Errrrr…

Near-death experiences occur when the soul leaves the nervous system and enters the universe, claim two quantum physics experts

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.

I think this is the very epitome of “untestable hypothesis,” at least for anytime in the near future.

The “soul” is one of those ideas that seems to exist not because there’s evidence to back it up, but because it’s something virtually everyone really, really wants to exist. But it’s so wrapped up in religious dogma that any effort to scientifically prove the existence of the soul is bound to irritate just a whole lot of people. Face it: if *any* physical proof (“proof,” not “evidence”) comes to light, it will show *numerous* religions to be wrong. For example, let’s say that “humans have a soul” is proved. They the Quantum Soul Detector is pointed at a cat. If the cat turns out to have a soul, then many Christians (Jews? Muslims?) will be P.O.’ed. If the cat turns out *not* to have a soul, Buddhists and Hindus will, I think, be P.O.’ed. If the soul is shown to hang around after death, or shown to evaporate after death, or shown to “transition” after death, or shown to be reborn after death, a whole lot of people will be P.O.’ed.

And if the quantum researchers proposing this theory are shown to be crackpots, or just plain wrong, a lot of people will be P.O.’ed. More will probably be happy, of course. Given the rather dire religious implications for *any* sort of proof, I suspect a great many people would prefer it if any sort of empirical proof was never announced. To me the hypothesis these fellers are touting sounds like just so much handwavy gibberish.