An interesting new theory on what constitutes the soul.

Read it all here:

A near-death experience happens when quantum substances which form the soul leave the nervous system and enter the universe at large, according to a remarkable theory proposed by two eminent scientists.

According to this idea, consciousness is a program for a quantum computer in the brain which can persist in the universe even after death, explaining the perceptions of those who have near-death experiences.

Dr Stuart Hameroff, Professor Emeritus at the Departments of Anesthesiology and Psychology and the Director of the Centre of Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona, has advanced the quasi-religious theory.

It is based on a quantum theory of consciousness he and British physicist Sir Roger Penrose have developed which holds that the essence of our soul is contained inside structures called microtubules within brain cells.

They have argued that our experience of consciousness is the result of quantum gravity effects in these microtubules, a theory which they dubbed orchestrated objective reduction (Orch-OR).

Thus it is held that our souls are more than the interaction of neurons in the brain. They are in fact constructed from the very fabric of the universe – and may have existed since the beginning of time.

The ideas of Roger Penrose are not easily trifled with: he is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford, as well as Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College, and he wrote The Emperor’s New Mind, a book which effectively dismissed the notion that a computer will ever be “intelligent” in any useful sense of the word.

Nevertheless, from a Christian perspective, while he regards mind or soul as more than mere mechanical brain functions – and, interestingly, consistent with Alvin Plantinga’s modal argument for dualism – his theory still won’t quite do.

According to the creation account in Genesis, man was made in the image of God. Man’s spirit, soul and mind are created by God and, just as he exists independently from the material universe, I would contend, also have their essential being outside of our material universe – even the material universe represented by the quantum gravity effects of microtubules.

According to Penrose, if the universe were to cease existing, all the souls that had dissipated to “the universe at large” would also cease to be, a limiting theory quite inconsistent with the Biblical notion of man dwelling in eternity with God.