Robert Lanza
Robert P. Lanza | |
|---|---|
 Lanza at a laboratory in October 2009. | |
| Born | Robert Lanza 11 February 1956 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania |
| Known for | Stem cell biology, cloning, tissue engineering, biocentric universe |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine |
| Influences | Jonas Salk, Christiaan Barnard, and B. F. Skinner |
Robert Lanza (born 11 February 1956 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American medical doctor and scientist, currently Head of Astellas Global Regenerative Medicine,[1][2] and Chief Scientific Officer of the Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He is an Adjunct Professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.[3][4][failed verification]
Early life and education[edit]
Lanza was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up south of there, in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Lanza "altered the genetics of chickens in his basement", and came to the attention of Harvard Medical School researchers when he appeared at the university with his results. Jonas Salk, B. F. Skinner, and Christiaan Barnard mentored Lanza over the next ten years.[5] Lanza attended the University of Pennsylvania, receiving BA and MD degrees. There, he was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a University Scholar. Lanza was also a Fulbright Scholar. He currently resides in Clinton, Massachusetts.[citation needed]
Career[edit]
Stem cell research[edit]
Lanza was part of the team that cloned the world's first early stage human embryos,[6][7] as well as the first to successfully generate stem cells from adults using somatic-cell nuclear transfer (therapeutic cloning).[8][9]
Lanza demonstrated that techniques used in preimplantation genetic diagnosis could be used to generate embryonic stem cells without embryonic destruction.[10]
In 2001, he was also the first to clone an endangered species (a Gaur),[11] and in 2003, he cloned an endangered wild ox (a Banteng)[12] from the frozen skin cells of an animal that had died at the San Diego Zoo nearly a quarter-of-a-century earlier.
Lanza and his colleagues were the first to demonstrate that nuclear transplantation could be used to extend the lifespan of certain cells[13] and to generate immune-compatible tissues, including the first organ grown in the laboratory from cloned cells.[14]
Lanza showed that it is feasible to generate functional oxygen-carrying red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells under conditions suitable for clinical scale-up. The blood cells could potentially serve as a source of "universal" blood.[15][16]
His team discovered how to generate functional hemangioblasts (a population of "ambulance" cells[17]) from human embryonic stem cells. In animals, these cells quickly repaired vascular damage, cutting the death rate after a heart attack in half and restoring the blood flow to ischemic limbs that might otherwise have required amputation.[18]
In 2012 Lanza and a team led by Kwang-Soo Kim at Harvard University reported a method for generating induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells by incubating them with proteins, instead of genetically manipulating the cells to make more of those proteins.[19][20][21]
Clinical trials for blindness[edit]
Lanza's team at Advanced Cell Technology were able to generate retinal pigmented epithelium cells from stem cells, and subsequent studies found that these cells could restore vision in animal models of macular degeneration.[22][23] With this technology, some forms of blindness could potentially be treatable.[24]
In 2010, ACT received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for clinical trials of a pluripotent stem cell-based treatment for use in people with degenerative eye diseases.[25][26] In 2011 ACT received approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to use its PSC-based cell therapy in the UK; this was the first approval to study a PSC-based treatment in Europe.[27][28] The first person received the embryonic stem cell treatment in the UK in 2012.[29]
The results of the first two clinical trials were published in the Lancet in 2012,[30] with a follow up paper in 2014,[31] which provided the first published reports of the long-term safety and possible biologic activity of pluripotent stem cell progeny into humans.[32]
Biocentrism[edit]
In 2007 Lanza's article "A New Theory of the Universe" appeared in The American Scholar.[33] The essay proposed Lanza's idea of a biocentric universe, which places biology above the other sciences.[34][35][36] Lanza's book Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the Universe followed in 2009, co-written with Bob Berman.[37]
