Chubby Nickel Audio Vlog

While this fad is all but over, there are a few people who still believe that NDEs are evidence of an afterlife. When examining these experiences it is very important to remember that, despite a lot of progress, we as humans are very far from understanding how the brain works.

How do we objectively study these experiences? Simple, do not resort to fallacies.

Lancet Study

That study of 344 people that were resuscitated from heart problems shows that only 18% have NDEs and only 12% have significant NDEs. Another result of the study showed that 70% of the people that experience NDEs are religious while only 10% of the people that did not have NDEs were religious. This shows that religious people are more prone to NDEs. I won’t speculate what religion has to do with it, I will just let it sit at that.

The study also had some stories in it, but they were only recorded, not verified. They are just stories as far as objectivity goes. Several people make the mistake that because a story is logged in a scientific study that the stories themselves are scientific fact. They are not, unless they had been verified. None of these stories were verified beyond that the people had the stories.

This doesn’t mean that these people are lying. I highly doubt that they would lie, and because of that, I fully believe that the experiences are real. I also don’t think that people that are hallucinating from taking LSD are lying about their experiences, but I would be insane to think that their experiences are reality. This is were we must remain objective: just because they had these experiences, doesn’t mean that it is evidence of an afterlife. You can trust that they had these experiences, but that doesn’t mean you can trust their conclusions of them. Several pilots that blackout from extreme g forces experience the same kind of experiences, but they are not dying. This suggests that NDEs are caused by lack of oxygen to the brain no matter what the cause is.

There are people that say that the experiences of extreme gravity blackout out of body experiences are different than ones resulting from heart failure. The problem with this is that no one can verify that there is a difference because there is no objective measurement. Just asserting that they are different is irrational.

Then there are those that have NDEs when their brain is in a state of inactivity. This would mean that the brain is not recording anything because it is not functioning. Some people propose that because there is no brain activity at the time of the experience, it shows that there is something other than the brain that provides consciousness… a soul perhaps. The problem with this illogical leap is that no one knows when these NDEs are experienced. It is far more likely that the experience happens as the brain begins to receive oxygen again rather than when the brain is inactive. This is not too far fetched as anyone who has ever had a dream should know, because the state that which the brain is providing images while dreaming is an extremely short period of time while the dream may seem to last for years.

In the end, NDEs are not reliable, verifiable or rational evidence for an afterlife.