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Politics of the weather (Jan. 27, 2026)
On Tuesday's show: With the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society happening this week in Houston, we discuss how the current political climate is affecting how meteorologists do their jobs and the ramifications for our region.
The Minneapolis Uprising
In the frozen streets of Minneapolis, something profound is happening.
Nintendo maintenance schedule - January 25, 2026 - Wii U and 3DS impacted
Nintendo has released its maintenance schedule for the week of January 25, 2026: Right now two sessions are on the docket. The first is taking place later tonight, but the second won’t be happening until February. Below is the full Nintendo maintenance schedule for the week of January 25, 2026: Nintendo Store – 10:50 PM PT (January 25) – 6...
Purple Isn’t Real, Science Says. Your Brain Is Just Making It Up.
The human eye does not actually see purple, as purple is not a color on the visual spectrum, scientists say. Here's what's actually happening.
Colorado is shrinking — time for our elected officials to take notice
By Jon Caldara Something strange is happening in Colorado — strange enough that the political class should notice. People are leaving Colorado. After years of being one of the fastest-growing states in the nation, net in-migration has stopped and may be reversing. According to Federal Reserve Bank data, the last time Colorado’s population took a […]
Our picks for things to do in Cincinnati this week, Jan. 26-Feb. 1
If you're looking for the best events happening in Cincinnati, you're at the right place. Find your next concert, sports game, festival or family event.
(Rescheduled from Jan 26) Behind the Science: Herbivores That Chewed Through Time: How Insects and Pathogens Responded to Earth’s Biggest Events
Announcing a new After-Hours series at the National Museum of Natural History: Behind the Science A monthly after-hours series featuring NMNH scientists and researchers Each month, join the National Museum of Natural History for the new series, Behind the Science, where NMNH researchers share insights into their latest discoveries and explore the fascinating questions driving their work—from the origins of life to the future of our planet. Come learn what’s happening behind the scenes and how science shapes our understanding of the natural world. Programs take place in Q?rius, the Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center. Topics and speakers announced on a rolling basis, but save the dates now! February 10 (RESCHEDULED FROM JAN 26): Conrad Labandeira, Paleobiology The leaves of plants are everywhere. They provide the primary documentation of insect and pathogen feeding styles – or herbivory – on plants in the modern and fossil records. Leaves also are the most abundant, macroscopic item in the fossil record during the past 400 or so million years. During the past 25 years, studies of insect and pathogen damage on fossil and modern leaves have addressed the response of herbivores to major events of the fossil record. These events include, in chronological order, the origin of herbivory itself, the appearance of seed plants, the profound ecological crisis at the end of the Paleozoic, the appearance of flowering plants, the profound ecological crisis at the end of the Mesozoic, and a major change in the global climate 56 million years ago. Let’s put damaged, fossil leaves to work in helping us to understand how insect and pathogen herbivores have historically transformed the world we live in. Upcoming Dates: Jan. 26: Feb. 10: Conrad Labandeira, Paleobiologist Mar. 10: Briana Pobiner, Anthropologist Apr. 14 May 11 Jun. 9 Jul. 14 Aug. 11 Sep. 15 Oct. 13 Nov. 10 Dec. 8
OMG! People are saying it's so cold trees will explode. That viral claim may be overblown
We're not even one month into 2026, and with everything that's happening, now we have to deal with exploding trees? No, not entirely. But a sudden deep freeze is going to send temperatures plummeting in much of Canada and the U.S., which could cause an ear-splitting phenomenon.
NIL: The Creative Disruption Reshaping Both College Sports And Culture
NIL is much more than a policy change quietly happening within college sports. Instead, it's setting the stage for a cultural revolution
AHSAA announces public, private school football split: Here’s what’s happening next year
The AHSAA's Central Board of Control voted today to separate public and private schools in athletics for the first time in the Association's 104-year history.
Can your health records be sold for profit? A lawsuit says it’s happening.
Epic Systems says 300,000 people’s digital health information records were accessed and sold from health records networks to law firms seeking clients.
New commercial strip in Thornton home to dozens of businesses
Do you want to know what’s happening in the eastern Idaho business scene? We’ve got you covered. Here is a rundown of this week’s business news across the valley. BIZ BUZZ THORNTON New strip in Thornton houses 27 commercial tenants One of the four buildings that make up Thunderbird Business Park in Thornton | Courtesy […]
2XKO Competitive Series Calendar
Looking for ways to compete? Here’s every 2XKO Major and Challenger event happening in 2026.
What to expect at Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026
Samsung's next Unpacked event is rumored to be happening in February and will feature the launch of the company's Galaxy S26 phones.
Sports calendar for Monday, Jan. 19
Check out what's happening on the local stage for MLK Jr. Day.
Small businesses say they aren’t planning to hire many recent graduates for entry-level jobs
This slowdown is happening nationwide.
PC hardware is entering a golden age of design and engineering, while Windows — with its newfound AI obsession — has never felt worse. Something must change.
Microsoft's cramming of AI into every corner of Windows is alienating lifelong users and creating unnecessary frustration. Too bad it's happening as PC hardware is hitting its stride.
