2026-04-26T19:00:20-0400 / https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ben-sasse-cbs-news-60-minutes-town-hall-ai-congress-miracle-drug/
去年年末，前参议员本·萨斯被诊断出胰腺癌，当时被告知只剩三到四个月的寿命。如今，他正处于“延长期”——而他想利用余下的一些时间聊聊“更宏大的议题”。
在接受《60分钟》记者斯科特·佩利采访，以及参加哥伦比亚广播公司新闻主持的市政厅活动时，这位内布拉斯加州共和党人称，国会正深陷“简化版的部落主义”之中，没有在大规模问题上投入足够精力——尤其是他认为人工智能将带来的巨大冲击。
萨斯还解释了为何他将自己多出来的寿命归功于“天意、祈祷和一款神药”。他还主张，更多美国人应该有机会获得他认为延长了自己生命的这类实验性治疗手段。
“国会没有在应对重大且重要的问题”
作为在耶鲁大学获得历史学博士学位的内布拉斯加本地人，萨斯于2014年参选参议员。他曾与特朗普总统产生冲突并成功连任，但两年后，萨斯辞去国会职务，出任佛罗里达大学校长。
当被问及为何离开民选职位时，萨斯称参议院“非常、非常低效”。他表示，自己一周大部分时间都待在华盛顿特区，错过了陪伴在内布拉斯加州的妻子和三个孩子的时光，而议员们却没做成什么实事。
“我们没有做真正有意义的事。机会成本实在太高了，”他说。
如今，萨斯告诉佩利，“国会根本不讨论那些最根本性的议题”，其中最主要的就是人工智能可能改变经济和人们工作方式的问题。
“两党对于2030年或2050年，无论是国家安全层面、工作未来层面，还是制度建设层面，都没有什么宏大且高明的想法，”他说。“国会目前没有在应对重大且重要的问题。”
萨斯认为，大部分责任与政客们有动力去迎合小众群体有关，而社交媒体加剧了这一问题。
“这不会培养出多少谦逊，也不会鼓励有人说‘你知道吗，我曾经这么认为，但我听了别人的话，意识到自己错了，然后学到了新东西’，”他说。“这种做法没有受众。”
萨斯认为众议院的规模应该大幅扩大——从现在的435名议员增至2000人，这意味着每位议员代表的选民人数会更少。他还认为参议院应该更高效、更专注于解决重大问题，而不是日常的表演秀。
“参议院不该像Instagram那样。参议院需要更审慎。这意味着要少些毫无意义的互怼，”他说。
他暗示美国正接近一个转折点：“到2040年、2050年或是2060年，共和国还能存续吗？我猜可以，我也愿意赌它可以。但这不是90%对10%的稳赢赌局。”
“共和国实际上需要人们进行审慎的长篇讨论、学习、保持谦逊并建设社区，”他说。“我们现在并没有这么做。”
萨斯告诉佩利，他“对人性的复杂性既乐观又悲观”。
“但我相信，如果一个自由的民族和共和国从家庭、 extended kin网络、社区、工作场所和宗教场所这些‘小团体’出发，就能创造出伟大的成就，”他说。
人工智能“既辉煌又可怕”
当被问及国会忽略了哪些重大议题时，萨斯立刻提到了人工智能革命，他称这场革命“既辉煌又可怕”。
“数字革命的作用是加速人类体验的几乎所有方面，”萨斯预测。“任何可以被拆解为一系列步骤的活动——也就是绝大多数经济活动——都将被常规化，变得极其廉价、快速且无处不在。”
从某一层面来看，萨斯认为，人工智能可能开启一个“无处不在的富足时代”，廉价优质商品将不再短缺。“我不知道是三年后还是十三年后，但我们都将拥有一台可以自行组装机器人的机器人。”
但随着大量工作被技术取代，这也将带来动荡和不确定性。
“不知道十年或二十五年后你要做什么才能为邻居创造价值，这相当可怕，”萨斯说。“我们从未生活在一个22岁的年轻人可以理所当然地认为自己现在做的工作能一直做到去世或退休的世界里。而且我们再也回不到那样的世界了。”
萨斯谈“尝试权”法案
萨斯说，他目前正与已经转移的四期胰腺癌作斗争，癌细胞已经扩散到肺部、血管、肝脏并引发淋巴瘤。
他一直在服用一款名为达拉克沙西布（daraxonrasib）的胰腺癌实验性口服药物，该药物通过抑制一种可导致细胞过度生长、形成肿瘤的蛋白质发挥作用。
达拉克沙西布的生产商革命医药公司本月早些时候公布了该药物三期临床试验的积极结果。服用达拉克沙西布的患者中位生存期为13.2个月，而化疗组患者的中位生存期为6.7个月。
在哥伦比亚广播公司新闻的市政厅活动中，萨斯听到另一位癌症患者分享了自己的经历，对方表示早期治疗让他得以陪伴家人更长时间。
37岁的迈克·雨果称，四年前他被诊断出胶质母细胞瘤，这是一种侵袭性脑癌，患者通常存活期只有数月而非数年。雨果说，他参与了一款名为Optune的医疗设备的临床试验。
