Death and Quantum Science

 

 

DEATH and QUANTUM SCIENCE

I am in a continual state of awe at the depth and insight my young classmates possess.  Rarely am I speechless, but routinely I find myself in this unusual condition on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  Thank you for stirring my soul and giving me food for thought.

On the eve of my favorite holiday, Halloween, I wanted to explore a few ideas about Death, the completion of life, and how the cyclical nature of our existence affects our past, present, and future. 

Halloween is my favorite holiday, not because it celebrates the deaths of Christian martyrs and saints, but because of its more pagan, ancient belief that the souls of the dead return home on one night or day of the year.  (And I am intrigued at how people’s personalities morph when in costume.)

Death is THE great mystery.  As far as we know, it is inescapable.  Humans spend a tremendous amount of energy thinking about it, analyzing it, hypothesizing about it, and still we remain completely in the dark.

Why do some people facing imminent death from an illness, such as cancer, say they have never felt so alive?  Why is it when death is on the doorstep that life finally shows up in full regalia? Would we appreciate life with the same fervor if there was no death? 

Is death really the opposite of life?  If so, is being “unborn” the same as death – both are stages of being not alive? 

Is life to death a linear progression or part of a cycle?  Is it a stage of life that marks the end of one cycle and the beginning of another? Or is it another dimension we have yet to discover? Does any aspect of what defines us as ourselves live on? 

The law of the conservation of mass states that:

for any system closed to all transfers of matter and energy (both of which have mass),

the mass of the system must remain constant over time,

as system mass cannot change quantity if it is not added or removed.

Hence, the quantity of mass is "conserved" over time.

The law implies that mass can neither be created nor destroyed,

although it may be rearranged in space, or

the entities associated with it

may be changed in form. 

So, following the laws of science, one must ask, what happens to the energy that humans exhibit when they are alive, as evidenced by an EEG which measures our electrical impulses, when their bodies die?  What form does that energy take because it is not just disapperaring? 

The science program, Through the Wormhole, explored the work of Stuart Hameroff, MD (anesthesiologist), and Roger Penrose.  They propose that the information we carry in the microtubes of our brains’ neurons are linked at a quantum level to all other information.  The microtubular forest in our cells act as a computer at a molecular level and are connected even if they are spacially separated. 

According to Hameroff and Penrose, quantum theory states that every point in space --- even empty space--- contains information.  Following the non-locality aspect of quantum science, the information of our “conscious” is connected to all of the other information in the universe.  Could this be the source of religious and spiritual beliefs in a Collective Consciousness?

Hameroff believes that souls are actually built form the fabric of the Universe, that consciousness was born in the Big Bang---at the same time that all matter and energy was created.  If this were the case, the Law of the Conservation of Mass would not be violated and the entanglement theory of quantum science would support their hypothesis. 

Hameroff suggests that during Near Death Experiences, the microtubes in the neurons begin releasing their energy and information back into the universe.  Eventually, it dissipates into the universe at large if the person dies.  However, if a person is revived, the information flows back into the microtubes of the brain.  Regardless, they believe the information lives outside the body because energy cannot be destroyed.  Whether the information recycles into a new body and explains feelings of reincarnation remains unknown. 

http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/penrose-hameroff/quantumcomputation.html

Another question I have involving the Law of the Conservation of Mass is: 

When a human is born (or anything else for that matter), where does the mass come from?  If mass in the universe is actually constant then the mass to create a new life must be subtracted from elsewhere to keep the account balance, right? Is this why there are mass extinctions occurring as our population explodes?   What about if I gain weight and have more mass?  How is this balance achieved? 

Anyway, so much for my Halloween Eve’s musing. 

Enjoy your Halloween!!!  Happy Trick or Treating!!!