8 Scientific Theories About Death

7. We Don't Really Know What It Is

We can't really be 100% sure what death is, because we don't really know what life is.

Scientists have been working to define life, and what calls it into being, since time immemorial. In the pursuit of alien life, NASA have defined it as a “self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution”, but even this isn't perfect, as there are non-living chemical systems that can mimic life without actually being alive. Crystals, for example.

Another, more anthropocentric, problem that we have, is that we don't really know what consciousness is, what causes it, and even whether it survives death, or whether it's snuffed out along with our brain activity (the answer is "probably", but quantum mechanics is a slippery customer so who knows).

Until we can come up with an all-encompassing, solid definition (or definitions) of life, then we can never truly understand death.