That is a very good question what is death ?

Is it when a person heart stop to beating ?

Is it when a person is braindead ?

I remember the discussion we had in Sweden in the mid eighties about definition of death. Before this change a person wasn't dead before his or her heart had stopped beating, braindead was not defined as dead and the doctors could not take organ from this patient.

So not remembering all of it I only remember what I thought

Could it be that a persons brain start a "dream" when his or her heart have stopped working and this dream is what they think they experienced while dead ?

Markus

One form of human death can be when a stand-up comic is dying on his arse during his act. Last week on the radio I heard about the perfect heckle used on a comic who was struggling: he called out "Can everyone hear me at the back?" And this guy shouted back: "Yes, but I'll be happy to change places with somebody who can't"

There have been many claimed cases of persons "dying" in some sort of way, most often during some medical procedure (surgery, CPR, etc.) and there have been a wide variety of claimed "post-death" experiences. What has intrigued me about the vast majority of those reported experiences is how closely and neatly they dovetail with the reporting persons religious and/or philosophical beliefs; you almost never hear of someone coming back from "death" and waking up and saying "Wow, I and my belief system/religion are totally wrong!!"; is it possible the perceived experiences are nothing more than a situation akin to what a great many people have experienced many times when, having been exposed to an intense stimulus like a personal event, a movie, or some other sort of input, they will often incorporate elements of that exposure in their dream state during sleep? How often have you had a dream where parts of some event or situation have been replayed in your dreams? Isn't it possible a lot of those "afterlife" experiences are colored by lifelong religious or philosophical training or indoctrination and the resulting "afterlife" may be nothing more than the brain trying to adapt its perceptions to an existing framework, a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy? Basically, if you expect angels and St. Peter, you get angels and St. Peter; if you expect all your dead relatives meeting you on a long road, you get all your dead relatives meeting you on a long road; if you expect to be walking into a bright light, you get a bright light to walk into; if you expect a void, one void coming up! Whatever your particularly inculcated beliefs is what you end up with...



<O>

You have said the things I have been saying in some of my statement in this thread. I have taken it from what I have read, seen and heard expert said about these things.

psychologists and other scholars in this field say or believe a person start to dream when he or she is in a state of death

And as I wrote in my first post here in this thread
A group of scientist from Sweden, England and some other countries made a survey, where they asked people who had been dead, what they saw while being dead.

A person saw a bright ligt and man with beard another person, who was from India saw a figure with many arms(or something like that)

Markus

Hmm maybe so, maybe not. If in fact when we die, brain activity ceases, consciousness ends and we have no 'spirit' or 'soul' then we will not actually know that we are dead.

Which I'm gonna say is a good thing.:D

A couple of decades ago, I was at a gathering where I was introduced to a Protestant minister (I forget the specific denomination) who was a fan of Star Trek. I know a bit about the shows and films but I am not as knowledgeable as the true fans. We got into a discussion of souls and I made the comment the existence of a human soul could possibly be proven by a transporter such as used on Star Trek. "How so?", he asked and I explained: the principle of the transporter is to 'disassemble' whatever is being transported to molecular level, or less, transport it on a carrier wave of some sort, and 'reassemble' the transported object at its destination. If a human were transported safely, and, most importantly, alive and intact, then you have one conclusion: the life force in humans, known as a soul, is a purely bio-chemical/electric phenomenon and is not external to individual human existence; if it were external and not of a molecular composition, a spirit, then it could not be transported; the soul would cease when the 'host' body ceases...

We discussed this for some time, but the question is moot since I really doubt there will never be a capability of transporting a human being; if a soul does exist, and is external to our physical existence, capable of existing without its 'host' in an afterlife, it is incorporeal and cannot be transported physically simultaneously with its 'host'; what would come out at the other end of the operation would be inert, devoid of its life force since it couldn't come along for the ride...

Maybe consciousness or sentience is closer to what some of the Eastern beliefs hold, that we are a part of a larger whole and, when our physical existence ends, we are just melded into the larger pool, not individual but ta part of the larger existence...



<O>

:haha:

I offer up congress as a test case that refutes this hypothesis.

One definite from me....you stop breathing.

You loose all control over your body fluids.

But an embryo doesn't breath either and people can be sustained on ventiltors.

I think the simple answer is when all biological functions cease. Some functions like heart can stop and be restarted but there is a point of no return obviously. When all functions reach that point, you are dead....unless you're Jon Snow.:O:

You know what, when I wrote those words I was thinking, someone is going to use this about their countries politicians

Markus

I think it may be one of the few universalities in the world. We all despise our various legislative bodies. :D