A valid argument for life after death?

Question

A friend of mine and I were talking about the concept of life after death and he brought up a theory, inspired, he said, by a book he read:

The moment before you die, your brain goes through a cyclical process where you perceive yourself over and over again, an infinite amount of times, all within the smallest unit of time. Basically, it's not unlike a dream--the shortest dream, in real-time, can feel like it lasts forever. He tied this back to living within your own consciousness, during what feels like eternity, since you cannot grasp the concept of time, but only within the liminal nano-second between life and death.

Is there any science to back this up? Is it even a real theory? I've never heard of it before, but he swore that it has been backed up with "scientific" explanations.

Answer 1

I would say with certainty that there is no hard science to back that up. Concepts like "infinite amount of times" and "smallest unit of time" do not go well with practical applications (if we consider brain as a practical application, as this hypothesis clearly is trying to do). It's impossible to say what people experience right before death; however there has been many studies about near-death experiences. This hypothesis you are talking about seems to mix and match quite freely (and incorrectly) some of these studies.
I'm not going to search for sources for these studies; I'll only speculate with those points I remember, so following may contain errors and misunderstandings. However, I personally assure that those errors are smaller than those made by the creator of the hypothesis you present in your question.

There was an extensive study (several years ago) about the phenomenon when one sees his/hers past life flashing in front of him, like watching a film. This happens sometimes to people in a sudden, very dangerous situation (and sometimes before near-death experiences). IIRC, there was a theory that this phenomenon happens because brain quickly go through everything that is stored in memory while trying to find a safe way to get out of the danger, a solution that may be found from past experiences. This process was thought to be incredibly fast, too fast to rationalize, only the images flashing can be understood by conscious mind.

Often combined with this phenomenon is another one, where world around seems to start moving slower. This also happens alone, during near-death experiences but also on other occasions. For some reason conscious mind seems to be able to function faster then, reaction time is shortened but also reasoning and thought decisions come faster. A couple of months ago there was an article in New Scientist about this, and how some professional athletes have experienced same kind of phenomenon during important performances / matches, and so seemed to be able to initiate this by will.

So both of these studies show that brain may work far faster than they normally do, and that this is often the case during near-death experiences (and so probably before death too). But there is nothing to back up the hypothesis that this acceleration somehow goes on forever until the speed of synapses flashing is infinite right before death, like in the hypothesis you presented. Plain reasoning is against this: the neural connections in your nervous system are fast, but they are not instantaneous. There is a limit for this acceleration. It is true that a dream lasting only seconds or minutes may feel very long (some esoteric legends even mention they could feel like years or decades), but it cannot last forever. The last nanosecond before your death? Definitely that is not going to feel like eternity either. Longer than it seems to the outside world, maybe, but I wouldn't call those extended seconds "life after death".

Answer 2

The only place I've heard this mentioned before is near the end of the movie "American Beauty" -- which, alas, is not a scientific documentary.

The idea of a 'second reflecting infinity" seems to resemble the "fractal" nature of the organized chaos of the universe, where each smaller part of something reflects the larger part it belongs to.

Empirically, the only way to verify this is to have someone die, test their perception of time, then have them come back and report... and their experience is still subjective. Besides the fact that few people come back (and their testimony is still uncertain), there's simply no way to test objectively for this.

It's also logically a big jump between "living within your own consciousness during the nano-second between life and death" and "how the shortest dream can seem to last forever." The subjective experience of "infinite dreaming" in a short amount of time suggests the *possibility* of similar situations elsewhere... but scientifically proves nothing at all, nor can it.

I did spend about twenty minutes scouring the web for this concept but didn't find it anywhere. Instead, my search engine pulled up a lot of stuff about mystical philosophies and religions (theosophy, new age stuff, "spiritual vibration," and so forth) -- not an encouraging sign.

If there is any substance to this concept, it would probably deal with quanta.

Answer 3

There is a mounting collection of research available regarding NDE's (near death experiences); I'm sure the researchers analyzing this information may have developed some preliminary hypotheses, but I'm not aware of any tangible theories as of yet.