雨果的女儿在他最初确诊时分别只有5岁和7岁，如今已经9岁和11岁。他说，治疗让他得以参加“两场没人觉得我能参加的父女舞会”。
雨果向萨斯提问，尽管2018年联邦《尝试权》法案——由萨斯共同发起——旨在让绝症患者在某些情况下更容易获得尚未获批的药物，但为何相对而言很少有人能用上这类治疗手段。（批评者认为，“尝试权”规则可能削弱患者保护，而现行的一些项目已经可以帮助绝症患者获得研究性药物。）
萨斯表示，该法案在国会经过修订，变得比最初计划的更为严格。他希望“将这类决策更多地去中心化，交给个人、患者及其护理人员，而不是由美国食品药品监督管理局制定一刀切的规则”。
他指出，美国每年有数万人被诊断出胰腺癌，其存活率“极低”。
“真正能在这方面取得进展的方法是开展更多实验，”他说。“所以我希望生活在这样一个世界里：关于你愿意承担多少风险来参与新试验，或是允许我们最优秀的科学头脑和研究人员开展实验，我希望能大幅放宽限制，让更多人有机会获得这些药物。”
“天意、祈祷和一款神药”
萨斯在去年12月末公开了自己的诊断结果，他在一条令人震惊的社交媒体帖子中写道，自己“快要死了”。
萨斯告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，在确诊前的几周里，他饱受剧烈疼痛的折磨。他形容自己晚上洗澡时会把水开到最热，“试图用热水烫背，好让后来发现是肿瘤压迫脊椎引发的抽痛停止”。
他说，现在疼痛已经减轻了很多，部分得益于吗啡，并且他归功于达拉克沙西布在过去四个月里将他的肿瘤体积缩小了76%。
确诊时，他被告知预期寿命为三到四个月——这个时间他已经勉强超出了。
“所以也许我还能再活一年，而不是短短几个月，我会觉得无比幸运，”萨斯说。
当被问及是什么改变了局面时，他将其归功于“天意、祈祷和一款神药”。
deeply committed to his Christian faith的萨斯表示，他曾祈祷出现奇迹，但“这不是我最主要的祈祷”。
“我们都终有一死。我们都有时间限制。我们最终都会归于尘土，我认为智慧要求我们尽早直面死亡和我们的有限性，”他说。
他还表示，自己的诊断让他更加清楚地认识到自己的有限性。
“死亡是邪恶的。死亡是罪孽。死亡本不该如此，”他说。“但这也是一种恩典，因为它迫使我直面真相。”
他继续说道：“我想对自己撒谎，说我是一切的中心。说我会永远活着。说我可以更努力工作，积累足够多的东西，就能弥补自己的过错。但我做不到。”
萨斯谈留给家人的牵挂
萨斯与妻子梅利莎已经结婚31年。他说他们“会有一段时间分离”，但“她坚强、坚韧且有着坚定的信仰，她会没事的”。
他们有两个成年女儿，分别24岁和22岁，还有一个“意外惊喜”——14岁的儿子。当被问及如何面对即将离开家人的现实时，萨斯描述了他可能错过的孩子们人生中的一些重要时刻。
“我想在女儿们结婚时挽着她们的手走过红毯，”他说。“这已经不太可能了。我的时间已经不多了。”
他说，十几岁的儿子也“会没事的”，会有“其他睿智的长辈在他成长路上给予指引”。
“但我非常难过，无法见证他16岁、18岁和20岁的人生阶段，”他说。“我想给他的建议多到他听腻，想把胳膊搭在他肩上——那只胳膊搭在肩上时，他就显得更高了。”
萨斯对美国的临别期许
佩利问萨斯是否有一个“给国家的临别愿望”。
“我认为我们需要更多地思考我们的必死性和有限性，从而重新领悟感恩生活的真谛，”他说。
他补充道：“我希望更多家庭能关掉电子设备，把它们拿到房间外面，倒上一大杯酒，一起共进晚餐，共同探讨一些宏大的问题，比如你在为家人和下一代建设什么。”
Ben Sasse on the Senate’s “smack-down nonsense” and his wish for America
2026-04-26T19:00:20-0400 / https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ben-sasse-cbs-news-60-minutes-town-hall-ai-congress-miracle-drug/
Late last year, former Sen. Ben Sasse was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given three to four months to live. Now, he’s on “extended time” — and he wants to spend some of his remaining time talking about “bigger stuff.”
