The human brain is a set of neurons. Our emotions, sense of self, free will – all these are nothing more than the collective behavior of billions of nerve cells. In other words, the brain’s computations create the virtual reality we live in. This was message delivered by Chinese researcher Qihua Chen at the 4th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences.
The human brain captures data through the senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste), then classifies it and reacts to the same set of stimuli at the next contact. Based on this, Chen became interested in how the brain functions in unusual and critical situations, including near-death experiences (NDE) and dreams. The author addresses NDEs, lucid dreams, and out-of-body experiences – that is, the phase states.
NDE is a subjective experience that occurs at the moment one’s life is threatened. This often includes the experience of leaving the body, consciously returning to the body, flying through a tunnel, or seeing the footage of one’s life flashing before one’s eyes. These phenomena, according to the author, can largely be explained by the brain’s computations. For example, the accuracy of out-of-body experiences is due to their being generated based on data from our memory.
In addition, most of the stories about NDEs are recounted by adult patients who have already thought about death, even if only fleetingly or superficially. This thought process generated a certain picture that was then retained by the brain and made the person see a light at the end of a tunnel or another miraculous scenario at the moment of clinical death. The researcher also draws an analogy with dreams, indicating that the state of dreaming involves the same information processing by the brain.
What do you think about the author’s hypothesis?
The text of the report was published in December 2021 on the Atlantis Press website.
