The short answer to the question can science prove life after death is—YES. The problem is not about designing objective and replicable clinical tests or even inventing machines sensitive enough to register organized consciousness outside of matter. All that would be easy in comparison to something like the Hadron Collider built to discover how matter forms at a subatomic level. The collider is a subterranean machine 17 miles (27 km) in length running under the Swiss-French border. Its development is a joint effort of European nations (CERN) and its data are sent to some 160 universities throughout the world for analysis. Nor is the problem about cost. The price tag for the Hadron Collider is already well into billions of euros. Compare this high-level, international government and university sponsored coordination and mind-boggling expense for the Hadron Collider to the small-scale, uncoordinated investigation of life after death, an enterprise which is nearly always conducted privately, and without outside funding. As science routinely invents devices that can “see” the invisible, whether in astrophysics or nuclear physics, why can’t it develop the technology it takes to prove life after death?
The problem is attitude. A Gallup poll on immortality found that only 16% of leading scientists believed in life after death as opposed to anywhere from 67% to 82% of the general population, according to several polls combined. And only 4% of these scientists thought it might be possible for science to prove it. Apparently they have no trouble believing in Multiverses in which a nearly infinite number of parallel universes are imperceptible or String Theory with its 11 dimensions of reality, some of them also imperceptible, and the Hidden Worlds Theory, which again hypothesizes imperceptible universes. But an afterlife? That’s just too crazy. Although this poll dates back to 1982 and so far newer ones have not been taken, the scorn and ridicule targeted at scientists who might be brave enough to propose testing for an afterlife and the subsequent loss or demotion of their professional positions are costs too high to risk. Even so, funding to test a survival hypothesis would hardly be granted.
So far evidence for survival is coming from the softer sciences, psychiatry, psychology as well as medicine and biology, with specific, potentially revolutionary hints in neurobiology, quantum biology and genetics. Even in the softer sciences, however, a person chances considerable derision if not loss of professional reputation for pursuing research in this area. Ironically, the hard sciences are doing the most to dismantle the assumption that the material universe is the only real universe—a crucial point for any argument for a non-material dimension of the dead. Astrophysics claims that 95.4% of the entire universe is not made up of the kind of matter and energy we call “real.” Less than a third of the 95.4% is composed instead of a mysterious substance called dark matter and more than 2/3rds of it is equally strange dark energy. The universe we are accustomed to thinking of as real amounts to a mere 4.6% and is composed of the kind of matter and energy we know. But quantum mechanics describes the matter that makes up our world, our bodies, and the computer in front of you as barely physical at all. In fact, the ratio of the amount of matter in an atom to the total size of an atom is roughly that of a pea to a football field. The rest is energy in the form of forces and oscillations. If you took all the space out of the atoms making up the human body, the amount of solid matter left would be the size of a microscopic dot. Theoretically then, what separates us from discarnates is that dot.
Most of us believe that the hard sciences, such as physics and chemistry, conduct the most objective and most accurate tests in comparison to the softer sciences. But any particle physicist knows that there is no such thing as objectivity. We also assume that the hard sciences’ test results are more precisely measured and more consistent than those of other sciences. If you really look closely at how scientific proof is achieved, you may be astonished to find that solid proof is not so solid. Dean Radin, senior scientist for The Institute of Noetic Science, gives many examples in his book, The Conscious Universe. One study he looks at was conducted by Larry Hedge of the University of Chicago. Hedge’s analysis compared the empirical replication rate for particle physics—the hardest of the hard sciences—with the empirical success in replication for social sciences. Both particle physics and social sciences showed a statistical inconsistency of 45%, that is, when all studies were taken into account. For reasons of design flaws or flukes, particle physicists discarded tests whose results were incompatible with expected ones. Since we now know that soft-science experiments can be as successfully replicated as those in hard sciences, we can assume that there is a potential design for replicable clinical tests on the continuation of organized consciousness outside of matter. I also suspect that the electrical energy of the dead—an energy my own body registers so strongly—could be precisely measured, which would yield quantifiable results. The technology sensitive enough to do so already exists.
Much of what the hard sciences propose as real is more often extrapolation from a set of effects rather than fact. If this and that are observed to happen, why they happen is deduced. From these deductions, a workable hypothesis is formed and then tested. We don’t really know, for instance, if there was ever a Big Bang. There has been no direct observation of this proposed cosmic event. That’s why the Hadron Collider was built, to attempt reproduction of how matter was born. The assumptions of a Big Bang or even a black hole are derived from a set of discernible conditions that can best be explained—in the current state of our knowledge—by a bang or a hole.
The evidence for survival already available satisfies the scientific criteria required for testing. First, there is a phenomenon in which it can be definitely stated that something real has happened because of its effects. That phenomenon could be anything from a recorded voice with no known source, a picture of a deceased individual picked up on film or a visitation from the deceased witnessed by more than one person simultaneously. Second, a very finite number of hypothetical causes from these effects can be extrapolated. And third, the hypothesis that best and most elegantly explains all the observable effects of a given phenomenon is the existence of organized consciousness outside the realm of matter. The problem of replicating these effects under clinical conditions remains however. If the dead could be induced to participate, and they can be, we could test for other more quantifiable effects, especially in the electromagnetic range. Another obvious route would be the development of sensitive communication technology. The private sector that researches Instrumental Transcommunication, as it is called, has already made remarkable progress, sometimes with startling success. If only 1% of the money and expertise that went into the Hadron Collider were available (even better, 1% of the ten trillion spent on developing the atomic bomb), within a matter of a few years science could prove life after death.
