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00:00 The question of life after death is one that humans have been pondering and debating for
00:04 thousands of years.
00:06 It means that today, via science and religion, any two people can have a radically different
00:11 view on what really happens.
00:13 In fact, every single person alive has their own unique understanding and beliefs.
00:18 But there are still certain aspects of death and life that matter to us all, almost universally,
00:25 including whether or not we'll remember or forget.
00:29 This is Unveiled, and today we're answering the extraordinary question; what happens to
00:33 your memories after you die?
00:36 Do you need the big questions answered?
00:38 Are you constantly curious?
00:40 Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?
00:43 And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
00:46 Your life runs off of memories.
00:48 The good and the bad.
00:50 They all serve to shape who we are.
00:52 At their most fundamental, it's our memories that enable us to learn.
00:56 To understand whether things are safe or dangerous.
00:59 And to realise that we have responsibilities.
01:01 Meanwhile, it's also thanks to our memories that we can retain information.
01:06 Ranging from the date of your best friend's birthday, to the date of the moon landings
01:10 or the JFK assassination.
01:12 Or from the taste of strawberries to the sound of an airplane engine.
01:16 Our memories also intrinsically shape how we feel, our general worldview, and our hopes
01:21 or fears for the future.
01:23 Our personalities are built on them.
01:26 Our relationships are sparked by them.
01:28 Our life choices are guided by them.
01:30 Our memories are us.
01:32 And so, it can feel pretty dismaying, distressing, and generally concerning to consider that
01:38 when we die, all of our memories will essentially evaporate.
01:42 And in truth, this is the most widely held assumption.
01:45 That while the memory of a person can certainly live on, the memories of that person - the
01:50 thoughts that they held within themselves - do disappear at death.
01:54 However, that said, and given the innate unknowableness of death, this also isn't a hard and fast
02:01 law.
02:02 And there are alternate theories to propose a different fate.
02:05 First, there are the physical intricacies of memory in the final moments.
02:10 What happens to our memories from the perspective of inside our brains?
02:14 In general, when a person dies, the brain encounters a cascade of changes.
02:18 The end of blood flow and oxygen supply marks the beginning of a sequence that transforms
02:23 this once-indispensable organ into a lifeless mass.
02:26 In the absence of oxygen, our brain cells face a rapid energy crisis, and the millions
02:32 of neural connections that had been constantly, quietly running throughout our lives quickly
02:37 fizzle out.
02:38 The hippocampus is a region that's especially crucial for memory consolidation, and it's
02:43 particularly vulnerable.
02:44 As the brain endures a shortage of blood flow, known as ischemia, it appears that the hippocampus
02:50 is often among the first areas to sustain damage.
02:53 The cells within are prone to swell and collapse, and the information that's encoded along
02:58 countless synaptic pathways is then immediately under threat.
03:02 It's partly why memory loss is an especially common outcome for those who suffer head injuries
03:07 or brain damage.
03:09 While it isn't a universal truth, it seems as though our memory centres are among the
03:13 first to fall whenever the brain encounters trauma.
03:16 And so it would seem with death.
03:19 Studies have shown that in the immediate aftermath of death, somewhere between the first 30 and
03:23 60 seconds post-death, there is a surge of brain activity that often centres on those
03:28 regions responsible for memory.
03:30 It could be that it's within these moments that near-death experiences are formed.
03:34 However, if the person and their brain stays dead, then that surge is short-lived.
03:39 In a neural sense, nothing lands, and shutdown is inevitable.
03:44 From that point, as the body and the brain begin to decay and ultimately disintegrate,
03:49 there is no biological sense in which memories can still exist.
03:53 Which isn't to say that there is no physical way entirely, at least not according to some.
03:58 If you take a biocentric worldview, as outlined in particular by the US doctor and scientist
04:04 Robert Lanza, then you might argue that it matters not what happens to your brain and
04:09 body.
04:10 For biocentrists, drawing on elements from quantum physics and the observer effect, it
04:14 could be that consciousness exists above all.
04:18 That it can continue without a body or a brain, along a different plane of existence post-death.
04:23 If this were ever proven, then it seemingly would show that your memories do continue,
04:28 or at least are kept, after you die.
