key facts about mifepristone. Fewer than half of all adults say they believe abortion pills are safe now, compared to over half of all adults two years ago. This poll explores awareness and perception of the recent FDA review of the medication, and support for policies aimed at restricting it.
One Retracted Study Doesn’t Cancel Climate Science
It’s hard enough for most of us to predict what we’re having for dinner tonight, much less how the the world will look in 2100. By that time we might have cured cancer and started building giant space brains. Or maybe we’ll be nothing but batteries for our robot overlords. Or spraying crops with a sports drink.
Cavs vs Spurs: How to watch, odds, and injury report
The Cavs will try to get back on track against the Spurs.
More than 16,000 tracks found at a ‘dinosaur freeway’ in Bolivia
Theropods once trekked along a “dinosaur freeway” that stretched across a shoreline in what is now Bolivia, according to a new study.
The GOP Still Can’t Agree on a Health Plan
Senate Democrats were promised a vote by mid-December on extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, but Republicans still can’t decide whether they want to put forward their own alternative or what that might include. Meanwhile, the CDC and FDA are roiled by debates over vaccines. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Aneri Pattani about her project tracking opioid settlement payments.
A US aircraft carrier's hard turn to avoid enemy fire surprised sailors and sent a jet with bad brakes into the sea
The $60 million F/A-18 and a tow tractor slid off the USS Harry S. Truman while it evaded a Houthi missile attack, new documents show.
Tracking Applications for Rural Health Transformation Funds
KFF Health News is working to collect and post complete application materials, by state, here and will update this repository as new materials, released in response to public records requests, arrive.
Weekend Entertainment | ‘Brier Hill’ Film Hits the Mark
It has been a long time since a locally made movie attracted audiences as powerfully as “Brier Hill,” directed by Jimmy Taaffe of Struthers.
For many contractors, losing ACA subsidies means losing health care
The GOP's unprecedented premium hikes put chronically ill workers—especially freelancers—in peril.
Horse Tracks: Broncos searching for the right groove on offense
To finish off their final five games of the regular season strong, the Denver Broncos need to find a groove on offense.
Scientists Relaunch the 'Internet of Animals'
German scientists have relaunched a satellite system that will be used to track wildlife all across the globe. The "internet of animals" was first launched in 2020, in collaboration with Russian researchers, but was abruptly halted after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Here are 58 Washington County high school winter sports girls to watch
Dozens of talented Washington County high school athletes are returning to the hardcourts, the mats and the track. Here are 58 girls to watch.
Residents confused after getting letters from City of LA saying they owe business taxes
If you're a gig worker, independent contractor or anybody who gets a 1099, you may have gotten a letter in the mail from the City of Los Angeles -- saying you owe a business tax.
Japan’s Takaichi is winning fans not with politics but with her style and ‘work, work, work’ mantra
TOKYO (AP) — The pledge by Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year. The ultraconservative Takaich…
What is ‘scromiting’ or CHS, condition caused by habitual marijuana use?
A vomiting disorder linked to frequent marijuana use is on the rise, prompting global health officials to allow researchers to track the condition and study it. Dubbed on social media as “scr…
The Cost of Confused Climate Science
A retracted blockbuster study shows the motivated reasoning that fuels climate hysteria.
Ailing Warriors look to get on track vs. 76ers
The Golden State Warriors will be short-handed for Thursday's road game against the Philadelphia 76ers, but it remains to be determined exactly how undermanned they'll be.
LiaFi Introduces TOR Score Dashboard for Small Business Cash Flow Management
ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky., December 03, 2025--LiaFi, a Fintech platform built for small businesses, today announced enhancements to its TOR Score dashboard, a proprietary cash flow variability metric designed to give sole proprietors and small business owners clarity on their financial health. The TOR Score, short for Track, Optimize, Refine, translates complex transaction data into a single score that reveals cash flow stability, identifies surplus opportunities, and flags potential risk periods. With
PEOPLE: Jeff Shultz to join Radial Entertainment’s C-suite next year
Also, Kidscreen alum Nelson Huynh will manage content sales in the Americas for Mattel on contract in 2026, and Paramount has added LatAm to franchise director Lee Harris-Gibbs' remit.
2026 Tennessee football early signing period tracker
2026 Tennessee football early signing period recruiting tracker.
Studying the role of the quantum environment in attosecond science
Researchers have developed a new way to model dephasing in attosecond experiments
Crystal Palace XI vs Burnley – Predicted lineup and team news
Crystal Palace travel to Turf Moor on Wednesday looking to get their season back on track. After a promising start to the season, Oliver Glasner’s side recently lost consecutive games against Strasb...
Analysis: Kalani Sitake’s decision to stay at BYU another indication that the school is all-in on achieving sports success
Ten-year Cougars coach ended three days of heavy speculation that he would leave for Penn State by signing another contract extension in Provo
Republican Matt Van Epps will win Tennessee special election, averting Democratic upset, CNN projects
Republican Matt Van Epps will win the special US House election for Tennessee’s 7th District, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, preventing an upset but emboldening Democrats as they were on track to over-perform in a normally deep-red district.