Lanza's biocentric hypothesis met with a mixed reception.[38]
Nobel laureate in medicine E. Donnall Thomas stated that "Any short statement does not do justice to such a scholarly work. The work is a scholarly consideration of science and philosophy that brings biology into the central role in unifying the whole."[1]
Arizona State University physicist and antitheist activist Lawrence Krauss stated: "There are no scientific breakthroughs about anything, as far as I can see. It may represent interesting philosophy, but it doesn't look, at first glance, as if it will change anything about science."[1] In USA Today
Online, astrophysicist and science writer David Lindley asserted that Lanza's concept was a "...vague, inarticulate metaphor..." and stated that "...I certainly don't see how thinking his way would lead you into any new sort of scientific or philosophical insight. That's all very nice, I would say to Lanza, but now what?"[39]
Daniel Dennett, a Tufts University philosopher and eliminative materialist, said he did not think the concept meets the standard of a philosophical theory. "It looks like an opposite of a theory, because he doesn't explain how [consciousness] happens at all. He's stopping where the fun begins."[1]
Lanza subsequently published several books that further developed his concept of biocentrism including a 2016 book, Beyond Biocentrism: Rethinking Time, Space, Consciousness, and the Illusion of Death, and a third, The Grand Biocentric Design: How Life Creates Reality, written with Bob Berman and theoretical physicist Matej Pavšič, and published in 2020.[40][41][42]
Awards and public commentary[edit]
Lanza has received numerous awards and other recognition, including:
- TIME Magazine’s 2014 Time 100 list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World",[43]
- Prospect magazine 2015 list of “Top 50 World Thinkers”,[44]
- 2013 “Il Leone di San Marco Award in Medicine” (Italian Heritage and Culture Committee, along with Regis Philbin, who received the award in Entertainment),[45]
- 2010 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Award for “Translating Basic Science Discoveries into New and Better Treatments”;[46]
- 2010 “Movers and Shakers” Who Will Shape Biotech Over the Next 20 Years (BioWorld, along with Craig Venter and President Barack Obama);[47]
- 2006 Mass High Tech journal “All Star” award for biotechnology for “pushing stem cells’ future”.[48][49]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d Herper, Matthew. "A Biotech Provocateur Takes On Physics". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
- ^ "Ocata's chief scientific officer to join new parent after acquisition". Boston Globe. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
- ^ "Robert P. Lanza | American scientist". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
- ^ "Robert Lanza (1956- ) | The Embryo Project Encyclopedia". embryo.asu.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
- ^ Fischer, Joannie (2001-11-25). "The First Clone". U.S. News & World Report. 131 (23): 50–4, 57–8, 60–3. PMID 11765373. Archived from the original on 2008-08-26. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ Cibelli, Jose B.; Lanza, Robert P.; West, Michael D.; Ezzell, Carol (2001-11-24). "The First Human Cloned Embryo". Scientific American. 286 (1): 44–51. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0102-44. PMID 11799617. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ "Wired 12.01: Seven Days of Creation". Wired.com. 2009-01-04. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
- ^ Cell Stem Cell (2014). "Access : Human somatic cell nuclear transfer using adult cells". Cell Stem Cell. Cell Press. 14 (6): 777–780. doi:10.1016/j.stem.2014.03.015. PMID 24746675. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
- ^ Naik, Gautam (2014-04-17). "Scientists Make First Embryo Clones From Adults". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
- ^ Nature (2006). "Access : Human embryonic stem cell lines derived from single blastomeres". Nature. 444 (7118): 481–485. doi:10.1038/nature05142. PMID 16929302. S2CID 84792371.
- ^ "Cloning Noah's Ark: Scientific American". Sciam.com. 2000-11-19. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
- ^ "Wild Cows Cloned". NPR. 2003-04-08. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
- ^ Robert P. Lanza, Jose B. Cibelli, Catherine Blackwell, Vincent J. Cristofalo, Mary Kay Francis, Gabriela M. Baerlocher, Jennifer Mak, Michael Schertzer, Elizabeth A. Chavez, Nancy Sawyer, Peter M. Lansdorp, Michael D. West1 (28 April 2000). "Extension of Cell Life-Span and Telomere Length in Animals Cloned from Senescent Somatic Cells" (PDF). Science. 288 (5466): 665–669. Bibcode:2000Sci...288..665L. doi:10.1126/science.288.5466.665. PMID 10784448.
