Postmortem communication.
Theory in biosciences = Theorie in den Biowissenschaften September 1, 2024 DOI: 10.1007/s12064-024-00423-6 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Brain activity Communication Near death experience Postmortem |
| Key points | Proposes that future brain-activity translation technologies might allow objective analysis of death experiences and possibly communication with revived postmortem brains. |
Abstract
The phenomenon of near death and dying experiences has been both of popular interest and of scientific speculation. However, the reality of mental perception at the point of death is currently a subjective experience and has not been formally evaluated. While postmortem gene expression, even in humans, has been evaluated, restoration of postmortem brain activity has heretofore only been attempted in animal models, at the molecular and cellular levels. Meanwhile, progress has been made to translate brain activity of living humans into speech and images. This paper proposes two inter-related thought experiments. First, assuming progress and refinement of the technology of translating human brain activity into interpretable speech and images, can an objective analysis of death experiences be obtained by utilizing these technologies on dying humans? Second, can human brain function be revived postmortem and, if so, can the relevant technologies be utilized for communication with (recently) deceased individuals? In this paper, these questions are considered and possible implications explored.