Deborah Harrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> commented on
some Near-death experiences (NDE) that they are
Vehhh-rrrhy Interesting - But Not-Proof
which I agree with. But the reports are suggestive, aren't they?
Most of the controversy comes from the definition of the word `death'
which is "... unconsciousness caused by insufficient blood supply to
the brain." Under such circumstances brain is still alive because
non-moving blood has some oxygen left in it; and in any case, brain
cells without oxygen taken some time to die (but not very long). Such
a person, is not dead as we think normally of death. That is why
`death' is prefixed by the term `clinically'.
"...Blackmore says science can also explain those
tunnels: Electrical brain scans show that in our last
moments, as the brain is deprived of oxygen, cells
fire frantically and at random in the part of the
brain which govern vision.
"Now, imagine that you've got lots and lots of cells
firing in the middle, towards fewer at the outside,
what's it going to look like? Bright light in the
middle fading off towards dark at the outside,"
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/DrJohnson/GMA020108Near_death_experiences.html
<grin> Of course, that means you must imagine that instead of the
documented *random* neuron firing, you are positing *coordinated*
neuron firing...
Right. Blackmore is saying that outer cells stop firing before inner
cells.
In my own near-drowning, I saw sparkly lights against a dark-grey
background, which is consistant with a random-fire pattern
which suggests that you were not as nearly dead as some of the others.
This was fortunate for you. Or that your response is different from
others.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11755611&dopt=Abstract
"...We do not know why so few cardiac patients report NDE after
CPR, although age plays a part. With a purely physiological
explanation such as cerebral anoxia for the experience, most
patients who have been clinically dead should report one."
Alternatively, humans have different responses to a shortage of oxygen
in the brain. It is already known that humans have different reponses
to other events.
As you say, this is very interesting. But Blackmore's work and your
near-drowning certainly does fit a `losing oxygen' model of cells'
behavior rather than anything else.
--
Robert J. Chassell Rattlesnake Enterprises
http://www.rattlesnake.com GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
http://www.teak.cc [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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