04:31 Similarly, an increasing number of theorists, including the noted British Nobel Prize winner
04:36 Sir Roger Penrose, have debated how consciousness could in fact be solely the product of quantum
04:42 mechanics.
04:43 Quantum theories on biology, and ideas around the quantum soul, all hint toward our true
04:48 selves being much more than just the bodies that house them.
04:52 Again, if consciousness were ever proven along these lines, then one implication is that
04:56 it could already be immortal, and as a result, your memories might already be preserved forever,
05:02 just not via the brain that you have right now.
05:05 Of course, not everyone views memory as a purely scientific concern.
05:09 It's a centuries-old subject for philosophers, as well.
05:13 And religions offer their own take on what happens to what we know after we're gone.
05:17 For example, some philosophies propose that memories live on through the impact individuals
05:23 leave on the world.
05:24 Be it through artistic creations, scientific contributions, or personal relationships,
05:30 the essence of a person remains in the collective consciousness of society.
05:35 This isn't quite the same as simply not forgetting someone.
05:38 It's more to do with continuing to understand them, or continuing to consult them.
05:43 Perhaps by reading something that a dead person has written, or pondering something that they've
05:48 drawn, painted, or built.
05:50 Meanwhile, certain belief systems posit a much more metaphysical continuity.
05:55 A beyond-this-world afterlife, where consciousness again endures, but crucially, where memories
06:00 are kept as well.
06:02 Many versions of heaven offer something like this.
06:04 Although one popular argument against heaven is that if we do remember, and we therefore
06:09 remember the opposite concept of hell, and we therefore retain knowledge of all the worst
06:14 things, then is heaven ever really possible?
06:17 And if heaven is only possible if we forget, then how good can it ever be without the best
06:22 memories we've ever made?
06:24 We took a closer look at this particular paradox in another recent video, so be sure to check
06:29 that out after this.
06:31 On the other hand, most religious and spiritual concepts of reincarnation offer much less
06:36 in terms of memory.
06:38 While some versions do suggest that you will retain all you knew when you get reborn inside
06:42 the body of someone or something else, most accept that any prior knowledge is lost from
06:48 life to life.
06:49 Here's where talk of apparent past-life memories is of interest, though.
06:53 Which again, we've covered before in previous videos.
06:56 In short, however, a leading researcher in this field is one Dr. Jim Tucker of the University
07:02 of Virginia School of Medicine, who has conducted hundreds of interviews over a number of years,
07:08 all with children who can seemingly recall things they can't possibly have known about,
07:12 because they all happened before they were born.
07:15 Could it be, then, that their previous memories have been retained?
07:18 Finally, though, there's the philosophical argument for eternal oblivion.
07:23 Contrary to the (what they view as "misplaced") optimism of the previous perspectives, those
07:28 in favour of eternal oblivion generally suggest that memories do perish with the individual.
07:33 In this view, death marks the end of subjective experience, and memories blank out into the
07:39 void - perhaps leaving echoes in the minds of anyone who knew the deceased person, yes,
07:44 but only echoes.
07:45 The true memory is gone forever.
07:47 Finally, though, what does the preservation of memory look like in the future?
07:52 Overall, we could be fast approaching a major paradigm shift in how the concept of memory
07:57 is even considered.
07:58 While the present may not offer a concrete answer to the afterlife of memories, the future
08:03 holds tantalising possibilities.
08:06 Digital storage, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing all provide potential
08:10 avenues for preserving, and perhaps even resurrecting, the memories of the dead.
08:15 Today, thanks to rapid advancements in neuroscience and technology, the prospect of digital immortality
08:22 is very real.
08:24 Increasing numbers see a future where memories are no longer confined to just the decaying
08:28 neurons of the brain, but are instead continually uploaded onto digital platforms.
08:34 Or are continually enhanced by physical memory chips implanted into our brains.
08:39 Or are constantly regurgitated via personalised chatbots that will live on long, long after
08:46 we ourselves are gone.
08:48 Scientists all around the world are already exploring ways to capture and store personal
08:52 experiences - creating virtual repositories of memory that could one day be accessed,
08:58 perhaps universally accessed and shared.
