For modern day humanity, it can feel as though
the search for eternal life is an everlasting quest. There have now been hundreds of sometimes
high-cost attempts in a bid to make it so that this life isn’t all there is. Experiments and trials aiming to take us to
immortality, or to unlock evidence that there really is an afterlife waiting for us beyond
this mortal realm. Now, though, via one relatively simple idea,
do we finally have what we’ve been looking for? This is Unveiled, and today we’re taking
a closer look at the quantum theory that seemingly proves you never die. Do you need the big questions answered? Are you constantly curious? Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more
clips like this one? And ring the bell for more thought-provoking
content! What if you knew that you were never going
to die? Of all the what if scenarios out there, it’s
one of the most popular. And it’s never quite as easy as it first
appears. Yes, never dying means you can do pretty much
anything you want forever and ever. But, also, if you never die then really what’s
the point in living? We’ve focussed more on the moral dilemmas
in past videos, so be sure to check them out after this… but today, it’s all about
making immortality actually happen. Over the last decade or so, interest in quantum
physics has sky-rocketed. Scientists have unlocked the world of the
very small, and with it have ushered in a new age for things like energy, computing
and medicine. More than all of that, however, our growing
quantum knowledge has fundamentally reshaped what we think life is. The theory of Biocentrism, proposed by the
US scientist Robert Lanza, principally argues that rather than the universe creating life… it's actually life that creates the universe. What we, in ourselves, call consciousness,
was actually there at the beginning of everything… and it’s just that now, almost fourteen
billion years later, consciousness channels itself through us, human beings. As such, we’ve come to view life (the universe
and everything) through our bodies, processed by our brains… but really, to some degree,
none of that is necessary. In this model, then, our brains and bodies
might be viewed more like sophisticated modems, catching and translating signals, and converting
those into our own life experiences. But, if the brain and body dies - if the modem
is destroyed - then the signals don’t just disappear, as well. They remain, and might well be rerouted or
recycled into some other host. In a biocentric reality, life is the signal. And while we may think that it’s so reliant
on our bodies for continuation, it actually carries on regardless. It’s life as we don’t know it, but it’s
life all the same - so the theory goes. Lanza’s ideas have divided opinion since
they were first put forward in the late 2000s. For some, biocentrism offers a bridge between
philosophical concepts on life and death… and the physicality of it all. For others, the theory is still far too vague,
with little to no evidence as to what consciousness really is. In subsequent discussions and interviews,
Lanza has highlighted the famed double-slit experiment to back biocentrism up. Via the experiment, scientists can show that
light and matter can be either wave or particle, depending upon whether they are observed. Consciousness creates the universe, not the
other way around. Supporters also draw on the fine tuning problem
for further reasons as to why biocentrism makes sense. The fine tuning problem shows that there are
so many physical conditions to the universe that make it just right for life, that it
seems impossibly unlikely that we should be here in a universe that’s so suited to us. When viewed bio-centrically, though, there
is no fine tuning problem… because consciousness obviously would aim for a reality that works. According to some, all of this inevitably
leads to so-called life after death - to death being an illusion - because life and consciousness
no longer end with our bodies and brains. Instead, it dissipates out of us as a kind
of energy into the rest of the universe (of its own making) once the vehicle of a body
is no more. Again, biocentrism is sometimes criticized
for the vagueness of this aspect. Although, it’s not as though this is the
first attempt to place consciousness (or a soul) beyond our physical means. Discussions of that sort go all the way back
to René Descartes, at least, in the seventeenth century and the Age of Enlightenment. More broadly still, biocentrism suggests that
even the underlying principle of time is merely the product of consciousness inside our current
bodies creating a means through which to understand and remember. Time - and specifically the arrow of time
- is then explained as a tool of our minds, rather than some kind of higher, immovable
quality of the universe. But finally, Lanza’s biocentrism isn’t
the only such idea toward living forever, either. The succinctly named quantum immortality model
relies on that other underpinning, central concept of modern theoretical science; the
multiverse. Developed out of Hugh Everett’s Many Worlds
Interpretation, the idea is that for every choice or split that’s ever made… a new
branch of reality is formed. These branches never cross over, but run closely
alongside one another, reflecting minor to major differences as a direct result of whatever
caused the split in the first place. Over the years, science fiction writers have
had a lot of fun with the story potential here, suggesting that huge events could well
be determined upon a person’s fleeting decision to buy an apple or a banana, for example. But what the multiverse could mean for life
after death is something that science fact has pondered, too. The basic premise of quantum immortality is
that, in a multiverse, there should always be a split possible through which a person
survives. A re-routing through reality which means that
again and again and again… they live rather than die. The idea can once more be linked back to key
studies like the double-slit experiment, which apparently suggest that all options are always
possible… until they’re observed and then are not. Death is still death. It’s still final, and it’s not as though
(even in the multiverse) you could rewind time to make it not happen. But, after death, and if you follow the multiverse,
it could be that on another level of the model, in another version of the endless realities,
that particular death didn’t happen… and life still wins out. The question to combine both biocentrism and
quantum immortality is; could consciousness create not just the universe, but the multiverse,
as well? Can life move between multiverse strands,
even if physical bodies cannot? When we’re gone, will some kind of awareness
- a soul, by some definitions - still remain? And, if that were to be the case, then could
we (as we are) ever hope to know or understand what was happening? Physically speaking, death is the end of our
bodies and our brains. Our vehicles for life are no more, and so
perhaps we could never hope to understand life in quite the same way again - not unless
our consciousness were to end up in another human being, but that’s a theory for another
video! What’s clear is that, still, nothing is
certain. Biocentrism has divided opinion in recent
times, yes, but it cannot truly claim to have cracked the mystery of life and death, just
yet. The same for quantum immortality, which is
much more a thought experiment than a physical surety. Again, for modern day humanity, it can feel
as though the search for eternal life is an everlasting quest. And that’s good and encouraging in some
ways… but not so much, in others. With or without a meaning or explanation for
life, we do all at least have a life to lead. With emotions to feel, roles to fulfill, and
experiences to share. There are some massive and fundamental unknowns
still outstanding… but until that fog eventually lifts, we can
all spend our lives looking out for each other, enjoying the good times, and savoring the
things that make us happy. We might well ponder our quantum condition,
but life’s still what we make of it. And, remember, it could yet be that our consciousness
created the universe… and that’s pretty special, don’t you think? What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these
other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell for our latest
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