When we die

A Time Magazine blog has an interview today with a man who is studying what happens when we die.

Many people, the author admits, aren’t so sure about the project…

Because we’re pushing through the boundaries of science, working against assumptions and perceptions that have been fixed. A lot of people hold this idea that well, when you die you die, that’s it. Death is a moment, you know you’re either dead or you’re alive. All these things are not scientifically valid but they’re social perceptions. If you look back at the end of the 19th century, physicists at that time had been working with Newtonian laws of motion and they really felt they had all the answers to everything that was out there in the universe. When we look at the world around us, Newtonian physics is perfectly sufficient. It explains most things that we deal with — except if you go to the really low level beyond the atoms.

Do we really want to know the answer if there’s a possibility it totally rewires our concept of life and death?