A Contribution of Tipler's Omega Point Theory to Near-Death Studies

A fundamental principle of behavioral and natural scientists is reductionism: all mental phenomena can be reduced to a physical basis. Phenomena that have no physical basis cannot really exist. For most scientists this rules out transpersonal, spiritual or noetic, and religious phenomena, all of which maintain strongly antireductionist positions. Thus near-death researchers have an uphill battle to stay scientifically afloat. However, mathematician Frank Tipler argues that, while reductionism is necessary to the scientific world, it does not negate the religious, noetic, or spiritual dimension of human experience. He demonstrates by hard-core physics the existence of God and religious and spiritual phenomena. While the proofs he offers can be understood only by other astrophysicists, his overall viewpoint is comprehensible by laypeople. I present his concepts and arguments, and highlight the value of this orientation for near-death studies. Tipler's work takes the steam out of scientific rejection of religious, spiritual, or noetic phenomena, and makes it possible to accept these phenomena while maintaining a strictly scientific posture. Near-death researchers can gain a greater degree of scientific acceptance by adopting Tipler's position on reductionism.