Is There Life After Death? Science Proposes These Hypotheses
Human beings and living beings in general are subject to a continuous cycle of life and death. We are born, we grow, we reproduce and we die. Our existence is, in principle, something ephemeral. But is this really so?
Numerous religious beliefs and philosophies propose that death does not exist as the disappearance of the organism, but rather that we are reincarnated or that a part of us (be it the soul or consciousness) transcends or is reincarnated.
What does science think? Is there life after death? In this article we are going to explore the different hypotheses established by science.
In general, in Western culture and from a scientific point of view, death is conceived as the end of life. The body is no longer able to perform its basic functions, losing its homeostasis or state of balance and causing the heart to stop beating and pumping blood, we stop breathing and the brain stops working and registering electrical activity. In this sense, it must be taken into account that the true death is considered to be cerebral death, that is, the death that involves the brain ceasing its activity, since other functions can be resumed artificially. But this death is not a sudden moment, but rather a more or less prolonged process in which the organism shuts down.
That dying means that our body stops functioning as it did on its own is something shared by the majority of traditions, beliefs and scientific studies. However, it is from this point that the debate begins. Our body has stopped functioning and we have finally died. What does this mean? There is no way back? Does something happen later?
Scientific hypotheses about life after death
Before starting to comment and debate whether or not there is life after death, it should be taken into account that although it may seem universal, Death can be understood from different perspectives For example, in the event that life existed after it, it would cease to be something definitive and finalist and would become a kind of boundary towards the next phase of existence. Otherwise we would be talking about the end of being, of existence, and the progressive decomposition of what we once were.
That said, let’s look at some of the different hypotheses and theories based on arguments (although in many cases they are considered pseudoscientific or biased by the scientific community) regarding the existence of a possible life after death
Near-death experiences: core of theories that assume the existence of a life after death
Many of the hypotheses regarding the existence of life after death arise from the study and analysis of near-death experiences: situations in which a subject has been clinically dead (brain functioning included) for a short period of time. but which has finally been resuscitated using different techniques. Especially well known is the study carried out by the University of Southampton in this regard, which began in 2008 and whose results were published in 2014.
The study reflected a large number of cases of Near-death experiences in cardiac arrest patients who were clinically dead but who were finally resuscitated. In a large part of these experiences and after having managed to recover the patient, it seems to be reflected that he has maintained a thread of consciousness throughout the process that causes him to even be able to relate what was happening in the room during the period in which he was clinically dead. They also report sensations of floating, of seeing themselves from outside the body (and it is from this situation that they usually describe what was happening while they were dead), a feeling of slowing down of time and peace. In some cases they also report having entered a tunnel of light.
It must be taken into account that it is true that the brain can remain alive for a short period of time after the cessation of breathing and cardiac activity: our consciousness and perception is not suddenly deactivated, which could mean that even if our constants were incompatible with life we would still possess a few seconds or even minutes of consciousness But studies carried out by the University of Southampton point out that in many of the near-death experiences the brain had no activity during the reported period in question and that the descriptions offered by the patients were very precise when describing the objects and situations that occurred during his death.
Another experiment of the same type has been carried out at the Technische Universität in Berlin, with believers and atheists who have been resurrected after being clinically dead and whose experiences reflect patterns similar to those described above. These types of theories are some of the most important and those that have had the greatest support, with conclusions being presented in this regard at the UN.
Biocentrism: quantum hypothesis
Another of the scientific hypotheses that consider the possibility of life after death is, according to Robert Lanza, biocentrism, which is based on quantum physics In fact, he considers death to be just a product of consciousness, an illusion. This theory implies that it is not the universe that forms life but the opposite, that life generates what we consider reality. It is our consciousness that shapes what we consider the world to be, including death itself. Also space and time.
To support this theory the author takes into account the results of double slit experiments, which state that a particle can behave both as a particle and as a wave depending on how it is observed. It also starts from aspects such as visual perception, which can change if the receptors dedicated to it are altered.
The aforementioned author takes into account the physical theory of the possible existence of multiple universes. Theoretically, our death could mean the journey of our consciousness to another dimension or universe. Life is considered something continuous from which it is not possible to escape.
Theory of Orchestrated Objective Reduction
This theory also starts from quantum physics to consider that consciousness is nothing more than quantum information programmed biologically in microtubules within neurons. After death, said information only returns to the universe This theory has also been used to try to explain the visions that some people seem to have in near-death experiences.
Yuri Bérland is a Russian student who has created a mathematical equation in which, starting from the consideration of life as information and being linked to time, it offers a constant as a result. This could indicate, according to said student, that mathematically it is possible to consider life as something constant and that therefore it does not have an end, although This is a hypothesis that has not yet been published
Hypothesis contrary to the existence of life after death
A large majority of the scientific community considers that death is the end, with no evidence of the existence of anything beyond it. The neuroanatomical substrate that allows consciousness is the brain which implies that after the cessation of its activity it also stops working.
It is also proposed that near-death experiences and the sensations manifested by those who suffer them are normal and to be expected as a consequence of the biological alterations produced at the moment of death: alterations in the temporal state cause effects very similar to those mentioned, light vision. or a tunnel would be associated with the narrowing of consciousness and the pupillary dilation typical of a person in their last moments and the capture of details may be due to the persistence of brain function for a few seconds while the body stops functioning.