The Atari Hotel in Las Vegas Isn't Happening Anymore
The company says the plans for Phoenix are still in play.
Good Sports: Fresno State water polo picked to win Golden Coast Conference
Fresno State water polo is ranked 7th in the country before their first match, happening Friday.
Trump threatens military action in Minneapolis. And, inside his healthcare plan
President Trump threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota to stop protests happening in Minneapolis. And, the president unveils what he calls a new healthcare plan.
A Healthy Brain
Even when so much is happening in the world, it’s important to take care of your brain health. Our Well desk shares tips.
Christal Jordan gives the latest in entertainment headlines
The Golden Globes are still making waves, and find out what's happening with Ocean's 14.
The Latest: Golden Globes kicks off Hollywood's 2026 awards season
Hollywood’s awards season is underway with the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, happening now. Comedian Nikki Glaser returns for a second year to host the ceremony at the Beverly Hilton in
First Nintendo Direct of 2026 Reportedly Leaked (Including New 3D Mario Game)
The first Nintendo Direct of 2026 is reportedly happening very soon, and will include the reveal of a new 3D Mario game.
The biggest events happening in Charlotte in 2026
30+ can't-miss events — from major sports moments to concerts and festivals — keeping you booked and busy all year.
Bremen Village Shops offer new retail space for small businesses
A unique opportunity for anyone getting a business off the ground..and really for anyone looking for a new shopping experience.. is happening right now in Breme
'How can all of this be happening?': Scientists spot massive group of ancient galaxies so hot they shouldn't exist
An inexplicably hot, fast-growing cluster of galaxies in the early universe has scientists questioning theories of galactic evolution.
Here are the biggest announcements coming out of CES 2026 in Las Vegas
Here are the highlights from the world's largest technology trade show happening in Las Vegas, including a new Nvidia chip architecture.
The latest business openings and closings in Hampton Roads
Whether businesses are opening, closing, or moving to a new location, here’s the latest on what’s happening.
The Odds: Are Americans paying attention to what’s happening in Venezuela?
In the U.S., hunger is often hidden. But it can still leave scars on body and mind
In the U.S., hunger is often hidden away. It looks nothing like the stereotype of a famine happening overseas. But the physical impacts on health and the psychological scars can last a lifetime.
Scientists Finally Know What’s Actually Happening When Your Mind Goes Blank
You know the feeling. Someone asks a question, your eyes are open, you’re technically awake, but there’s just nothing there.
2026 looks bright for arts and entertainment happenings
Familiar faces, return visits and first-timers present exciting entertainment opportunities in the new year.
Mountain Brook business happenings: January 2026
Here's the news and updates from Mountain Brook's businesses for January 2026.
Homewood business happenings: January 2026
See what's going in the Homewood business community in January.
Our most memorable business stories of 2025
Do you want to know what’s happening in the eastern Idaho business scene? We’ve got you covered. Here is a rundown of this week’s business news across the valley. BIZ BUZZ IDAHO FALLS Looking back at some of our favorite business stories this year Jon Cooney, center, with daughter, Ashli, right, and son, Tristan, opened […]
Happy new year: what's happening in physics in 2026?
Predicting the future is hard, but here’s a flavour of what’s hot in physics right now
'Shower Networking Expo' coming for small business
A "business shower" is happening next week to help small businesses and entrepreneurs make some new connections for 2026.Rumella Cameron Caraballo and Rob Sweet
Hoover Business Happenings: January 2026
See what's happening in the Hoover business community.
What to do on New Year's Eve in Central New York
Here are some events happening around Central New York to celebrate the new year.
GameSir put a tiny force feedback steering wheel on its new Swift Drive controller
Motors in the wheel and triggers provide resistance in response to what’s happening in-game.
Louisiana health notes: A new health education building, doctors in Baton Rouge and more
Health Notes is an occasional listing of health happenings around Louisiana. Have something you'd like to share? Contact us at margaret.delaney@theadvocate.com.
Bay Area group trying to expand access to health insurance
Wellness event is happening on December 29, 2025 in San Jose. Lucy Hernandez, spokesperson for Bay Area Community Health appeared on Mornings on 2, to discuss the services being offered, and the timeliness of this end-of-the-year event.
Boston health officials issue warning amid 114% spike in flu cases
The city’s flu surge is happening about a month earlier this year, health officials said.
Arts and entertainment events happening December 18th-21st across the Mid-Ohio Valley
Lyndsay Dennis joins Daybreak to discuss what’s happening December 18th-21st across the Mid-Ohio Valley!
100 Years Ago, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Changed Black
The fact that the meeting was even happening was enough to produce an air of subversive excitement. One hundred years ago on August 25, 1925, Black sleeping car porters, hoping to form a union at the
Fallout 5 Will Exist in a World Where 'The Stories and Events of the Show Happened or Are Happening,' Todd Howard Confirms
Fallout 5 will indeed take into account the canon events of the Fallout TV series, Bethesda development chief Todd Howard has confirmed.
