Tags for this video have been changed from 'ABC, Nightline, Atheist, Margaret Downey' to 'ABC, Nightline, Atheist, Margaret Downey, near death experiences' - edited by hpqp

I was privileged to visit once and the feelings of peace and joy are so great that they are indescribable in human words.

"Science suggests it could be the result of a series of biological reactions that help the body cope." (1:42) Can you show me the studies that suggest this--No, there are none. That is an incorrect use of the word "science". And, how would it be possible to evolve these mechanisms to cope with dying? Being dead means you are out of the gene pool--forever. If these experiences are just random neurons firing the resulting feelings of joy and peace are pretty damn lucky--Does anyone think that we're THAT lucky: I don't. I don't use the words "god" or "heaven" to describe what happened to me; when people hear these words they think they know what they mean and interpret them according to their own ideas. I don't Know what happened, but I believe all life is connected and there is something after we die. I'm not trying to evangelize, or create a new religion. My experiences are completely personal and subjective--I could easily be wrong. I don't think so--I have zero fear of death now.

I would vote for an atheist for president (the right atheist that is).
Anyone who calls themselves an Atheist Minister is a huge douchebag.
I got a huge belly laugh out of the glossolalia, that alone makes this video worth watching.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1295660/pdf/jrsocmed00058-0018.pdf

>> ^Boise_Lib:

I was privileged to visit once and the feelings of peace and joy are so great that they are indescribable in human words.
"Science suggests it could be the result of a series of biological reactions that help the body cope." (1:42) Can you show me the studies that suggest this--No, there are none. That is an incorrect use of the word "science". And, how would it be possible to evolve these mechanisms to cope with dying? Being dead means you are out of the gene pool--forever. If these experiences are just random neurons firing the resulting feelings of joy and peace are pretty damn lucky--Does anyone think that we're THAT lucky: I don't. I don't use the words "god" or "heaven" to describe what happened to me; when people hear these words they think they know what they mean and interpret them according to their own ideas. I don't Know what happened, but I believe all life is connected and there is something after we die. I'm not trying to evangelize, or create a new religion. My experiences are completely personal and subjective--I could easily be wrong. I don't think so--I have zero fear of death now.
I would vote for an atheist for president (the right atheist that is).
Anyone who calls themselves an Atheist Minister is a huge douchebag.
I got a huge belly laugh out of the glossolalia, that alone makes this video worth watching.

*findthumb

The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - findthumb requested by lucky760.

I know , without a shadow of a doubt, that when we speak in tongues there is a part of my brain functioning which doesn't normally function. In science we call this the loony part.

@berticus Thank You for the link. I've read the article and it was very enlightening.

SUMMARY:
Reactions to claims of near-death experiences (NDE) range from the popular view that this must be evidence for life after death, to outright rejection of the experiences as, at best, drug induced hallucinations or, at worse, pure invention. Twenty years, and much research, later, it is clear that neither extreme is correct.

I think you are commenting on this part of mine,

"Science suggests it could be the result of a series of biological reactions that help the body cope." (1:42) Can you show me the studies that suggest this--No, there are none. That is an incorrect use of the word "science".

I was commenting on the part, "...that help the body to cope." This is the bad science I was referring to. There is no doubt that a series of biological reactions take place.

As the summary shows the article doesn't conclude that science proves that the near death experience is only the result of dying neurons.

I would like to hear your evaluation of the article and your thoughts on this subject.

@Boise_Lib, the article is a springboard to other articles.

You claimed that there are no scientific studies suggesting that an NDE can be the result of biological reactions which help the body to cope. This is demonstrably untrue. The section on endorphins—which also mentions serotonin and NMDA—has multiple references alone. Note that I am not saying these studies explain NDEs entirely—just that they exist. The hypothesis is a relatively old one.

The only conclusions I make regarding NDEs are that they are complex, poorly understood, difficult to study, and almost certainly nothing to do with an afterlife. It also makes for a fucking excellent piece of fiction!

Strange that this video gets love, but the video I posted a couple a months ago got widely panned.

I don't take any stance or hold any belief about NDEs, but think the conversation about the controversy is, at the very least, interesting enough to have.

As @SDGundamX stated:
"Steven Pinker's (indirect) response to [indications of NDEs]:
http://videosift.com/video/Steven-Pinker-on-Mind-Brain-Unity"

The personal interview was way too personal and I thought for sure they were gonna jump on each other at a point.

Also, no revelations here for me. Just seemed speculation with some 'sciency' stuff for effect.

Atheist minister is douche like I agree.

@berticus Thanks for pointing me to the book; looks interesting.

There's no reason to think that the feeling of "peace" from an NDE couldn't have evolved, its fairly easy if you think about it. All it would take is that having that peaceful feeling and thus not flailing about desperate to save yourself allows you to actually have a better chance of survival than someone who does act out of desperation and cause more damage. NDE's tend to be very personal experiences and are not really something that can be reproduced at will for testing so it's possible there will never be a truly in depth comprehensive testing done on them but its not difficult to see how they could be advantageous and thus beneficial.

>> ^RadHazG:

There's no reason to think that the feeling of "peace" from an NDE couldn't have evolved, its fairly easy if you think about it. All it would take is that having that peaceful feeling and thus not flailing about desperate to save yourself allows you to actually have a better chance of survival than someone who does act out of desperation and cause more damage. NDE's tend to be very personal experiences and are not really something that can be reproduced at will for testing so it's possible there will never be a truly in depth comprehensive testing done on them but its not difficult to see how they could be advantageous and thus beneficial.


EASY!?!? Mother Nature should kick your ass for that! You have no idea how hard she works!