- ^ Lanza, Robert P. (2002). "Generation of histocompatible tissues using nuclear transplantation". Nature Biotechnology. 20 (7): 689–696. doi:10.1038/nbt703. PMID 12089553. S2CID 23007326.
- ^ Lu, SJ; Feng, Q; Park, JS; Vida, L; Lee, BS; Strausbauch, M; Wettstein, PJ; Honig, GR; Lanza, R (2008). "Blood - Biological properties and enucleation of red blood cells from human embryoni". Blood. Bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org. 112 (12): 4475–84. doi:10.1182/blood-2008-05-157198. PMC 2597123. PMID 18713948.
- ^ [1] Archived November 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Vergano, Dan (2007-05-08). "Elusive 'ambulance' cells are created - USATODAY.com". Usatoday.Com<!. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
- ^ Lu, S. J.; Feng, Q.; Caballero, S.; Chen, Y.; Moore, M. A.; Grant, M. B.; Lanza, R. (2007). "Generation of functional hemangioblasts from human embryonic stem cells". Nature Methods. 4 (6): 501–509. doi:10.1038/nmeth1041. PMC 3766360. PMID 17486087.
- ^ Park, Alice (2009-05-28). "Researchers Hail Stem Cells Safe for Human Use". TIME. Archived from the original on May 31, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
- ^ ROCKOFF, JONATHAN (2012-12-13). "Stem-Cell Trial Without Embryo Destruction". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2013-01-14.
- ^ Kim, Dohoon (2009). "Cell Stem Cell - Generation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells by Direct Delivery of Reprogramming Proteins". Cell Stem Cell. 4 (6): 472–476. doi:10.1016/j.stem.2009.05.005. PMC 2705327. PMID 19481515.
- ^ Lund, R. D.; Wang, S.; Klimanskaya, I.; Holmes, T.; Ramos-Kelsey, R.; Lu, B.; Girman, S.; Bischoff, N.; Sauvé, Y.; Lanza, R. (2006-09-29). "Human Embryonic Stem Cell–Derived Cells Rescue Visual Function in Dystrophic RCS Rats – Cloning Stem Cells". Cloning and Stem Cells. Liebertonline.com. 8 (3): 189–99. doi:10.1089/clo.2006.8.189. PMID 17009895. S2CID 12566730.
- ^ "Stem Cells May Open Some Eyes". Wired.com. 2004-09-24. Archived from the original on August 15, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
- ^ "Two Patients Undergo Stem-Cell Blindness Treatment". Technology Review. 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
- ^ "FDA Approves Second Trial of Stem-Cell Therapy". TIME. 2010-11-22. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
- ^ "Second human embryonic stem cell clinical trial to start". USA Today. 2010-11-22. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
- ^ Sample, Ian (2011-09-22). "First trial of embryonic stem cell treatment in Europe gets green light". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2011-09-22.
- ^ "First European Embryonic Stem Cell Trial Gets Green Light". TIME. 2011-09-22. Retrieved 2011-09-22.
- ^ Boseley, Sarah (2012-06-04). "Stem cell scientists take hope from first human trials but see long road ahead". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
- ^ Schwartz, SD; et al. (25 February 2012). "Embryonic stem cell trials for macular degeneration: a preliminary report". Lancet. 379 (9817): 713–20. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60028-2. PMID 22281388. S2CID 2230787.
- ^ Schwartz, SD; et al. (2014-10-15). "Human embryonic stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelium in patients with age-related macular degeneration and Stargardt's macular dystrophy". Lancet. 385 (9967): 509–16. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61376-3. PMID 25458728. S2CID 85799.
- ^ "Stem Cells Allow Nearly Blind Patients to See". TIME. 2014-10-14. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
- ^ "A New Theory of the Universe: Biocentrism builds on quantum physics by putting life into the equation" (Spring). The American Scholar. 2007.
