The Transition Between Life and Death Exploring the Continuum

Abstract

Where is the boundary between human life and death? Is there even such a boundary? Suggesting the existence of “boundary” raises the ageless problems of the continuum and discrete: Zeno’s paradox, the modern calculus, Heisenberg-type problems, and, indeed, quantum mechanics and cosmology. “Alive” and “dead” may just be visible signs of a deeper process of universal motion permeating every aspect of our universe. In this discussion, it is essential to identify parameters for ascertaining boundaries of “life” and “consciousness”, as well. Both have many definitions. I present three approaches to exploring how we might discover a boundary, if such exists: biological entities being progressively replaced by artificial ones, cell apoptosis (cell death), and extreme reductionism to the smallest scale known to us – Planck area. In each is considered the nature and type of homeostasis. While we can vary the environment to observe how those conditions for each are changed, there appears to us a “crossover” point when a self-sustaining or even an adaptive entity no longer may maintain its integrity as human. Thus, we might approach the transition of organically based homeostatic entities to non-hydrocarbon-based ones in terms of finite state machines, and adaptive automatons, while keeping in mind the conditions we discussed above for consciousness and life. However, in each case, there are collections of conditions that could be the minimal basis of what may be regarded as degrees of life or consciousness, and the clue resides in the third method and one that really is not new, at least to ancient philosophers.