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An afterlife per se cannot be definitively disproved, merely shown unlikely; we can certainly comment on some versions of it, and point out no mechanisms are known which, even in principle, could make one possible. Additionally, we can infer that humans invented the afterlife by considering how darn probable such a belief was to arise if untrue. And depending on the specifics of an afterlife belief, there are ways science can test it, at least in part.

Mind-brain dependence, the selective ability to eerily damage parts of the mind by damaging the brain, and the ability to generate two independent minds in the same head by splitting the brain in half, appears to rule out an otherworldly soul as the seat of consciousness, at least. This doesn't necessarily mean an afterlife is impossible, but is certainly expected and probable if there isn't one.

Case studies in severed corpus callosum (the "split brain experiment" alluded to above) more or less spell the death knell for the soul. First, a bit of background on what we can learn from the different hemispheres in healthy people:


Left brain dominates for language, speech, and problem solving
Right brain dominates for visual-motor tasks

"1. Each hemisphere was presented a picture that related to one of four pictures placed in front of the split-brain subject.
2. The left and right hemispheres easily picked the right card. The left hand pointed to the right hemisphere's choice, and the right hand pointed to the left hemisphere's choice.
3. The patient was then asked why the left hand was pointing to the shovel. Only the left hemisphere can talk, and it did not know the answer because the decision to point to the shovel was made in the right hemisphere."

This experiment indicates both sides of the brain are capable of individual thought in some capacity, as if each one had an independent mind. Now we just need to find out whether this curious effect is merely an artifact of our consciousness, or really at odds with self-awareness being the result of a single, indivisible paranormal spirit.

Certain epileptic patients that don't respond to conventional treatment can be treated with surgery that severs brain hemispheres from each other. Amazingly, both halves can go on to develop unique tastes, preferences and beliefs. This indicates once the data link is cut, both can effectively function as "half a soul." In turn, this is quite difficult to reconcile with any remotely traditional model of mind-body dualism.

Courtesy of the Macalester College psychology department::

"Before the operation he integrated information between the two hemispheres freely, but after the operation he had two separate minds or mental systems, each with its own abilities to learn, remember, and experience emotion and behavior. Yet, WJ, was not completely aware of the changes in his brain. As Gazzaniga put it: "WJ lives happily in Downey, California, with no sense of the enormity of the findings or for that matter any awareness that he had changed." As previously explained (experiments), words flashed to the right field of vision of patients like WJ could be said and written with the right hand. In contrast, patients couldn't say or write words flashed to their left field of vision [even though they could pick out the object with their hand]."

One brain hemisphere is verbal but has difficulty with certain other functions, while the other can't really talk but has other traits that make up for it. Each of those can, in their own way, identify and describe reality around them, but neither hemisphere has access to the self-awareness or thoughts of the other. Splitting them produces all kinds of anomalous results, like this:

"The patients give evidence of having two differing minds. The best example of this is patient Paul S., whom you read about on the home page. Paul's right hemisphere developed considerable language ability sometime previous to the operation. Although it is uncommon, occasionally the right hemisphere may share substantial neural circuits with, or even dominate, the left hemisphere's centers for language comprehension and production. The fact that Paul's right hemisphere was so well developed in it's verbal capacity opened a closed door for researchers. For almost all split brain patients, the thoughts and perceptions of the right hemisphere are locked away from expression. Researchers were finally able to interview both hemispheres on their views about friendship, love, hate and aspirations.

Paul's right hemisphere stated that he wanted to be an automobile racer while his left hemisphere wanted to be a draftsman. Both hemispheres were asked to write whether they liked or disliked a series of items. The study was performed during the Watergate scandal, and one of the items was Richard Nixon. Paul's right hemisphere expressed 'dislike,' while his left expressed 'like.'"

Let's take a while to absorb that information. A person whose brain is split in two halves apparently develops two souls, which independently take over their respective hemispheres. Beyond bizarre, isn't it? Also, highly inconsistent with the concept of an indivisible, indestructible, immortal seat of memories, personality and self-awareness.

Near-death experiences, on the other hand, are probably not evidence of an afterlife, rather, vivid hallucination induced by physiological means. This link deconstructs them using a variety of arguments:

• People who experience NDEs, while "disembodied," often see things in the real world that didn't actually happen.
  
  
• People "separated" from their bodies in such an experience can feel sensations such as sharp pain occuring in said bodies. This argues against the interpretation that your mind separates from the body during an NDE.
  
  
• People who have near-death experiences often see living relatives and friends, not just dead ones.
  
  
• Predictably, in the West, Christian imagery like angels and Jesus dominates. Conversely, in India, people predominantly report encounters with their god of death and/or reincarnation bureocracy.
  
  
• The "life review," in most cases, is essentially random; memories are pulled dream-like from a variety of sources, and often have no discernible connection to anything.
  
  
• Many NDErs have passed the "threshold" that they believe would be the point of no return, such as the end of the tunnel, train station, etc. and still come back to life.
  
  
• NDEs are often permeated with fictional elements like unicorns, talking plants, dead celebrities, novel heros, and video game characters.
  
  
• Prophecy passed on during NDEs, which would likely be very reliable if it was rooted in a true paranormal source, is instead no different in reliability than the usual vague and/or unfulfilled variety.
  
  

That's really neat, but the first couple links don't work for me, how do they interview each hemisphere of the brain?, or do they use two people who had to have a hemisphere removed?
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Just don't listen to anyone here.[right][snapback]117006[/snapback][/right]

Man, Drunken, you have to much  ing time on your hands. Get a life.
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