- ^ Aaron Rowe (2009-01-04). "Will Biology Solve the Universe?". Wired.com. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
- ^ "Theory of every-living-thing - Cosmic Log - msnbc.com". Cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com. Archived from the original on 2007-03-12. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
- ^ "Robert Lanza - Tag Story Index - USATODAY.com". Asp.usatoday.com. 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
- ^ Lanza, Robert; Berman, Bob (April 14, 2009). Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe. BenBella Books. ISBN 978-1-933771-69-4.
- ^ Log, Cosmic. "The universe in your head". NBC News. Retrieved 2016-12-14.
- ^ "Exclusive: Response to Robert Lanza's essay". Usatoday.Com. 2007-03-09. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
- ^ Lanza, Robert; Berman, Bob (April 14, 2009). Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe. BenBella Books. ISBN 978-1-933771-69-4.
- ^ Lanza, Robert; Berman, Bob (May 3, 2016). Beyond Biocentrism: Rethinking Time, Space, Consciousness, and the Illusion of Death. BenBella Books. ISBN 978-1942952213.
- ^ Lanza, Robert; Pavsic, Matej (November 17, 2020). The Grand Biocentric Design: How Life Creates Reality. BenBella Books. ISBN 978-1950665402.
- ^ "TIME: The 100 Most Influential People - Robert Lanza". TIME.com. 2014-04-24. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
- ^ "World Thinkers 2015: Robert Lanza". prospectmagazine.co.uk. 2015-02-16. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
- ^ "ACT's Dr. Robert Lanza to Receive the Il Leone di San Marco Award in Medicine". nla.gov. 2013-09-24. Retrieved 2015-10-31.
- ^ "Stem cell leaders Lanza, Kim win $1.9M NIH award". MassHighTech.com. 2010-09-22. Archived from the original on 2011-01-07. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
- ^ "Advanced Cell Technology's Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Robert Lanza Honored By BioWorld Magazine As Leader Who Could Shape Biotech Over Next 20 Years". Bloomberg.com. 2010-05-10. Retrieved 2015-10-31.
- ^ "Dr. Robert Lanza Receives 2006 'All Star' Award for Biotechnology. Industry & Business Article - Research, News, Information, Contacts, Divisions, Subsidiaries, Business Associations". Goliath.ecnext.com. 2006-10-24. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
- ^ Songini, Marc (August 14, 2009). "Thought Leaders:Robert Lanza on stem cells and access to health care". Mass High Tech. Archived from the original on 17 September 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
He was named a Mass High Tech All Star in 2006
External links[edit]
 | Wikiquote has quotations related to: Robert Lanza |
- Personal website: blog, and archive of books, articles and news.
===
Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe
Paperback – 26 July 2010
by Robert Lanza (Author), Bob Berman (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 1,703 ratings
Robert Lanza is one of the most respected scientists in the world―a US News & World Report cover story called him a "genius" and a "renegade thinker," even likening him to Einstein. Lanza has teamed with Bob Berman, the most widely read astronomer in the world, to produce Biocentrism, a revolutionary new view of the universe.
Every now and then a simple yet radical idea shakes the very foundations of knowledge. The startling discovery that the world was not flat challenged and ultimately changed the way people perceived themselves and their relationship with the world. For most humans of the 15th century, the notion of Earth as ball of rock was nonsense. The whole of Western, natural philosophy is undergoing a sea change again, increasingly being forced upon us by the experimental findings of quantum theory, and at the same time, towards doubt and uncertainty in the physical explanations of the universe's genesis and structure. Biocentrism completes this shift in worldview, turning the planet upside down again with the revolutionary view that life creates the universe instead of the other way around.
In this paradigm, life is not an accidental byproduct of the laws of physics. Biocentrism takes the reader on a seemingly improbable but ultimately inescapable journey through a foreign universe―our own―from the viewpoints of an acclaimed biologist and a leading astronomer. Switching perspective from physics to biology unlocks the cages in which Western science has unwittingly managed to confine itself. Biocentrism will shatter the reader's ideas of life―time and space, and even death. At the same time it will release us from the dull worldview of life being merely the activity of an admixture of carbon and a few other elements; it suggests the exhilarating possibility that life is fundamentally immortal.
