# Near death experiences **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 15, 2012, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591 "2012-01-15T12:36:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pati12812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@pati12812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pati12812)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/1 "2012-01-15T12:36:54Z")
We’ve all heard stories about people dying and then coming back. What is the truth about Near Death Experiences? Is there reason to think that although hundreds of thousands of people have had similar accounts of what happened while they were briefly dead, that it means nothing? ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/2 "2012-01-15T12:44:00Z")
Reserchers say they are[tricks of the mind.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15494379) \*Psychologists from Edinburgh University and the Medical Research Council in Cambridge reviewed existing research. They say phenomena such as out-of-body experiences or encounters with dead relatives are tricks of the mind rather than a glimpse of the afterlife. One of the researchers, Dr Caroline Watt, said: “Our brains are very good at fooling us.” The researchers say that many common near-death experiences could be caused by the brain’s attempt to make sense of unusual sensations and perceptions occurring during a traumatic event. Dr Watt, of the University of Edinburgh, said: "Some of the studies we examined show that many of the people experiencing a near-death experience were not actually in danger of dying, although most thought they were. “The scientific evidence suggests that all aspects of the near-death experience have a biological basis.”\* ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/3 "2012-01-15T12:54:41Z")
Unca Cecil’s [column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/641/do-near-death-experiences-prove-there-is-life-after-death) on NDE. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/4 "2012-01-15T12:55:45Z")
The fact that there have been hundreds of thousands is irrelevant as they can be explained by known science and this has been confirmed by experimentation. The real question is why you would want to invoke the supernatural instead? Looks like an added layer of complication to me. ---
**Author:** ![Zep\_Tepi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@Zep\_Tepi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zep_Tepi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/5 "2012-01-15T13:08:36Z")
So what do you guys think about John Edward. Is he a fraud? My sister was dying in the UK and on the day and hour of her death, I was walking in a City called Port Elizabeth when a feather floated down and landed on me. I said to my wife, my sister has passed. When we returned home the following day, it was confirmed. She always said that she would let me know. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/6 "2012-01-15T13:25:03Z")
> [@pati12812](#): > > We’ve all heard stories about people dying and then coming back. What is the truth about Near Death Experiences? Is there reason to think that although hundreds of thousands of people have had similar accounts of what happened while they were briefly dead, that it means nothing? Many of them have had _different_ experiences, or no experience at all. What is your source of information about hundreds of thousands(and from another thread, what is your source that _all_) have had the same experiences? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/7 "2012-01-15T13:26:35Z")
> [@Zep\_Tepi](#): > > So what do you guys think about John Edward. Is he a fraud? > > My sister was dying in the UK and on the day and hour of her death, I was walking in a City called Port Elizabeth when a feather floated down and landed on me. I said to my wife, my sister has passed. When we returned home the following day, it was confirmed. She always said that she would let me know. Amazing. feathers fall out of the sky constantly-did you mark down the times _they_ fell out of the sky, too? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/8 "2012-01-15T13:27:49Z")
> [@Zep\_Tepi](#): > > So what do you guys think about John Edward. Is he a fraud? John Edward is a very poor cold reader, but he is a little better when he can do a bit of hot reading. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/9 "2012-01-15T13:28:02Z")
> [@Zep\_Tepi](#): > > My sister was dying in the UK and on the day and hour of her death, I was walking in a City called Port Elizabeth when a feather floated down and landed on me. I said to my wife, my sister has passed. When we returned home the following day, it was confirmed. She always said that she would let me know. How does a feather landing on you equate to a message from your dead sister? ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/10 "2012-01-15T14:06:02Z")
> [@Zep\_Tepi](#): > > So what do you guys think about John Edward. Is he a fraud? Yes > [@](#): > > My sister was dying in the UK and on the day and hour of her death, I was walking in a City called Port Elizabeth when a feather floated down and landed on me. If you mean Port Elizabeth in South Africa, then you were likely about 10,000 miles away from your sister and over 100 miles away from your home. I’ve heard many stories of NDE and most seem to involve people witnessing their own situations proximate to their physical body. I haven’t heard of one that involved knowing where in the world one’s loved one was at the moment. Nor have I heard of anyone travelling great distances to precipitate death notices. Nor have I heard of anyone suddenly acquiring mega-telekinetic powers at the moment of their death. Yet, since people have medically died and been brought back, if acquiring those powers were part of the death process, one would expect them to be part of the near-death process too. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/11 "2012-01-15T14:26:34Z")
NDEs are a topic that interests me. There are many interviews on YouTube, by people who have had them. I am particularly interested in accounst where the subjects have altered their lives-many report that their NDE has resulted in a life changing experience. Whatever their origin, NDEs clearly have a major effect upon those who experience them. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/12 "2012-01-15T14:49:10Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Whatever their origin, NDEs clearly have a major effect upon those who experience them. Simply coming close to death is a life changing experience. The fact that one changes one’s life or has an experience which has a major effect does mean anything, in and of itself. Losing my virginity was a life-changing experience (thanks Liz). Getting drunk for the first time had a major effect on me, and it wasn’t very good, all-in-all. Obviously, NDEs exist, or occur, or are experienced, or however one says that. The issue is: what is the cause and significance of such experiences. ---
**Author:** ![BSweet69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BSweet69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BSweet69)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/13 "2012-01-15T14:54:13Z")
I don’t buy it. I think people are conditioned from birth to believe in ghosts/gods, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/14 "2012-01-15T16:13:02Z")
> [@pati12812](#): > > We’ve all heard stories about people dying and then coming back. What is the truth about Near Death Experiences? Is there reason to think that although hundreds of thousands of people have had similar accounts of what happened while they were briefly dead, that it means nothing? Ultimately it’s about what you choose to accept. Different people accept different things. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/15 "2012-01-15T16:17:22Z")
Believing in the validity of NDEs is comforting to many. We WANT the nullity of nonexistence to be overcome by some other plane of reality. Almost every single religion promises this in some form or another. Why wouldn’t this be the same? ---
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/16 "2012-01-15T16:22:11Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > NDEs are a topic that interests me. > There are many interviews on YouTube, by people who have had them. > I am particularly interested in accounst where the subjects have altered their lives-many report that their NDE has resulted in a life changing experience. > Whatever their origin, NDEs clearly have a major effect upon those who experience them. That’s why I’m also fascinated by NDE accounts. I’m also fascinated by stories of UFO abduction, alien encounters, stories about ghosts and the supernatural. ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/17 "2012-01-15T18:24:35Z")
There are stories of people having NDE’s and among their dead friends and family who greet them are people whom they think are still alive. Upon coming back they find out these people are actually dead. Of course we won’t know the truth until we each die but some of the stories seem believable and I’ve met one person who claims to have had one and I believe him. There are things that he saw, that he couldn’t have seen from his body, verified by someone else. I’m not sure why some people think that the existance of some sort of life after our death is supernatural. Could it just be the natural we don’t know about. It’s fairly fantastic that there is anything other than nothingness. I don’t know why life after death is any more unbelievable than our life at all, just that we are experiencing this life now. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/18 "2012-01-15T20:51:42Z")
[moderating] Since this is going to turn into a debate anyway, I’m moving it to GD preemptively. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/19 "2012-01-15T20:53:24Z")
Think how different the world would be if everybody understood confirmation bias. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591/20 "2012-01-15T21:02:00Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:19, topic:609591”] Think how different the world would be if everybody understood confirmation bias. [/QUOTE] In the last few days, I’ve heard several different people say that, but never have before. Do you think it means anything? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-death-experiences/609591.md?page=2)