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Matt
2013-09-06 @ 4:31 PM
The problem with NDE is that the floating above your head sensation and white light is part of the oxygen being starved from the brain. However, the meeting and greeting dead relatives never came up in the tests, so that is a mystery. We didn’t come from a single cell we came from many as new science is discovering, our microbes may be the cause of our personalities and behaviors etc “also new science discoveries” if there was a nothingness it would be similar to before you where born so it doesn’t sound to bad I think most people fear leaving loved ones behind and certain attachments but being an open minded skeptic myself I believe there must be a reason behind all of this. Imagine being the first human to ever have thought “what am I and why?” gazing up at the sky and feeling a rush of fear and excitement then having the realization of “I am and this is where I reside” would make you feel more connected to everything around you. That is what I feel when I wake up everyday.. that I am connected to everything but there need not be a story or a god behind it just a knowing or a feeling. I also wouldn’t mind a good sleep when I pass away.. this life thing is hard but for some reason I don’t feel like the torment ends at death (aren’t I the little emo) lol.
John
2014-03-20 @ 6:43 PM
Actually, there are cases where NDEs have apparently occurred when there was no brain activity at all. They’ve also occurred when peoples brains are deprived of oxygen. I can’t remember any more detail than that, and it’s probably all anecdotal, but there are stories of people whose brains are “off” that knew what was going on in a room.
Julia
2014-03-23 @ 12:02 PM
That’s right. In fact, there is a lot documented of people with no brain activity and no vital signs, heart beat, pulse, etc., for hours. According to medicine, the brain is destroyed after 10 minutes of oxygen deprivation. But not in these cases. I have written a great deal about this in The Last Frontier. Fascinating stuff, really.
Grahame
2013-11-04 @ 1:17 PM
Good article with lots of interesting points made. Thanks. I’d also like to point out that paradigm shifts tend to be most dramatic in sciences that appear to be stable and mature, as in physics. And certain mathematical discoveries, combined with results of in-depth exploration of physics and quantum mechanics, now offer verification for many earlier well-documented scientific experiments dealing with what has been known as ‘psychic phenomena.’ Yes, it’s real and yes science will prove the afterlife.
french
2013-11-26 @ 7:45 PM
hello julia from france, I would like answering you about three issues;
I am recently insterested in mediumship, but i cant believed in the 20 century research made by william james, hyslop, etc. but i think julie beischel is doing a good point to AIR but… is super psi? i think this theory explain all, but i read this paper http://whitecrowbooks.com/michaeltymn/entry/chess_game_offers_strong_evidence_for_life_after_death
can a psychic medium who is not in trance do a experiment like this? i think if a non trance medium can do this, super psi can be eliminated as hypothesis. what do you think?
the second question is: has you do any transcomunication instrumental exeriment? mediums can get really good result talking to the deaceaseaced
I would be very proud of you to answer me,and if you could do any of the experiments I have spoken before, Iwould be very happy.sorry for my English. my best wishes for you
Julia
2013-12-11 @ 10:46 PM
I’m sorry to get back to you so late. You pose some very good questions, which I have answered in my book, The Last Frontier. It is indeed difficult to distinguish communication with the dead from communication between a “medium” and the “sitter.” In fact, much of what we mediums deliver is not from the dead but from the client. In order to avoid this, for myself anyway, I have to keep refocusing on the dead person and direction my attention and questions to him or her. There are some spectacular feats of communication that could only be construed as telepathy between the living that I write about extensively in the chapter on after-death communication, such as particulars from the dead crew of a crashed dirigable during WWII.
As to your second question, deep trance usually allows for a freer, more accurate flow of information. Light trances, however, can also be extremely accurate, depending on the level of inner discipline the medium has. Experience also helps a great deal here.
Third question–all things are enhanced by psi activity. And the influence of psi activity on machines has been proven. Enhancement is especially important in things like instrumental transcommunication.
Hope this helps!
Now I have a question for you! Where are you from?
Izzy
2014-05-02 @ 5:07 PM
Hey Julia, I’m a soon to be 15 year old girl and I’m looking for some faith in an afterlife. My mum is a recovered leukaemia patient which she had when I was 4-5. She said she felt like she was going somewhere better and at one point remembers being in her grandmothers bedroom (not the hospital where she had been). Her grandmother had died when she was 11 and everything was really vivid in detail, she says her grandmother was calling her to come along. But my twin brother kept calling to her saying “mummy wake up” and she felt she had to get back to us. She believes this is the point she was closest to death and feels she would of happily gone off with her grandmother. Even though this is 10 years ago she still remembers it really strongly more than most memories. She believes that when we die that our soul/consciousness becomes this big collective group spirit with everyone or She just has a strong belief there is something. I’m wondering a lot about this topic, my brother says we just die and it scares everyone. But that doesn’t seem right, I was wondering if you could give your beliefs off this?
Julia
2014-05-03 @ 2:43 PM
Oh Izzy, I wrote a whole book on this! Your mother’s experience was real, not a dream. However, we don’t join a group soul, but arrive in the afterlife as the people we already are. We do change constantly, grow in awareness and abilities and creativity constantly after we die. Although modern science has never bothered to try and prove life after death, no one and nothing have ever proved we don’t survive after death.
Rita Sarkhel
2014-05-05 @ 8:26 PM
There is definitely life after death. My own deceased father who was very close to me came in my dream and told me to bail my son (his grandson) out because he was locked up. Next morning I went to work and my son was still not at home. I checked my message at home, and sure enough there was a message that said that my son was locked up for driving with a revoked license! Now I absolutely believe our close family members who care for us protect us and guide us. This is a real life experience but in a dream.
Julia
2014-05-06 @ 9:47 AM
Right on Rita! This is a classic! Thanks so much.