In this episode, a neuroscientist, a physicist, a neurologist, and a famous physician with expertise in near-death experiences debate whether life after death is wishful thinking or whether scientific evidence supports the idea that consciousness lives outside the human body.
Many religions support the idea that physical death is only one step in the journey. Approximately 70% of American adults believe that life continues after death, according to polls from the Pew Research Center, and the number is even higher in other countries.
Listen to the spirited debate about a topic that is personal to many and inspires curiosity in others. As always, tell us what you think.
Arguing YES:
Eben Alexander, Former Neurosurgeon; Author of “Proof of Heaven”
“My prior neuroscientific view would've dictated that the next step would be one of no awareness at all. Yet it was just the opposite, like the blinders coming off. I ascended into far more crisp, vibrant, ultra-real realms of pure joy, love, and understanding, far too rich and complex to fully describe. Soon thereafter, I started to return to this world. Words came back to me over hours and days, childhood memories over weeks, and knowledge of brain, mind, consciousness of more than twenty years of experience in neurosurgery came back over two months. My doctors have no explanation at all for my full recovery.”
Raymond Moody, Medical Doctor; Author of “Life After Life”
“What happened to me was that hearing thousands of people with near-death experiences, hundreds of people with shared-death experiences who had the identical experience we call a near-death experience, except they weren’t ill or injured. They were simply there at the bedside of someone else who died. And I have seen joint transcendent experiences where, for example, a physician and a critically ill patient would have some sort of joint transcendent experience at the same time. That leads me to be forced almost into a position to say that I trust these people’s judgment.”
Arguing NO:
Sean Carroll, Physicist & Writer
“This is an incredibly important central issue to our lives. I personally am convinced by the overwhelming scientific evidence from physics, from neuroscience, et cetera, that there is one world, the natural world. Biology is a process that can end, and death is and then final. And to me, that fact, the finitude of our lives, gives enormous poignancy and importance to the finite number of years that we have here on Earth.”
Steven Novella, Academic Neurologist at the Yale School of Medicine
“Given the mountain of evidence that the mind is the brain, do near-death experiences provide such compelling evidence that there is mental activity outside of brain activity that we need to reject the mountain of neuroscientific evidence that's growing every day that tells us that the mind, in fact, is the brain? Well, I think the answer there is definitely no... People have had very unusual experiences. We don't doubt that they have had, you know, life-altering unusual experiences. Whenever your brain is constructing reality in a different way that you're not used to, that's gonna be a very weird, profound experience. We've no doubt about that, but it's demonstrably something happening in the brain.”
Watch Our Livestream of “Is Capitalism Broken?” on August 20th
As politicians aligned with the Democratic Socialist movement win key primary victories across the country, a billionaire who has managed or founded over thirty companies and also advocates addressing inequality faces a prominent Obama administration economist with a competing vision of the system to answer this question: Is Capitalism Broken?
This debate will be livestreamed on Thursday, August 20th at 2:30 PM ET, and our moderator will invite the audience to submit questions during it. Once the debate concludes, you’ll have 24 hours to vote on who you think made the stronger case.
Arguing YES: Nick Hanauer, Entrepreneur, Billionaire, and Venture Capitalist
Arguing NO: Jason Furman, Former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; Professor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government
Moderated by Emmy Award-winning journalist John Donvan
As Seen on Socials: Is the Strait of Hormuz Iran's Most Powerful Weapon?
As of this writing, the Iran war is still ongoing, and one key aspect of the war that’s had a global impact is the control and occupation of the Strait of Hormuz. Shipping traffic in the Strait has dropped to just six vessels allowed to pass through, and the price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard for oil, was up 0.9% early Wednesday, leading to a gallon of regular gasoline costing an average of $4.01, according to AAA.
A few months ago at Cascade PBS Ideas Festival, Puck correspondent Julia Ioffe and American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Danielle Pletka debated whether the world was on the brink and whether Iran is holding a stronger position than the U.S. with its ability to close the Strait.
Watch what Julia and Danielle debated on Instagram.
Religion and Its Questions Debated in the Public Square
Questions of faith have shaped societies for centuries—and they remain some of the most provocative issues we debate today. Explore more of our conversations on whether religion is a force for good, the role faith should play in public life, and how religious belief influences morality, politics, and our search for meaning.
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Jesus showed us what happens after you die. He went through the locked doors where the apostles were hiding.He asked for food and the apostles gave him some. He ascended into heaven and is with us today. To go to heaven, you must follow Jesus, forgive others. I'm Catholic. I go to confession and I love Communion. I follow God's Word. Not the world's way. When our bodies die, our souls live. If you don't go to heaven, you go to hell. In Revelations the second death is the fires of hell body and soul forever. There is a purgatory. Its where Jesus let out the souls that died but the gates of heaven were still shut when they died thanks to Adam and Eve. Jesus' death on the cross opened the gates of heaven.