
Electrical signatures of consciousness in the dying brain - daegloe
http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/archive/201308/electrical-signatures-consciousness-dying-brain
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gfody
I don't know if they can claim "the first scientific framework for the near-
death experience". Dr. Strassman
([http://www.rickstrassman.com](http://www.rickstrassman.com)) experimented
_on humans_ in the mid 90's could consistently reproduce near-death
experiences by administering DMT intravenously.

~~~
girvo
Having administered DMT intravenously to myself... an NDE isn't a bad way of
putting it, to be honest.

~~~
delluminatus
Would you recommend the experience? How does it compare to more traditional
DMT administration (i.e. smoking)?

~~~
girvo
Depends on what sort of grip you have on your world. I'd suggest it, but only
if you've already crossed the line into Needles anyway: once you have gone
there, if you take drugs recreationally at all, you will start doing it with
everything.

So, no, not really worth it, unless you're willing to make that choice.

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narag
That's very interesting. But I can't help feeling sorry for the poor
asphyxiated rats.

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megfitz
"“It will form the foundation for future human studies investigating mental
experiences occurring in the dying brain, including seeing light during
cardiac arrest,” she says."

I am a big fan of science and research - and I think we should always be
questioning everything. But I'm curious to know what benefits this research
has. I genuinely don't know where this kind of research could lead so I'm not
naive enough to suggest it's _not_ a good use of time or resources, but how
can this help us improve our lives, health and world? Does it matter? Not to
be crass, but are those last vestiges of electrical energy in a dying brain
going to be of any use?

~~~
616c
This reminds of when I read Stiff (an amazing book, by the way) [0], and how
scientists in the good old days were weighing bodies before and after death,
trying to find a weight of the soul, or any other quantitative values for the
soul. I found that funny, but off-putting and disturbing.

My take: people are looking for any proof of the afterlife, holding onto a
sliver hope proven by any scientific, factual account. I call the gamble on
the afterlife faith, and why it cannot be guaranteed, but hey, that is way out
of the scope of this conversation.

[0] [http://www.amazon.com/Stiff-Curious-Lives-Human-
Cadavers/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Stiff-Curious-Lives-Human-
Cadavers/dp/0393324826/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376384816&sr=1-3&keywords=corpse)

~~~
Gravityloss
If you really take the concept of a soul living in some astral dimension
seriously, then performing experiments to try to pinpoint its interface with
ordinary matter (the body) makes perfect sense.

If you're not interested in getting experimental evidence for your idea,
whatever it might be, it could be that you don't even believe there is any.
Maybe you actually think the idea isn't even true in the literal sense.

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adventured
My favorite brain tale:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavoisier](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavoisier)

Specifically:
[http://msgboard.snopes.com/message/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_t...](http://msgboard.snopes.com/message/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_topic/f/36/t/000797.html)

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Tichy
I dunno - isn't this the most useless experiment ever? The brain reacts to
death throes of the body. Who would have thought? I would imagine being killed
would be a pretty significant experience for the brain, and usually a
completely new one.

Also I was under the impression that clinical death implied that there are no
more brain waves.

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D9u
How are we to know what happens after death?

If electrical energy is what constitutes brain activity, then what happens to
that energy when death occurs?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_law_of_thermodynamics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_law_of_thermodynamics)

What is the transformation that takes place, if any?

Is there more to existence than we are capable of understanding?

~~~
andyjohnson0
_" what happens to that energy when death occurs?"_

It's lost as heat.

The brain is an _electro-chemical_ system [1][2]. That is, signals propagate
via potential differences created by the presence of charged ions. In the
prolonged absence of oxygen, the biochemistry of the brain ceases at a
cellular level. Electrical potential differences smooth-out to the level of
thermal noise. Anything left radiates out as heat until the body reaches the
ambient temperature of its environment.

The radiated energy still exists in the universe, but the second law of
thermodynamics implies that it is unlikely to be participating in a low-
entropy system like a brain again.

[1]
[http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Chemical_synapse](http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Chemical_synapse)

[2] [http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-biology/human-
bo...](http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-biology/human-body-make-
electricity.htm)

EDIT

I have a hard time with talking of "transformation" of electrical patterns in
dying brains and "Is there more to existence than we are capable of
understanding?". I don't really know what these questions mean.

I've seen a couple of people die in front of me and its a deeply upsetting
experience that is charged with meaning. But thats on the level of human
emotional experience. On a physical level, death is just something that bodies
do at some point before their constituent matter and energy goes off to do
other things in the universe. Trying to unload human emotional baggage
relating to human existence (principally, fear of death) onto physical
processes that are pretty well understood (biochemistry) gets us nowhere,
because really _where do you stop?_

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D9u
Thanks for your comment, as I clearly had erroneous preconceived notions
regarding this subject.

