QuoteA 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.
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.'
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.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2225190/Can-quantum-physics-explain-bizarre-experiences-patients-brought-brink-death.html#ixzz2AoAso3UH
Must say I find this article great! Atleast some people are coming up with some good ideas!
Hi,
Nice find.
A scientist interested is an interesting scientist indeed.
nice indeedy....
and a nice little saying there Szaxx!
Hameroff and Penrose have been postulating this for years. Penrose was the first true scientist that I became aware of who talked any sense about consciousness. Anyway here are a couple of amazon searches on hameroff and penrose.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=penrose
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hameroff
Dr C Jeynes, one of the reviewers of "Cycles Of Time: An Extraordinary New View Of The Universe", on Amazon said this of Prof Penrose:
"I am personally disposed to believe that the Universe is finite in time, at least towards the past. Perhaps this is something beyond observational proof, but in any case I think that Penrose's discussion, whether you believe him or not, is elegant and profound, and I sincerely hope that the new generation of mathematical physicists will take him very seriously. I think he is pointing to the next revolution in physics, with the development of quantum gravity, a consequent revolution in cosmology, and progress at last in some glimmer of appreciation of what consciousness could possibly be. The Universe is intelligible, and the systematic demand for intelligibility has always stimulated revolutions in our understanding."
Basically he is saying that we should take the old Prof seriously.
They have been blaming alot on those carbon microtubules in our cells lately, lol...
Other scientists have postulated that our brains are also quantum computers, and the the microtubules are the sites of the "q-bits" where quantum computing takes place.
Downloaded this a while ago. It's a chapter or short essay by Hameroff / Chopra about the "quantum soul":
http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/documents/QSoulchap.pdf
Regarding quantum soul I always think of Goswami, too:
http://www.amitgoswami.org/
http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Soul-Quantum-Reincarnation-Immortality/dp/1571743324