Is there life after death? Science proposes these hypotheses

Several theorists give explanations about what happens to life when the body stops functioning.

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, ephemeral. But is this really so?

Many religious beliefs and philosophies propose that death does not exist as the disappearance of the organism, but that we are reincarnated or that a part of us (either the soul or the consciousness) transcends or is reincarnated.

What does science think? Is there life after death? In this article we will explore the different hypotheses established by science.

The concept of death

In general, in Western culture and from a scientific point of view, death is conceived as the end of life. The organism ceases to be able to perform its basic functions, losing its homeostasis or state of equilibrium and causing the heart to stop beating and pumping blood. and causing the heart to stop beating and pumping blood, we stop breathing, and the body stops being able to perform its basic functions.The heart stops beating and pumping blood, we stop breathing and the brain stops functioning and registering electrical activity. In this sense, it must be taken into account that the real death is considered to be cerebral death, that is to say, the one that supposes that the brain ceases its activity, since other functions can be artificially resumed. But this death is not a sudden moment, but a more or less prolonged process in which the organism shuts down.

That death means that our organism ceases to function as it did before by itself is something shared by the majority of traditions, beliefs and scientific studies. However, it is at this point that the debate begins. Our body has ceased to function and we have finally died. What does this mean, is there no turning back, does anything happen afterwards?

Scientific hypotheses about life after death

Before beginning to comment and to debate with respect to if it exists or not life after the death it is necessary to bear in mind that although it seems something universal, death can be understood from different perspectives. For example, in the case that life exists after death, it would cease to be something definitive and finalistic 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.

Having said that, 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 life after death

A large part of the hypotheses referring to 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 (including encephalic functioning) for a short period of time but has finally been resuscitated by means of different techniques. Particularly well known is the study conducted by the University of Southampton in this regard, initiated in 2008 and the results of which 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 were who were clinically dead but were eventually resuscitated. In most of these experiences, and after having managed to recover the patient, it seems to be reflected that the patient has maintained a thread of consciousness during the whole 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 sensation of slowing down time and peace. In some cases they also report having entered a tunnel of light.

It should be noted that it is true that the brain can remain alive for a short time after the cessation of breathing and cardiac activity: our consciousness and perception are not abruptly 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. a few seconds or even minutes of consciousness. But studies conducted by the University of Southampton indicate that in many of the near-death experiences the brain had no activity during the reported period in question and that the descriptions given by the patients were very accurate in describing the objects and situations that occurred during their death.

Another experiment of the same type has been carried out at the Technische Universität in Berlin, with believers and atheists who have been resuscitated after being clinically dead and whose experiences reflect patterns similar to those described above. This type of theories are some of the most important and of those that have had greater support, arriving to present conclusions on the matter in the UN.

Biocentrism: quantum hypothesis

Another of the scientific hypotheses that shuffle the possibility of the life after the death is, according to Robert Lanza, biocentrism, which is based on quantum physics.. In fact, it considers that death is only 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 to be the world, including death itself. Also space and time.

To support this theory, the author takes into account the results of double-slit experiments, which show that a particle can behave in the samewhich show that a particle can behave both as a particle and as a wave depending on how it is observed. It is also based on 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 involve the journey of our consciousness to another dimension or universe. Life is considered to be something continuous from which it is not possible to exit.

Orchestrated Objective Reduction Theory

This theory is also based on quantum physics and considers that consciousness is nothing more than quantum information biologically programmed in microtubules within neurons. After death, this 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.

The Yuri Berland equation

Yuri Berland 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, he offers as a result a constant. This could indicate, according to the student, that mathematically it is possible to consider life as something constant and therefore does not have an end, although it is a hypothesis that is not yet known. 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 death to be the end, with no evidence of the existence of anything beyond death. The neuroanatomical substrate that allows consciousness is the brain, which implies that after the cessation of its activity it also ceases to function.This implies that after the cessation of its activity it also ceases to function.

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 cause effects very similar to those mentioned above, the vision of light or a tunnel would be associated with the narrowing of consciousness and the pupillary dilation typical of a person in his last moments and the capture of details may be due to the persistence for a few seconds of brain function while the organism stops functioning. while the organism stops functioning.