Personally, I have not had a death experience, per se, but my trans-dimensional pneumatic self (spirit) has been "transported" to several of numerous "Transdimensions", that are located beyond our finite sector of the Transdimensional Superstructure, in particular one time I was transported to an infinite dimension where some of the Human Dead (spirits) have been confined. It was an unbelievable surrealistic realm right out of a Salvador Dahli painting, being a great megalopolis having no "city limits", for it was infinitely immeasurable. A voice spoke to my mind while I was there telling me that its name was "Melancholiopolis" (the city of melancholy). It was completely devoid of the Presence of God, a place of great dejectedness and sorrow. I could actually "feel" the dejectedness; it permeated into the very depths of my being. In fact, the very atmosphere had an actual physical heaviness that weighted the burden of sorrow upon my form. It was just bewildering. The voice told me that this was the ultimate destination for people who did not value the Gift of Life, those who were filled with bitterness, anger, hatred and unforgiveness. As I gazed across the city scape I saw countless people, seemingly identical, all wearing dingy ochre hooded robes, all hunched over, and all "drudging" aimlessly up and down the endless cold concrete canyon streets, a perfect grid system. The empty structures wear about 200-floors high, and there was no relief for their drudging, which will endure for Eternity. Furthermore, they didn't seem to "know" to stop and rest. Oh, and the sky was completely pitch black; the only light emitted from the tall street lamps, and long dejected shadows were cast upon the stone walls. There are far more details to all of this and involving a specific individual who is there that I personally know, but it’s a little complicated to go into all that on this site. But if you want to hear more, just email me about it.

Answer 4

I died about six months ago when a car hit me. I was crossing Elm St. in downtown Dallas when a speeding cab flipped a curb and landed on me from behind, folding me in two and snapping my spinal cord. I was on my way to the train thinking about what it would be like to have sex with the lady walking in front of me. In the nanosecond between life and death, my lungs burst and I s**t in my pants. The only thing that feels like eternity is not knowing what world I'm living in or where I'm going. So maybe you can tell me?

Answer 5

Does your friend have any true personal experience or is your friend just imagining? Blowing smoke? Or answering emotionally? Where are his facts? - I will make him this bet, he will not be able to produce one single fact! You can clue him in that in the history of the world, our solar system, our universe, no one has ever produced one single clue.

When I died, personal experience, there was nothing but nothing - just black. And, black right up to the time I awoke - BTW there was just prior to that event an incredible amount of pain. There was the same incredible pain when I revived.

Answer 6

i wouldn't think there would be any scientific explanations. after all, dead people can't talk, can they?

i mean, people have come back from near-death, but i think that those people have only just touched the surface of what it's like to go through death, so we can't exactly take their anecdotes as the full truth (because we can't scientifically test them).

good question though. gives me a lot to think about!

Answer 7

i think of the factor is that in case you incarcerate somebody for 0.5 their existence, there is a minimum of the prospect of paying huge sums of repayment to somebody wrongfully sent down. If somebody is finished, they won't in any respect be compensated in any way, which it would be pronounced makes an respected pardon meaningless. there's a controversy in comparison by capacity of ethical actuality seeker Kant (additionally a supporter of capital punishment). If somebody is wrongfully finished, then that has no bearing on the rights and wrongs of capital punishment in itself, yet a fault of a criminal device which could enable miscarriages of justice. regrettably, this argument is begging a needed question. Is a foolproof criminal device that forestalls miscarriages of justice contained in in the slightest degree feasible or lifelike? to respond to your factor approximately approximately justice no longer purely being a deterrant. i in my view trust you. some international places in Northern Europe (no longer which incorporate the united kingdom, it incredibly is amazingly a violent united states at present) have an quite liberal penal device which do no longer even hardship with existence sentences for first-degree murderers and yet their crime expenses are tiny while in comparison with, for occasion, Texas or California which hold the dying penalty. yet this utilitarian argument nevertheless would not handle the moral measurement of capital punishment. with out utilising the be conscious 'revenge', is there any justice, unavoidably conversing, in giving Anders Breivik in basic terms 21 years? i might say no. i think of, if pushed and questioning approximately it now, i might oppose capital punishment, no longer out of utilitarianism, yet using fact i've got faith in collective accountability and for this reason we've a ethical accountability to deter as many people as feasible from commiting homicide, using fact if we fail to take action understanding the outcomes, then the society isn't straight away in charge for it.

Answer 8

There is absolutely no science to back this up. Suppose it were true for a moment; all the billions upon billions of humans who have lived, and died, and decomposed, are somehow still experiencing their lives cyclically even after all the physical material that made them has disappeared?

Answer 9

This is illogical to believe that it could possibly be backed up by science. Science deals in fact. Since noone has ever returned from the dead, there are no facts to support this theory.

Answer 10

I don't think you will find any proof. I think that we will have to just wait and see. How would anyone tell you thats what happens, they die right after right?