09:01 Combined with mounting theories on consciousness as a quantum state, it's suddenly becoming
09:06 possible to easily imagine a time when the contents of your mind and brain are never
09:12 actually lost.
09:13 Quite how we should feel about that is another matter.
09:16 Let us know your thoughts in the comments, both about what you think happens right now
09:21 and what you predict for the future.
09:24 Because that's what happens to your memories after you die.
09:28 Is death really the end?
09:30 Or is there something else waiting for us once our mortal bodies are no more?
09:34 This is Unveiled, and today we're answering the extraordinary question; What happens to
09:38 your soul when you die?
09:41 Are you a fiend for facts?
09:42 Are you constantly curious?
09:44 Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?
09:47 And ring the bell for more fascinating content!
09:50 Although we've been contemplating it, debating it and generally trying to understand it for
09:54 thousands of years, the soul remains an exceptionally tricky concept to nail down.
10:00 Depending on your spiritual, religious, philosophical or scientific views, it can mean or resemble
10:05 a number of things.
10:07 Generally speaking, however, the soul is held to be the bodiless, non-physical essence of
10:11 a living thing.
10:12 It's what guides or drives that living thing's consciousness; its character, personality,
10:17 experience and way of thinking.
10:19 For humans, the soul is what makes us, us.
10:22 And our bodies - our arms and legs, and hearts and brains - only really exist as vehicles
10:27 to house and facilitate our souls.
10:29 Nevertheless, we know that our physical bodies are only capable of doing this for a certain
10:34 amount of time.
10:35 So, when they expire, when we die, what happens to our soul, then?
10:39 In 1901, the American doctor Duncan McDougall conducted what became known as the "21 grams
10:45 experiment".
10:46 He measured the weight of six people at the moment of their death, and roughly concluded
10:49 that there was a weight loss before and after dying - of about 21 grams.
10:54 McDougall's study has since been widely discredited for a number of reasons, including
10:58 the small sample size, and the fact that only one of his six subjects showed an exactly
11:03 21 gram loss, but it highlights how the soul has continually been perceived as separate
11:08 from the body and in some way exempt from death.
11:11 This idea has been present since at least the eighth century BC.
11:15 We know this thanks to the 2008 discovery of the Kutumua Monument in modern-day Turkey,
11:20 an inscribed stone tablet to mark the death of Kutumua, a high-ranking official.
11:24 On it, there's mention of offering "a ram for my soul", seeming to suggest that
11:28 the ancient Assyrians believed that a part of them survived even when their bodies perished.
11:33 The concept shifts for later belief systems like Christianity and Islam, and in classical
11:38 mythology, where it's often held that the soul is what gets judged by God, before being
11:43 either allowed into heaven, for eternal peace and happiness, or cast off into hell, to be
11:47 tormented forever or destroyed completely.
11:50 The specifics differ between religions and denominations of religions, though, with some
11:54 believing that the soul actually doesn't leave the body when we die, and instead resides
11:58 there in unconscious sleep until the dead are resurrected.
12:01 Meanwhile, for the Church of Latter-day Saints, the soul exists in a spirit world until it's
12:06 reunited with the body and exalted into eternal life.
12:10 For many branches of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism, there's a more significant
12:14 change of direction, though, in the form of reincarnation.
12:18 Loosely speaking, this is the idea that while your body will die, your soul, or spirit,
12:23 will pass on and into something else.
12:25 In pop culture, its next destination is usually an animal of some kind… but, depending on
12:30 belief system, your soul could also migrate to trees and plants, or even into a newborn
12:35 child!
12:36 The key aspect is that there's a cycle that your soul is moving through, with many believing
12:40 that it's only when the soul is freed from this cycle that it can achieve its ultimate
12:44 goal; what some refer to as "nirvana".
12:47 From a philosophical standpoint, the soul has intrigued and tormented many of the greatest
12:51 thinkers in history.
12:53 Plato believed, too, that the soul survived beyond when the body carrying it died, and
12:57 also that it could move between bodies to regenerate anew.
13:00 Plato also mapped out what he believed the soul actually was, however, with his tripartite
13:05 theory being one of the earliest recorded attempts to make some sense of it.
