What happens to our minds when we stop breathing for good and our hearts stop beating? That's the question we've been asking ourselves for as long as we've been conscious, as human beings. Unfortunately, no one agrees on what happens in the afterlife: religions, sects, gurus and philosophers all offer different answers. In 2012, at a conference, a physicist gave the scientific viewpoint on the subject. I might as well tell you straight away that his vision is likely to seem pessimistic.
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Life after death is apparently not possible
So what happens after death? Do we fly off to greener pastures alongside an all-knowing God? Does a high divine authority judge our past actions? Do we rejoin our ancestors, loved ones and deceased animals?
For Sean Caroll, it's none of the above. In 2012, this theoretical physicist spoke at The Amaz!ng Meeting conference. In his view, the afterlife, life after death and reincarnation are scientifically impossible. He explains:
There is no life after death. Because there are no particles and forces that can hold the information in your brain after you die. The accumulation of knowledge that defines you has no way of persisting.
From a scientific point of view, we are nothing more than an extremely complex chemical reaction, with nothing special, poetic or divine about us. In other words, a collection of atoms that obey the laws of physics.
Read more:Man who had a near-death experience reveals what he saw in the afterlife
There is no separate being from the body
Sean Carroll adds:
We are not a pile of meat directed by a spiritual blob. There is no extra-material spirit directing us. There are electrons, protons and neutrons interacting with electromagnetism, the nuclear force and gravity.
Some will find his vision of the world to be down-to-earth, and that's to be expected - Sean Caroll is a scientist who thinks like a scientist. But we invite you to consult the rest of his talk, where the physicist explains that, while the world is made up of atoms, there are other ways of representing it.
When you meet someone for the first time, when you have a first date and your partner asks you to introduce yourself, you don't state the positions and speeds of all the electrons, protons and neutrons in your body.
Read more: Man who died for 7 minutes reveals what he saw in the afterlife and how he escaped death
This article has been translated from Gentside FR.
Sources used:
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