Theories about Death

Date: 27/02/2022
Author: Zicharius.Khlyne

Death comes to us all and it is enveloped in mystery and wonder and we do not really know a lot about it other than you know it is the end of inevitably like dark matter and the correct temperature to boil a frog it is one of those compelling questions that scientists have dedicated themselves to search as one of the life's biggest answers.

First theories of scientists about death is quantum suicide. Quantum suicide is a thought experience based on many worlds of interpretation through quantum theory, it is essentially the trendingest cat experiment but from the cat's point of view and the theory suggests that is is impossible to survive one's own suicide. The reasoning is that the situation in the two possible outcomes are survive and perish. The subject would only have to be aware of the parallel universes in which they survived and let us be honest here it is probably not worth the risk.

Next theory is we don't really know what it is. We can not really be 100% sure on what death is because we don't really know what life is. In the pursuit of alien life NASA defined it is self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution but even this is not perfect as there are non living chemical systems that can mimic life without being alive. Along top of that we don't really get consciousness what causes it or nor whether it continues after death. All that science and we cant leave an answer what life is.

The next theory is we have three kinds of death. Although death is pretty final, there are in fact three different types and one of them is reversible. First is clinical death which is the cessation of vital functions typically heartbeat and respiration which can be reversed then there is biological death sometimes called brain death which is almost the opposite of clinical death as brain ceases even if the vital functions are being maintained by machines and finally molecular death which refers to the stage at which the body finally loses. It is a lifelong battle against decay, this is where the cells in the body begin to break down and frankly you do not want this one reversed.

Next theory is the fear of death appears to declines with age. You would think that closer one gets to death the more one would fear it but no studies actually show the complete opposite fear of death seems to be in the person's twenties and then it goes into a steady decline apart from slight bump around the time midlife crisis until they reach around sixteen and no one can be asked to live any more, that can be so much depressing.

The fifth theory is thinking about death can make you a bigot. In various studies where participants are primed about thinking of death it can have an effect on their religious views, it can make them more politically conservative, more nationalistic and more racially biased along with being more homophobic. This all more or less loosely falls into the category of psychology known as terror management theory which suggests that our awareness of death and knowledge of its inevitability tends to result expressing our fear of it through unexpected channels.

Next theory is the Death spiral. The death spiral may sound like a roller coaster or a great rock band name but it is basically this stage before death in which both physical abilities and normal daily activities go to steep decline in humans measures of grip strength ability to complete daily such as using the toilet, eating meals and level of cognitive impairment showed a distinct decline lots of participants entered the death spiral. Researchers do not think that they would be able to use this knowledge to extend human lifespans but they could reduce the duration vastly improving quality of life for people in their final days.

Second to the last theory is we have the near death experiences. 5 percent of Americans claims that they have had a near death experience . One of the most famous experiences of course is moving through tunnel towards a bright light, and that could actually be a result of lack of blood and oxygen flow to the eye causing tunnel vision. The out of body experience however could be a little more complicated when both your sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system fires up it causes your brain to create a rushing field as well as making you feel floaty light and calm thus creating supposed out of body experience. It is unsure as to wether the experience is an accident of the dying brain or whether it is actually a defense mechanism to protect us from trauma.

And the final one is " Is there an age limit?". Over the years on average life expectancy has increased hugely but despite that only one person has lived past the age of 120. Many scientists believe that this is due to an invisible barrier that is a result of something known as hayflick limit which the amount of times a cell can divide before it is no longer able to. This limit varies between organisms resulting in the short life span of a hamster compared to a Galapagos turtle and unfortunately we have not found any way to breed with him yet.