UNC Health-Cigna contract expires: Check other health care contracts in NC
More than 4,000 UNC Health patients with Cigna insurance are facing uncertainty after the insurer’s contract with the health system expired this week.
Scientists Uncover New Evidence of Ancient Airbursts That Ravaged Earth Without Leaving Craters
Scientists are uncovering signs that Earth has been hit by powerful cosmic blasts that leave little trace on the surface yet unleash extraordinary heat and pressure.
Patients in limbo as Aetna changes coverage for UConn Health
Thousands of people are caught in the middle of a contract fight between UConn Health and Aetna. Now, the health system is considered out-of-network for many patients with Aetna insurance. Months of negotiations have so far failed to reach a deal. And now it means a lot of frustrations and uncertainties for what we’re told is about 15,000 patients who…
Political Points: Tracking North Central Florida politics, campaigns, and governance
WCJB TV20 provides regular updates on the latest news in politics, campaigns, and governance across North Central Florida.
NASA's PUNCH Tracks Comet Discovered by SOHO Spacecraft
From August to October, NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission tracked comet 2025 R2 (SWAN) — one of the thousands of comets
Aerosmith permanently removed from Disney World's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster preshow
Disney World has permanently removed the Steven Tyler-starring Aerosmith preshow video from Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (also featuring Ken Marino) as the ride transforms into a Muppets attraction.
Vaulted Deep Named "Best in Business" By Inc. Magazine for Scaling Critical Waste Infrastructure while Delivering Carbon Removal
Vaulted Deep has been named to Inc.'s 2025 Best in Business list for scaling the first commercial infrastructure for simultaneously managing organic waste while delivering permanent carbon removal. The recognition in the Best Startups category follows a year of growth across Vaulted's operations, infrastructure, and commercial traction. In 2025, Vaulted expanded its operating capacity, delivered more than 23,000 tonnes of verified CO₂ removal, and secured long-term agreements with Microsoft and
Carta Healthcare Partners with Fivos to Elevate Data Quality and Advance Vascular Patient Care
Carta Healthcare, a leading provider of AI-powered clinical data abstraction solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with Fivos, a leading provider of data solutions for medical research organizations and device manufacturers, as well as the clinical data registry provider for the Society for Vascular Surgery's Vascular Quality Initiative (SVS VQI®).
I watched scientists track interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS leaving the solar system in real-time: 'This is some prime-time science'
"These images are not just pretty."
Democrats and Republicans are pouring money into a special election in Tennessee. Here's why
Tuesday's special election for Tennessee's 7th Congressional District between Democrat Aftyn Behn and Republican Matt Van Epps has attracted outsize attention and spending from both parties.
Ireland Contracting Nightly Sports Call: Dec. 1, 2025
Behind the scenes of Prenuvo, the health startup providing full-body MRI scans
Prenuvo, a preventive health startup offering full-body MRI scans, has attracted online attention from influencers. NBC News’ Gadi Schwartz tested the scan, interviewed the CEO about the future of healthcare, and spoke with specialists about the treatment's advantages and disadvantages.
COVID-19 pandemic narrowed health care industry pay gap, new study finds
A new study finds that the COVID-19 pandemic narrowed the wage gap between high and low paid workers in the health care industry, as the lowest earners saw the biggest boost in pay in the years since the pandemic began.
South Shore Health resolves contract dispute that could have affected 2,000 patients
Patients had faced losing access to their doctors starting in January.
Commentary: What WA’s elections say about Oregon politics
Oregon political observers hoping to extract lessons of some kind from the votes of Nov. 4 aren’t completely out of luck thanks to their neighbor on the north side of the Columbia River Elections in various states this month drew national attention and pundits read them closely for longer-term implications, but not in Oregon, where […]
UNC Health, Cigna insurance miss deadline over new contract
Cigna patients will now be considered out-of-network if they get care from UNC Health.
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.
Lane Kiffin LSU contract: Detailing the $91 million package
Thanks to the LSU deal, Lane Kiffin joins Ryan Day and Kirby Smart as college football's highest paid
Jean-Philippe Mateta's contract talks with Crystal Palace stall
Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta's long-term future is uncertain as talks stall over a new contract.
The Clock Is Ticking for These Cyber Monday Smartwatch and Fitness Tracker Deals From Apple, Garmin, Samsung, and More
Cyber Monday November 2025 smartwatch and fitness tracker deals are ready for your wrist. Score an Apple Watch SE 3 for under $200 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 at 48% off.
'Out of network:' UNC Health-Cigna contract expires
UNC Health and Cigna have not reached an agreement as of Monday morning, leaving Cigna subscribers facing "out of network" costs for UNC providers and hospitals.
State Variations in the Role of the Reproductive Health Safety Net for Contraceptive Care Among Medicaid Enrollees
This KFF analysis uses 2023 T-MSIS Research Identifiable Files to look at where reproductive-age female Medicaid enrollees received their last contraceptive visit by state. Overall, more than four in 10 (43%) female Medicaid enrollees received their last contraceptive visit of 2023 at a safety net provider, which includes Planned Parenthood clinics, community health centers, state and local health departments, and Indian health services, but there is wide variation by state.
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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