The 21st century is predicted to be the Century of Biology, a shift from the previous century dominated by physics. It seems fitting, then, to begin the century by turning the universe outside-in and unifying the foundations of science with a simple idea discovered by one of the leading life-scientists of our age. Biocentrism awakens in readers a new sense of possibility, and is full of so many shocking new perspectives that the reader will never see reality the same way again.
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Review
"I found the attack on physics to be pretty compelling ... Lanza's theories [are] certainly worth debate."
-- Houston Chronicle's Eric Berger, SciGuy blog
"What makes this book both interesting and worth the effort of reading it; is the unique perspective Lanza brings to the subject matter as a physician. ... From the way [Lanza] chooses to present his arguments, it's clear he has a solid grasp of esoteric disciplines like quantum theory, special relativity and particle physics. And what makes his presentation more compelling than other efforts I've encountered is his ability and willingness to weave personal experience into the thoughts and ideas presented. His style is conversational and warm which tends to pull you along through the exposition gently. And his sense of wonder and befuddlement at shop worn enigmas like the double slit experiment, Bell's theorem, non-locality and Schrödinger's cat is as infectious as it is delightful ... I very much like what Lanza has to say in Biocentrism."
-- Midwest Book Review
Endorsements for Robert Lanza's essay on which Biocentrism is based:
"For several days now I have read and reread your article and thought about it. Like 'a brief history of time' it is indeed stimulating and brings biology into the whole. Any short statement does not do justice to such a scholarly work. Almost every society of mankind has explained the mystery of our surroundings and being by invoking a god or group of gods. Scientists work to acquire objective answers from the infinity of space or the inner machinery of the atom. Lanza proposes a biocentrist theory which ascribes the answer to the observer rather than the observed. The work is a scholarly consideration of science and philosophy that brings biology into the central role in unifying the whole. The book will appeal to an audience of many different disciplines because it is a new way of looking at the old problem of our existence. Most importantly, it makes you think."
--E. Donnall Thomas
Thomas was awarded the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington and Director Emeritus of the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
"It is genuinely an exciting piece of work. I am very familiar with some of the things you say. The idea that consciousness creates reality has quantum support, as you suggest, and also coheres with some of the things biology and neuroscience are telling us about the structures of our being. To put what you are doing in a larger context, it exhibits a dramatic new Copernican reversal. Just as we now know that the sun doesn't really move but we do (we are the active agents), so you are suggesting that we are the entities that give meaning to the particular configuration of all possible outcomes we call reality. I think this is a great project."
--Ronald Green
Green is the Eunice and Julian Cohen Professor for the Study of Ethics and Human Values, and Director of Dartmouth College's Ethics Institute. Professor Green is a well-known religious studies scholar and former Chairman of the Department of Religion
"Robert Lanza, a world renowned scientist who has spanned many fields from drug delivery to stem cells to preventing animal extinction, and clearly one of the most brilliant minds of our times, has done it again. 'A New Theory of the Universe' takes into account all the knowledge we have gained over the last few centuries, and correlates them to our own beings, placing in perspective our biologic limitations that have impeded our understanding of greater truths surrounding our existence and the universe around us. This new theory is certain to revolutionize our concepts of the laws of nature for centuries to come."
--Anthony Atala
Atala is an internationally recognized scientist, and the W.H. Boyce Professor, Chair, and Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
"As an astrophysicist, I focus my attention on objects that are very large and very far away, ignoring the whole issue of consciousness as a critical part of the Universe. Reading Robert Lanza's work is a wake-up call to all of us that even on the grandest scale we still depend on our minds to experience reality. Issues of "quantum weirdness" do have a place in the macroscopic world. Time and space do depend on perception. We can go about our daily lives and continue to study the physical Universe as if it exists as an objective reality (because the probabilities allow that degree of confidence), but we do so with a better awareness of an underlying biological component, thanks to Dr. Lanza. I cannot speak for NASA or other NASA scientists, but personally I look forward to hearing a more detailed explanation of this biocentric view of the Universe from Dr. Lanza."