In an interview with “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley and a town hall hosted by CBS News, the Nebraska Republican said Congress is consumed by “reductionistic tribalism” and isn’t spending enough time on large-scale problems — especially the massive disruptions that he believes will be wrought by artificial intelligence.
Sasse also explained why he believes he owes his extra time on earth to “providence, prayer and a miracle drug.” And he argued more Americans should have access to the types of experimental treatments that he credits with extending his life.
“Congress is not wrestling with big or important questions”
A Nebraska native with a Ph.D. in history from Yale University, Sasse ran for the Senate in 2014. He won reelection after clashing with President Trump, but then, two years later, Sasse resigned from Congress to become president of the University of Florida.
Asked why he left elected office, Sasse called the Senate “very, very unproductive.” He said he was in Washington, D.C., for much of the week, missing time with his wife and three kids in Nebraska, while lawmakers weren’t accomplishing much.
“We didn’t do real things. And it felt like the opportunity cost was really high,” he said.
Right now, Sasse told Pelley that “Congress doesn’t talk about any of those kind of most fundamental issues,” chief among them the way that AI could change the economy and how people work.
“Neither of these parties really have very big or good ideas about 2030 or 2050, at a national security level, at a future of work level, at an institution-building level,” he said. “The Congress is not wrestling with big or important questions right now.”
Much of the blame, Sasse believes, is linked to the fact that politicians have an incentive to appeal to a narrow niche, a problem accentuated by social media.
“It doesn’t encourage a lot of humility. It doesn’t encourage someone saying, ‘You know what, I used to believe this, but I listened to somebody else, and I realized I was wrong, and I’ve learned this new thing,’ he said. “There’s no audience for that.”
Sasse believes the House should be much, much larger — 2,000 lawmakers instead of 435, which would mean individual members would represent fewer people. And he thinks the Senate should be more productive and more focused on addressing major questions, rather than day-to-day theatrics.
“The Senate needs to be less like Instagram. The Senate needs to be more deliberative. And that means less smack-down nonsense,” he said.
He suggested the U.S. is nearing an inflection point: “In 2040, or 2050, or 2060 does the republic survive? I suspect yes, and I would bet yes. But it’s not a 90/10 bet.”
“A republic actually requires people who do deliberative, long-form discourse, learning, humility and community building,” he said. “We’re not doing that right now.”
Sasse told Pelley he’s “optimistic and pessimistic about the complexities of human nature.”
“But I am optimistic about what a free people and a republic can build if they start with the ‘little platoons’ of their family, their extended kin network, their neighborhood, their workplace, and their place of worship,” he said.
AI is “glorious and horrific at the same time”
Asked what big issues Congress is missing, Sasse immediately offered up the AI revolution, which he called “both glorious and horrific at the same time.”
“What the digital revolution does is it accelerates almost everything about the human experience,” Sasse predicted. “Anything that can be reduced to a series of steps, which is most economic activity, is going to be routinized and become really, really cheap, really fast, and really ubiquitous.”
On one level, Sasse believes, AI could launch an era of “ubiquitous abundance,” with no shortages of cheap, high-quality goods. “I don’t know if it’s three years from now or 13 years from now, but we’re all going to have a robot that builds robots for us.”
But it will create upheaval and uncertainty as many jobs are replaced by technology.
“It’s pretty scary to not know what you’re going to do to add value for your neighbor 10 or 25 years from now,” Sasse said. “We’ve never lived in a world where 22-year-olds couldn’t assume that the work they did they would be able to do until death or retirement. And we’re never going to have that world again.”
Sasse on “right to try” rules
Sasse is grappling with stage-four pancreatic cancer that has metastasized, he said, leaving him with lung cancer, vascular cancer, liver cancer and lymphoma.
He has been taking an experimental oral medication for pancreatic cancer called daraxonrasib, which works by inhibiting a protein that can cause cells to grow excessively, leading to tumors.