Fallout Season 3 is now being written, with future collaborations between the show and games being discussed
Todd Howard Fallout Season 3 is in the writing stage, and there are discussions around future game collaborations happening.
iOS 26.3 Beta 1 Features: What's New So Far
Apple is testing iOS 26.3, the next version of iOS 26 that will launch around January. Since iOS 26.3's testing is happening over the holidays, it is a smaller update with fewer features than we've seen in prior betas. We've rounded up what's new so far, and we'll add to our list with subsequent betas if we come across any other features.
What's happening on KSAT Sports Now this week!
KSAT Sports Now is live on KSAT Plus and KSAT.com at 7pm ALL WEEK! Tune in to hear from the state-final bound Smithson Valley football team, the Spurs, Cowboys, Texans & more!
Monday ‘Dawg Bites Is Kickin’ It During Awards Season
Good morning, Bulldog Nation! Here’s hoping you enjoyed a fantastic weekend in which your coach didn’t appear for an arraignment and your Athletic Director isn’t trying to explain why this sort of thing keeps happening on his watch. Sadly University of Georgia athletics has t been completely immune from crime and punishment news as word […]
Commentary: What the Dodgers are doing isn't normal in pro sports. Be sure to appreciate it
The Dodgers are perfectly fine with spending more money than anyone else to win championships, and fans should appreciate it considering what's happening in Anaheim.
Sticker Shock: Obamacare Customers Confront Premium Spikes as Congress Dithers
With subsidies that give consumers extra help paying their health insurance premiums set to expire, lawmakers are again debating the Affordable Care Act. The difference this time: It’s happening in the middle of ACA open enrollment.
HBO Max subscriber sues Netflix to halt merger
As concerns emerge about Netflix's plan to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery assets, an HBO Max subscriber sued Netflix on Monday to prevent the merger from happening.
Divinity Original Sin 3 Not Happening Now At Larian, Or Toilet Simulator
"I can confirm we aren't working on a toilet simulator at this moment."
Arizona State Card Show Will Have $50 Million Worth of Sports and Pokemon Cards On Display
Major Spring Training Event Happening March 13-15, 2026Phoenix, AZ , Dec. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Arizona State Card Show is annoucning that it will be hosting its next card show at Chase Field, the home of the Arizona Diamondacks from March 13-15, 2026, where there will be an estimated $50 million worth of sports and pokemon cards bought, sold and traded. Arizona State Card Show Logo "This will be the most amazing card show in Phoenix history," said Cole McAuliff, the Founder and CEO o
'We want to stop girls from dropping out of sport'
The students have taken part in a BBC documentary looking at ways to stop this from happening.
Jeannette business district: 'fledgling stages of being reborn'
As people were flowing into Jeannette’s downtown business district Saturday for the city’s holiday parade, there was a positive vibe among several business owners along Clay Avenue that downtown is seeing a revitalization. “It’s slowly coming back. There’s a lot of great things happening. We just need more,” said Jen
From wholesale to community impact; food bank and local business thrive together
Thinking outside the box to strengthen both a business and a food bank is happening in Cleveland, where a local wholesaler has become part of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank’s mission and community.
SAHARA Las Vegas Announces Entertainment, Featured Dishes, Winter Spa Specials, More in December
LAS VEGAS (December 2025) – SAHARA Las Vegas announces its roster of happenings in December, including a UFC viewing party, winter spa specials, plethora of new dishes and festive cocktails. Guests can also look forward to
With LeBron’s point streak broken, what are the best active milestones in sports?
LeBron James double-digit points streak is over. But there are many displays of consistency happening elsewhere in sports.
2026 World Cup draw: 'Scotland braced for preamble & banterfest'
Scotland in a men's World Cup draw is not a dream. It's really happening - and the boring preamble will be worth it, writes Tom English.
Improving Community Health Through Project Health
While visiting her local CVS Pharmacy, a woman walked by a Project Health event happening in-store. Interested, she decided to take advantage of the free health screening offered there. What began as a simple shopping trip quickly turned into a moment of motivation.
Pittsburgh’s People of Year 2025
Whatever may be happening at the national level, progressives in Pittsburgh are undeterred. The local Democratic Party has shored up and built on its base. Prominent left-leaning candidates now hold office everywhere from the county to Congress. Following November’s blue wave election, high off-year turnout propelled even more local progressives into office. Among their number […]
Does Recent Business Model Shift Make DocuSign a Better Value for Investors in 2025?
Curious if DocuSign is trading at a bargain or if recent changes have made it less appealing? Let’s break down what has been happening and what it could mean for anyone eyeing the stock. DocuSign’s stock has experienced some volatility recently, climbing 5.2% in the last week, but still down 23.2% year-to-date and 13.6% over the past 12 months. Analyst discussion has focused on DocuSign’s evolving business model and strategic partnerships, both of which have been making headlines and...
Chronology: How We Got Here and What’s Happening Now with McAllen’s Entertainment District
McAllen’s Entertainment and Cultural Overlay District (ECOD) in the downtown/17th Street area was formally created by Ordinance 2005-95, adopted on November 14, 2005.
Cyber Monday TV deals LIVE — all the best deals on 65-, 75- and 85-inch screens happening now
Cyber Monday TV sales are starting now — here's where to grab the best deals
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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