--David Thompson
Thompson is an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. His contributions include the building and flying of prototypes of EGRET, which was launched by the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1991. He is currently with the Astroparticle Physics Laboratory, and has received both the Goddard Space Flight Center & NASA Group Exceptional Achievement Awards.
"Yes, it is appropriate to ask whether our perception of space and time is a consequence of our particular neurophysiology. Yes, it is appropriate to ask how it happened that the conditions worked out to be just right for life to appear somehow on earth and then to evolve from the archaea through the eukaryotes to us. ... I'll bet the book gets a good audience. And I like to see books published that challenge my own ideas and thoughts in ways that make me think, but not ones that simply throw dogma at me. The essay is definitely of the former kind."
--R. Stephen Berry
Berry is James Franck Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago. Professor Berry is a member (and recent Home Secretary) of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences. He was also former Vice President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and MacArthur Prize "Genius" Fellow.
"Science has a token of freedom that motivates scientists to study all logical possibilities that may explain the world. Robert Lanza has come up with an innovative approach to investigate reality from the viewpoint of biology. His article demands an answer to the question of whether scientists have exhausted all possible tools for studying nature. Can science bring biology into grand unified theory? A solution is suggested that involves a new concept, biocentrism. Lanza goes beyond the individual human attribute calling for interconnectedness among all living creatures forming the fundamental basis for understanding reality. A book that expands upon this unique approach is warranted, not only to alert society, but to call on it to test this novel new hypothesis."
--Gunther Kletetschka
Kletetschka is a geophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. He is also a Research Professor of Physics at Catholic University of America and leading scientist working on the James Web Space Telescope.
"It's a masterpiece--truly a magnificent essay. Bob Lanza is to be congratulated for a fresh and highly erudite look at the question of how perception and consciousness shape reality and common experience. His monograph combines a deep understanding and broad insight into 20th century physics and modern biological science; in so doing, he forces a reappraisal of this hoary epistemological dilemma. Not all will agree with the proposition he advances, but most will find his writing eminently readable and his arguments both convincing and challenging. Bravo."
--Michael Lysaght
Lysaght is Professor of Medical Science and Engineering at Brown University and Director of Brown's Center for Biomedical Engineering.
About the Author
Robert Lanza
“Robert Lanza was taken under the wing of scientific giants such as psychologist B.F. Skinner, immunologist Jonas Salk, and heart transplant pioneer Christiaan Barnard. His mentors described him as a ‘genius,’ a ‘renegade thinker,’ even likening him to Einstein himself.” ―US News & World Report cover story
Robert Lanza has been exploring the frontiers of science for more than four decades, and is considered one of the leading scientists in the world. He is currently Chief Scientific Officer at Advanced Cell Technology, and Adjunct Professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He has several hundred publications and inventions, and 20 scientific books, among them, Principles of Tissue Engineering, which is recognized as the definitive reference in the field. Others include One World: The Health & Survival of the Human Species in the 21st Century (with a foreword by President Jimmy Carter), and the Handbook of Stem Cells and Essentials of Stem Cell Biology, which are considered the definitive references in stem cell research.
Dr. Lanza received his B.A. and M.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was both a University Scholar and Benjamin Franklin Scholar. He was also a Fulbright Scholar, and was part of the team that cloned the world’s first human embryo, as well as the first to clone an endangered species, to demonstrate that nuclear transfer could reverse the aging process, and to generate stem cells using a method that does not require the destruction of human embryos. Dr. Lanza was awarded the 2005 Rave Award for Medicine by Wired magazine, and received the 2006 “All Star” Award for Biotechnology by Mass High Tech.