13:09 The tripartite theory of the soul divides the soul into three main sections; the logos,
13:13 which is found in the head and covers logic and thought; the thymos, found in the chest
13:18 and the birthplace of anger; and the eros, which was said to be in the stomach and responsible
13:22 for desire.
13:23 The key to a healthy soul was keeping these three aspects of it in balance.
13:28 Aristotle also devised a three-tier mode of thinking about the soul, but this time he
13:32 sought to differentiate between the souls of people, animals and plants.
13:36 For Aristotle, there were three levels; the first related to souls needing to grow and
13:40 reproduce only, so that's all of life, including plants; the second related to animated souls
13:46 responding to senses with sensitivity, so that's all animals and people; and the third
13:51 related to souls capable of reason, so only people.
13:55 Where Aristotle most differed to Plato, though, is that he didn't necessarily believe that
13:59 the soul was immortal.
14:01 Critics are still divided on exactly where Aristotle stood regarding the soul post-death.
14:06 In the days since Plato and Aristotle, this to-ing and fro-ing over what the soul is,
14:10 where it is and what ultimately happens to it has never truly been resolved.
14:15 But for more modern philosophers and scientists, it's been less a question of trying to physically
14:19 define the soul or translating it into some kind of knowable substance… and more a question
14:24 of determining what we really mean when we refer to it.
14:27 For the 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant, the soul, as with God and the afterlife,
14:33 was unavoidably beyond human comprehension.
14:35 We could only ever trust in its existence, rather than know that it existed… which,
14:40 to some interpretations, takes the question of death out of the picture.
14:44 Another major player in the history of the soul, and how we understand it, is the 17th
14:49 century French thinker René Descartes.
14:51 His most famous work centred on the mind-body problem, and his argument for dualism - the
14:56 idea that the soul and body are separate, but very closely linked.
15:00 For the dualist Descartes, the body couldn't exist without the mind… but the mind could
15:04 exist without the body.
15:06 And therefore the death of the body needn't be the death of the mind.
15:10 That part of us, the part that comprehends the rest of us, might then carry on forever.
15:14 This tying up between the soul and the mind, and consciousness generally, has also been
15:19 a key theme in more recent studies.
15:21 Descartes suggested that there could be some kind of filter within the human body, connecting
15:25 our immaterial thoughts to the material world… with the pineal gland in the brain being where
15:30 he thought that was.
15:31 But that idea, the idea that the pineal gland held the key, has since been widely thrown
15:36 out and ridiculed.
15:37 Descartes' general concept of dualism hasn't been dropped, though… although it is contested
15:42 by monism.
15:43 The idea that mind and body are one, that neither exists, without the other.
15:48 For those searching for an outlook wherein at least a part of us lives forever, monism
15:52 - particularly one version of it, physicalism - probably isn't for you.
15:56 Here, if there is a soul, it's the product only of our physical, biological matter being
16:01 arranged in exactly the right way.
16:04 We only have a soul because we have a brain which can power it.
16:07 So, when we die and that all-important brain is no more, the soul disappears forever, too.
16:12 In the twenty-first century, the Franco-American cognitive scientist and writer Julien Mussolino
16:17 - who wrote the 2015 book The Soul Fallacy - has become one of the most prominent voices
16:22 on this side of the argument, against there being a soul to survive our deaths… while
16:26 the US physicist Sean M. Carroll is another leading the charge against the soul, arguing
16:31 that there's nothing we know of to support even its existence.
16:34 Clearly, there is no one, certain answer to this question.
16:38 If there was, we'd all be one huge step closer to deciphering the meaning of life.
16:42 Most religions teach that the soul in some way lives on, be that in an afterlife, in
16:46 unconscious sleep until resurrection, or via reincarnation.
16:50 For philosophers throughout history, it's been just as important to determine what the
16:54 soul is before wondering what happens to it when our bodies expire.
16:58 Meanwhile, for modern-day scientists, the soul is just as unknowable, and according
17:02 to some, it might not exist at all.
17:05 No matter your belief, though, if we understand the soul, abstract or not, to be what guides
17:09 our lives, to be our own individuality, personality and essence, then let's all try to put it
17:14 to good use.
17:16 Because a little soul goes a long way.
17:19 What do you think?
17:20 Is there anything we missed?
17:21 Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you
17:24 subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.
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