LINK Scientific Proof of the Soul?! - YouTube
Holy Koolaid
Published on Aug 2, 2019
Can science prove the existence of the soul, or has the existence of the soul been debunked? In 1907 Dr. Duncan MacDougall attempted to weigh the soul and claimed it weighed 21 grams. But his experiment was problematic and only raised more questions about the soul. This is science vs. the soul.
I used to believe we had a soul, and then believed we all had a divine spark.
Now I realize that my mind wanted to believe that it would exist forever.
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13 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.If there was even the slightest inkling of evidence for a soul, it would be international headline news.
Until then we have this.
indirect76
Level 7
Aug 7, 2019
1
Youtube you can make anything up the only thing I beleive on youtube is how to things like cars and other things you can do with your hands
benhmiller
Level 7
Aug 7, 2019
1
I don't understand how rational people can continually reject physicalist thinking. It might be a 100 years or so before we come to a complete understanding of how the brain functions, but there is nothing to suggest that doing so should not be possible. I figure that once we cross that bridge, all the religious and psedo-scientific people will plug their ears and reject reality, same as they have always done.
Happy_Killbot
Level 7
Aug 7, 2019
1
apparently we all have a measurable magnetic field which disappears after death. i doubt if it is the soul. dust to dust is about it.
callmedubious
Level 8
Aug 6, 2019
1
Didn't watch the video, but I know that dude's experiment was flawed. If I remember correctly, it only looked at 6 people and only 1 of them matched the results he was looking for. Despite that, many who believe in the soul site this experiment as proof.. 
FatherOfNyx
Level 7
Aug 6, 2019
1
Interesting video.
I have no idea what give us "personality" or "consciousness" or even the spark of "life", but whatever it is, I'm fairly sure it's not the religious notion of a soul.
Furthermore, this guy's science (if you can call it that) seems a little backwards.
Would be interesting to see the results done under properly controlled conditions...
scurry
Level 9
Aug 6, 2019
1
It is biochemical.
Jlynn has it right. There’s a fair amount of evidence for personality or consciousness be a product of the physical brain. A great and obvious evidence is when people get physical damage to those brain their personality changes. If we had souls that wouldn’t happen. At least not with the religious interpretation of souls
@JacobMeyers @jlynn37
Yup. I get that. And I'm not saying that I believe in souls (certainly not the religious interpretation of one) but there is no clear answer on what sparked life. Lots of speculation.
Biochemical scrum percolating in some primordial swamp and add some electric shock of some sort... and poof... Life??
But to simply say "biochemical" is a little simplistic and naive. And all I'm suggesting is that there is more going on than we know.
I'm not sugesting supernatural, just unknow.
If the soul weighs 21 grams, it's physical. If it is physical and weighs 21 grams and leaves the body at death, it should be visible lying on the ground under the body.
If there is a spiritual tractor beam that pulls it up to heaven/space, that should be easily detectable. But at that point it seems very far fetched.
Edit: If the soul were salt and weighed 21 grams, you would see 3.69 teaspoons of salt floating off the body with the spiritual tractor beam, or lying on the ground below the body--either of which would be extremely visible to anyone looking.
greyeyed123
Level 7
Aug 6, 2019
2
Well, While I agree with your general analysis and skepticism, there are things that have weight/mass that are invisible or at least very hard to see. Although I am completely on board with your suggestion that if it has a weight we should be able to detect it - just maybe not with the unaided eye.
@scurry What weighs 21 grams, could theoretically exist inside the volume of a human body (as 21 grams), and be invisible upon leaving the body immediately after death? The claim is usually that the 21 gram differential is detected right after death, so (I was thinking) it is difficult to claim it is something that exited so slowly that the volume of its "outgassing" would be unobserved. That's why I used the analogy of salt.
But the 21 grams thing has already been debunked long ago. I was just playing along as if the observation were valid. Is there something known that could fit the details of the claim?
Hey @greyeyed123 
I was just playing along too. Thinking out loud, so to speak, except on a keyboard.
I have no idea what it is, could me or anything - and as you say - the 21 gram thing is debunked, so the argument is kinda moot at this point. But I was just surmising that somethings could have weight and also be invisible. You mentioned "outgassing" and for sure that's a great example. Some gasses are definitely heavier than air but also invisible. I don't know if that's what the Dr. in the video measured or not and we've pretty much dismissed his finding anyway...
But I suspect that there are things out there that we don't even know about or even know to look for.
@scurry I thought you had something specific in mind.
@Fred_Snerd exactly the words I used earlier when discussing with a friend... 'Mind Blowing'!!
There is so much we don't know, and maybe never will. But the journey is the point. Learning and discovering and Wow! there is just so much.
I think when we question, wonder, challenge, even the things we think we know, we open ourselves up to new experiences, ideas, and new potentials.
So I question, even stuff I don't dissagree with.
@K9Kohle789 I am so sorry for your loss. 
I can't explain what happened at that moment either, but I believe you that something did happen.
I lossed my fiance (will be 20 years in Nov.) and while I did not experience what you did, I can imagine it clearly.
I don't have answers and I have no idea what that spark is, but I am confident that there is a lot we just don't know. And may never.
As you say, various critters see things we can't.
The more I learn, the more I realize I know so little.
The soul is nonsensical religious concept that only has value of you accept the fanciful notion that we continue to live on after death. If there's no afterlife then what possible use would there be in having a soul?
Sgt_Spanky
Level 8
Aug 6, 2019
2
Hmm - I would agree with you for the most part, but perhaps the soul isn't eternal.
Perhaps there is something that does exist (playing devil's advocate) that is something similar to what the religious call a soul - the something that gives us the spark of life or consciousness, but it doesn't go to heaven or hell when we die, but just gets reabsorbed into the universe?
I dunno one way or the other - just thinking out loud (or I guess via typing.) I'm guessing there is more to this universe than I will ever even imagine.
Duh, what else am I gonna trade for being able to play guitar like mofo?
@JacobMeyers I might know a few demons who can set that deal up. 
LOL
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