Let’s Explore

Posted on April 13, 2013 by James Cross

In a recent book. Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife (1), Dr. Eben Alexander tells what he claims to have experienced while he was in a coma for seven days. The medical condition that caused his coma came on suddenly as a result of a virulent form of bacterial meningitis. During these seven days Alexander says his neocortex (the presumed source of consciousness) was shut down yet he had elaborate experiences in another world. He was “encountering the reality of a world of consciousness that existed completely free of the limitations of my physical brain.” (2) Prior to the illness, Alexander had the viewpoint of the scientifically trained doctor. He dismissed visions of people with near death experiences as fantasies of an oxygen deprived brain. After his recovery, Alexander believed he had seen heaven.

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Posted in Ayahuasca, Consciousness | 3 Comments

Does This Explain the Fermi Paradox?

Posted on April 7, 2013 by James Cross
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Timeline of the Universe Image credit: Rhys Taylor, Cardiff University.

The Fermi Paradox asks why our galaxy hasn’t already been colonized by alien civilizations. The argument goes like this. A lot of stars in the Milky Way are like our Sun. Many of them are a lot older than the Sun. Many of these stars would have habitable planets like Earth. If intelligent life developed on some these planets, a few would have developed a technological civilization capable of space travel. Therefore, the galaxy should have already been colonized.

Clearly, however, the galaxy hasn’t been colonized by an alien civilizations. We would have noticed them. For that matter, they would be here by now unless they are deliberately choosing to hide themselves from us. So something must be wrong with the arguments. The often drawn conclusion is that life or at least intelligent life may be very rare. Some go as far to say that we on Earth may be the only intelligent life in our galaxy, perhaps in the universe.

While I believe it is true that many stars in our galaxy will have habitable planets, most of them may not have hospitable to life until much more recently.

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Posted in Aliens, Fermi Paradox, Origin of Life | 15 Comments

Brain Organization, Not Size, Key to Intelligence

Posted on March 27, 2013 by James Cross

This is good news for all of us who believe we still have additional potential for biological evolution before we need to plug in non-biological implants.

A new study, Brain reorganization, not relative brain size, primarily characterizes anthropoid brain evolution, published by Proceedings of the Royal Society B, shows that brain organization is more important than size. This aligns completely with observations that brain size, even when adjusted for body size, seems to have minimal correlation with intelligence or abilities to function as a human.

Although brain size must still be of some importance, this study makes it clear that it is not everything. This also shows that evolution has already developed a solution to the brain’s energy problem by developing a way of increasing intelligence and capability without requiring more energy.

I have speculated that there was a major change in brain organization approximately 60-90,000 years ago that accounts for the capabilities of modern humans. I have also speculated that our brains are still evolving and reorganizing and that new abilities may be developing in the human psyche.

Although the full study seems to be pay walled, a good explanation of it can be found at Live Science.

Posted in Brain size, Human Evolution | 2 Comments