Hello, all
Just a quick post to let everyone know that "The Near Death Experiment",
or NDExp, is up and running.
While the project is still in its infancy, its eventual aim is to
flatline people, through the use of Hypothermic
Circulatory Arrest (HCA) in order to determine if the mind does, in
fact, leave the body during "death".
The website can be found at http://www.ndexp.com
Rather than belabor the point, I'll post the FAQ from the NDEXp site and
encourage those who are
interested to visit and make comments as you see fit on the email
addresses provide within.
Hope to see you there!! :-)
Here 'tis the FAQ.
Q. What is the Near Death Experiment?
A. The Near Death Exploration Project is an effort to scientifically
explore the initial stages of death, in
order to establish whether a person does leave their body on death.
It will do this by firstly “flatlining” and resuscitating a person and
then finding out if they were aware of
anything going on in their environment, while they were “dead”.
If a person is able to describe events taking place while they are
effectively “dead”, then we will have
established to a high degree of probability that that person did in fact
leave their body, while they were
dead.
Q. Are there any secondary objectives of the NDExp?
A. In addition to attempting to obtain a scientific answer on the
question of a person leaving their body
after death, the NDExp also seeks to investigate the phenomenon of the
Near Death Experience (NDE) and
the psychological and physiological after effects that are claimed by
many researchers.
It will do this, by having all participants undergo an intensive medical
and psychological profiling prior to
their being flatlined and then by re-examining them on a frequent basis
for at least 5 - 10 years afterwards.
Q. Flatlining? Isn't that dangerous?
A. Yes, but not as dangerous as you might suspect. The flatlining of
patients will be achieved through the
use of Hypothermic Circulatory Arrest (HCA). This is a surgical
procedure in which a person’s body
temperature is reduced, by running their blood through a Heart-Lung
Machine with an attached cooler. This
cools the body rapidly, ensuring minimal damage to the brain. In
addition, while it is not uncommon to
flatline patients for 30 minutes or more during surgery, the NDExP, will
only require they be flatlined for
10 minutes, at the most.
Q. Why not just do the research on people already being flatlined for
surgery?
A. This just wouldn't be ethical. People who are being flatlined as a
part of surgery are often very ill and the
last thing they, or the doctors need is a mob of experimenters running
around doing silly things and asking
silly questions. In addition, the very nature of the NDExp requires a
highly controlled environment, which
simply isn't achievable within a normal surgical environment.
Q. Why not just use hypnotism, or people who have trained themselves to
have Out of Body Experiences?
A. Because from a scientific perspective it simply won't work. Several
researchers have already tried to
research Out of Body Experiences, in this manner, but none have yet
produced conclusive, unambiguous,
scientifically reproducible positive results. While many would consider
it a somewhat drastic approach, any
positive result produced by the NDExp will be inherently reproducible by
anyone, anywhere and therefore
able to stand up in the court of scientific opinion.
Q. Can research, such as the NDExp prove the existence of life after death?
A. Strictly speaking, no. Because all of our participants will be
resuscitated, they cannot be said to have
“died” any permanent sense. At best the experiment will be able to
demonstrate life during death, which
would certainly provide a hint of life after death.
Q. What's the big deal with being so scientific? I know of heaps of
people who have proven psychic
phenomena of one sort or another.
A. We are glad you do, because we aren't aware of a single psychic, or
paranormal phenomena (assuming
normal usage of the term) that has been accepted by mainstream
scientists. Frankly, if something hasn't
been established scientifically, then it hasn't been established at all.
Broadly, in order for something to be
established scientifically, the result needs to be verifiable and
reproducible for anyone using the same
methodology and equipment. If successful the NDExp will provide that.
Q. Are you people barking mad?
A. This is probably the most common reaction that we get when discussing
the NDExp. Most people
simply cannot understand why anyone would want to flatline themselves in
order to explore the realms of
death, and assume it is merely a “morbid”, or suicidal fascination.
This response to the NDExP, is however merely a reflection of our
society’s somewhat irrational fear of
death. It is said that there are two things that we can’t avoid, Death
and Taxes. The fact is that many people
do avoid taxes, but none can avoid death. Given the number of people who
are in the business of exploring
tax, it shouldn't be surprising that a few want to explore death.
Like any exploration the journey is likely to be dangerous, but if
humans as a race were always to avoid
danger, we would still be nervously clinging to the fire afraid to leave
the cave.
Its not like we are climbing Mount Everest or going into space. Now that
would be mad! ;-)
Q. You don't need to do this! Haven't you heard the good news about "My
Favorite Deity (TM)"?
A. Please. Don't even go there...
--
Greg Kasarik
Project Director
The Near Death Experiment
www.ndexp.com
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