Is the biological pattern of a live person in a constant state of flux whilst that of a dead one, static?

Question

What is the difference between a person now alive and the same person dead through natural causes 10 seconds later? Is life in essence, the transitions of chemical and electrical impulses?

Answer 1

Yes.

Of course, the body of a dead person will still be changing, in a way. Bacteria will begin to consume him/her, and he/she will decompose.
The major determinant here is that of "Brain Death" - which most physicians use to determine the actual "death" of a person. In that case, it is most definitely the electrochemical impulses of the brain that determine if one is alive or dead.

Answer 2

Let me answer the first question first: regarding the "biological pattern".
biological pattern is "always" in a state of flux, alive or dead. our body is a microcosm of our cells that are also interdependent on various bacteria (harmful or otherwise) or virus or I would say other bio-materials or even non-biomaterials like various compounds of zinc, iron, gold, silver, copper etc.
since one "may" want to distinguish between life and death (though i don't, personally), i would say that only the processes change between the two (aggregation or segregation), but flux there is, always.

we must also remember that there is also no dividing line between aggregation and segregation. We normally aggregate "as humans" (aggregation > segregation) till age 30-35 and start segregating (aggregation < segregation) thereafter. When the segregation becomes so much that the "soul decides that the body is no longer good enough to manifest and so decides to leave the body" (according to Indian philosophy) then is the time that "death" occurs.
So, in short, the biological pattern is "always" in flux. And so is true of every other thing in this world.

Regarding the second question: Is life only a transition of ...?
There is no "life" or "non-life". Everything is









Our minds (human minds) cannot comprehend "nothing". We cannot imagine it, we cannot embody it, we cannot understand it. This is the heart of the problem for the humans. We try to fill in the blanks and hence give the term "life" or "non-life" and then go on and on defining these based on our limited knowledge. Of course, something we cannot define also is tried to be defined by the term "God" to satisfy the limitedness (finiteness) of our understanding. Something like "dark energy" in the universe today.
So the question: Is life ...? - is totally irrelevant. If you have understood this, you wont ask it, because you cannot ask "nothing" and nobody can answer "nothing". I hope you understood the essence of my answer.
Have a great life :-).

Answer 3

It's not that simple. Although clinically dead, nearly all of the physiological processes continue in a brain-dead person. The primary factor in physiological death is failure of the circulatory system. The heart stops beating, or kidney or liver failure stops removal of toxins from the blood. Individual cells find themselves in an environment lacking oxygen and nutrients, but rich in toxic byproducts of metabolism. When that cell can no longer survive, it dies. That process goes on for days. We can't tell exactly where along that process the soul leaves the body, or exactly at what point your cat dies.

Answer 4

Life and death phenomena is complex and not just electro-chemical process. The proven definition of the death is when the brain is dead, which is irreversible after oxygen is cut-off for about 10 minutes. (Beating of heart is reversible process in some cases).

We have two brains, large and small. The large brain (in skull) is used for logical thinking, emotions and memory. The small brain (somewhere behind the neck) controls our involuntary actions (beating of heart, lung and diaphragm). The small brain keeps us alive by sending an electrical impulse every fraction of second to these organs and asks them to continue functioning.

If you suddnly see a tiger in a jungle, your heart beat stops as big brain instruct the small bain to cut-off signals to heart to conserve energy and to decide fight or flight. In the old age due to depression or sudden shock or prolonged illness, the big brain takes a final policy decision and asks small brain to cut-off signal in preparation for a death.

Some believe there is also something called spirit in human beings (only in humans and not in animals) that decides about timing for death. It is more a philosophical question.

Medically, the brain will die if it does not get oxygen, water and glucose for about 10 minutes. The process is irreversible as the small toxins generated in the brain hampers its normal functions.