Dear Friends,
Near-death experiences occur when the soul leaves the nervous system and enters the universe, claim two quantum physics experts
- Ground-breaking theory holds that quantum substances form the soul
- They are part of the fundamental structure of the universe
By
Damien Gayle
|
Life after death: Dr Stuart Hameroff, Professor
Emeritus at the University of Arizona, advanced the theory on a
television documentary
A near-death experience happens when
quantum substances which form the soul leave the nervous system and
enter the universe at large, according to a remarkable theory proposed
by two eminent scientists.
According
to this idea, consciousness is a program for a quantum computer in the
brain which can persist in the universe even after death, explaining the
perceptions of those who have near-death experiences.
Dr
Stuart Hameroff, Professor Emeritus at the Departments of
Anesthesiology and Psychology and the Director of the Centre of
Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona, has advanced the
quasi-religious theory.
It
is based on a quantum theory of consciousness he and British physicist
Sir Roger Penrose have developed which holds that the essence of our
soul is contained inside structures called microtubules within brain
cells.
They have argued that
our experience of consciousness is the result of quantum gravity
effects in these microtubules, a theory which they dubbed orchestrated
objective reduction (Orch-OR).
Thus
it is held that our souls are more than the interaction of neurons in
the brain. They are in fact constructed from the very fabric of the
universe - and may have existed since the beginning of time.
The concept is similar to the
Buddhist and Hindu belief that consciousness is an integral part of the
universe - and indeed that it is really all there may be, a position
similar to Western philosophical idealism.
With
these beliefs, Dr Hameroff holds that in a near-death experience the
microtubules lose their quantum state, but the information within them
is not destroyed. Instead it merely leaves the body and returns to the
cosmos.
Shocked back to life: The theory holds that when
patients have a near death experience their quantum soul is released
from the body and re-enters the cosmos, before returning when they are
revived.
Dr Hameroff told the Science
Channel's Through the Wormhole documentary: 'Let's say the heart stops
beating, the blood stops flowing, the microtubules lose their quantum
state.
'The quantum
information within the microtubules is not destroyed, it can't be
destroyed, it just distributes and dissipates to the universe at large.
'If
the patient is resuscitated, revived, this quantum information can go
back into the microtubules and the patient says "I had a near death
experience".'
He adds: 'If
they're not revived, and the patient dies, it's possible that this
quantum information can exist outside the body, perhaps indefinitely, as
a soul.'
Evidence: Dr Hameroff believes new findings
about the role quantum physics plays in biological processes, such as
the navigation of birds, will one day prove his theory
The Orch-OR theory has come in
for heavy criticism by more empirically minded thinkers and remains
controversial among the scientific community.
MIT
physicist Max Tegmark is just one of the many scientists to have
challenged it, in a 2000 paper that is widely cited by opponents, the
Huffington Post reports.
Nevertheless,
Dr Hameroff believes that research in to quantum physics is beginning
to validate Orch-Or, with quantum effects recently being shown to
support many important biological processes, such as smell, bird
navigation and photosynthesis.
No comments:
Post a Comment