The maker of daraxonrasib, Revolution Medicines, reported strong results from the drug’s phase three trial earlier this month. Patients who took daraxonrasib survived by a median of 13.2 months, compared to 6.7 months with chemotherapy.
During CBS News’ town hall, Sasse heard from another person with cancer who has credited his early-stage medical treatment for giving him more time with his family.
Mike Hugo, 37, said he was diagnosed four years ago with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer that can lead to death within months rather than years. Hugo said he participated in a clinical trial for a medical device called Optune.
Hugo’s daughters were 5 and 7 years old when he was first diagnosed, and are now 9 and 11. His treatment has allowed him to go to “two daddy-daughter dances that no one said I would ever make,” he said.
Hugo asked Sasse about why relatively few people can access those types of treatments, despite a 2018 federal “right to try” law — cosponsored by Sasse — designed to make it easier for patients with life-threatening illnesses to take not-yet-approved drugs in some circumstances. (Critics argue that “right to try” rules could weaken patient protections, and programs are already in place to help terminally ill patients access investigational drugs.)
Sasse said that law was amended in Congress to make it stricter than initially planned. He said he’d like to “decentralize a lot more of those decisions to individuals, patients and their care providers, rather than one-size-fits-all rules at the FDA.”
He noted that tens of thousands of Americans are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer annually, and it has a “tiny” survival rate.
“The best way to make a dent in that is more experiments,” he said. “And so I would love a world where on the question of how much risk are you willing to endure to get access to a new trial or to allow our greatest scientific minds and researchers to experiment, I’d like to open up the dial quite a bit and let a lot more people get access to these drugs.”
“Providence, prayer and a miracle drug”
Sasse publicly revealed his diagnosis in late December of last year, writing in a jarring social media post that he’s “gonna die.”
In the weeks leading up to his diagnosis, Sasse told CBS News, he dealt with serious pain. He described showering at night with the water turned up as hot as possible, “trying to scald my back to try to make the throbbing of what turned out to be tumors pushing on my spine cease.”
He said he’s now in a lot less pain, in part due to morphine, and he credits the drug daraxonrasib with shrinking his tumor volume by 76% over the last four months.
At the time of his diagnosis, he was told his life expectancy was three to four months — a timeframe he has narrowly surpassed.
“So maybe I’m going to crank and live a year instead of a handful of months, and I’d feel incredibly blessed,” said Sasse.
Asked what changed, he attributed it to “providence, prayer and a miracle drug.”
Sasse, who is deeply committed to his Christian faith, said he has prayed for a miracle, but it’s “not my biggest prayer.”
“We’re all mortal. We’re all on the clock. We’re all going to be pushing up daisies eventually, and I think wisdom requires us to grapple with our death and our finitude early,” he said.
He also suggested that his diagnosis has made him more cognizant of his own finiteness.
“Death is wicked. Death is evil. Death is not how it’s supposed to be,” he said. “But it’s a touch of grace because it forces me to tell the truth.”
He continued: “And the lie I want to tell myself is that I’m the center of everything. And I’m going to be around forever. And I can work harder, and store up enough, that I can atone for my own brokenness. I can’t.”
Sasse on leaving behind his family
Sasse and his wife Melissa have been married for 31 years. He said they will “be apart for a time,” but “she’s tough and gritty and theologically rooted, and she’s going to be fine.”
They have two adult daughters, ages 24 and 22, along with their “providential surprise,” a 14-year-old son. Asked how he is processing leaving his family behind, Sasse described some of the milestones in his children’s lives that he will likely miss.
“I want to walk my daughters down the aisle when they get married,” he said. “That’s not likely to be. That’s not the math on my time card.”
He said his teenage son is also “going to be fine,” and will have “other wise men and women to put a hand on his shoulder.”
“But I’m super bummed to not be there at 16 and 18 and 20 years old in his life,” he said. “I want to give him more advice than he wants, and I want to put my arm on his shoulder, that arm on his shoulders to get taller.”
Sasse’s parting wish for the U.S.
Pelley asked Sasse whether he has a “parting wish” for the country.
“I think we need to have more deliberation about our mortality and our finitude to therefore get back to wisdom about what living a life of gratitude looks like,” he said.
He added: “I’d like a lot more dinner tables to turn off the devices, put them out of the room, pour a big glass of wine, break bread together, and wrestle with some really grand questions about what you’re building for your family and your next generation.”