if only we were willing to lose our materialism

Now we have seen the hardest core of materialism: Seven Creepy Experiments That Could Teach Us So Much (If They Weren’t So Wrong) by Wired (8/2011).
According to Wired in the real world, though, matters aren’t so simple. Most scientists will assure you that ethical rules never hinder good research—that there’s always a virtuous path to testing any important hypothesis. But ask them in private, perhaps after a drink or three, and they’ll confess that the dark side does have its appeal.
Bend the rules and some of our deepest scientific conundrums could be elucidated or even resolved: nature versus nurture,
the causes of mental illness, even the mystery of how humans evolved from monkeys. These discoveries are just sitting out there, waiting for us to find them, if only we were willing to lose our souls.

.. or such that "if only we were willing to lose our souls".
Naive to the text, how can we lose the things which we do not know at all?
Perhaps the loss has already occurred. We do not descend from apes. But apes are the souls that are lagging behind our life´s wave.
The toughest materialists go to them to accompany the next manifestation.