Thursday, October 07, 2010

Why You're Alive and Can Never Die: The Larger Scientific Picture

By Dr. Robert Lanza, M.D. / Source: Huffington Post

Is it just a one-in-gazillion chance that you happen to be alive, now, on top of all time? Or is there a more rational scientific reason? Grade-school math tells us the probability of being on top of infinity is zero. If space and time are tools of the mind, then how can there be a time without consciousness?

The question "Does time exist?" makes people wonder about engaging in such idle speculation. A typical response might be, "The clock ticks. We age and die. Time is the only thing we can be certain of." 

Equally inconsonant is whether space exists. "Obviously space exists," one might answer, "because we live in it. We move through it, drive through it. Miles, kilometers are all units we use to measure it." Time and space in the concrete sense are easy to think about. Find yourself short of either -- late for work, standing in a stalled subway car -- and the constraints of time and space are apparent: "It's crowded and I'm going to miss my meeting."

Time and space are integral to every moment of our existence. But the idea of them being tools of our mind −- our source of comprehension −- is an abstraction. To place yourself as the creator of time and space, as biocentrism asks you to do, rather than the subject of it, goes against every bit of common sense. It takes a radical shift of perspective to realize they're life-created, because the implications are so startling.

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