Dr. Lanza and his research have been featured in almost every media outlet in the world, including all the major television networks, CNN, Time, Newsweek, People magazine, as well as the front pages of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today, among others. Lanza has worked with some of the greatest thinkers of our time, including Nobel Laureates Gerald Edelman and Rodney Porter. Lanza worked closely with B.F. Skinner at Harvard University. Lanza and Skinner (the “Father of Modern Behaviorism”) published a number of scientific papers together. He has also worked with Jonas Salk (discoverer of the polio vaccine) and heart transplant pioneer Christiaan Barnard.
Bob Berman
“this is a fascinating guy” ―David Letterman
“fasten your seatbelts and hold on tight” ―Astronomy magazine
Bob Berman is the most widely read astronomer in the world. Author of more than one thousand published articles, in publications such as Discover and Astronomy magazine, where he is a monthly columnist, he is also astronomy editor of The Old Farmer’s Almanac and the author of four books. He is adjunct professor of astronomy at Marymount College, and writes and produces a weekly show on Northeast Public Radio, aired during NPR’s Weekend Edition.
===
Product details
Publisher : BenBella Books; 1st edition (26 July 2010)
Language : English
Paperback : 200 pages
ISBN-10 : 1935251740
ISBN-13 : 978-1935251743
Dimensions : 15.24 x 1.65 x 23.01 cm
Best Sellers Rank: 123,565 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
32 in Philosophy of Science
80 in Physics of Time (Books)
312 in Cosmology (Books)
Customer Reviews: 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,703 ratings
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Robert Lanza
Dr. Robert Lanza is Head of Astellas Global Regenerative Medicine, Chief Scientific Officer of AIRM and a professor at Wake Forest University. TIME magazine recognized him as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World,” and Prospect magazine named him one of the Top 50 “World Thinkers.” He has hundreds of scientific publications and over 30 books, including definitive references in the fields of stem cells, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. He is a former Fulbright Scholar, and studied with polio-pioneer Jonas Salk and Nobel laureates Gerald Edelman and Rodney Porter. He also worked closely (and co-authored a series of papers) with influential psychologist BF Skinner and heart transplant-pioneer Christiaan Barnard. Dr. Lanza received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was both a University Scholar and Benjamin Franklin Scholar. Lanza was part of the team that cloned the world’s first human embryo, the first endangered species, and published the first-ever reports of pluripotent stem cell use in humans.
Lanza and his colleagues were also the first to demonstrate that nuclear transplantation could be used to reverse the aging process and to generate immune-compatible tissues, including the first organ tissue-engineered from cloned cells. One of his greatest early achievements came from his demonstration that techniques used in preimplantation genetic diagnosis could be used to generate human embryonic stem cells without embryonic destruction.
He and colleagues have also succeeded in differentiating human pluripotent stem cells into retinal cells, and has shown that they provide long-term benefit in animal models of vision loss. Using this technology some forms of blindness may be curable, including macular degeneration and Stargardt disease, a currently untreatable form eye disease that causes blindness in teenagers and young adults. Lanza's company received FDA approval to carry out clinical trials in the US using them to treat degenerative eye diseases, as well approval for the first human pluripotent stem cell trial in Europe. The first patients reported improved vision in the eyes treated with the cells, which The Guardian said "represents a huge scientific achievement."
Dr. Lanza and his colleagues published the first-ever report of human pluripotent stem cells transplanted into human patients. After surgery, evidence confirmed cells had attached and continued to persist during the study. There were no signs of tumorigenicity or rejection. The patients who received the stem cell transplants say their lives have been transformed by the experimental procedure--they report that they can use their computers, thread a needle, or even go to the mall or airport on their own.
Lanza has also been a major player in the scientific revolution that has led to the documentation that nuclear transfer/transcription factors can restore developmental potential in a differentiated cell. One of his successes was showing that it is feasible to generate functional oxygen-carrying red blood cells from human pluripotent stem cells. The blood cells were comparable to normal transfusable blood and could serve as a potentially inexhaustible source of "universal" blood. His team also discovered how to generate functional hemangioblasts - a population of "ambulance" cells - from hES cells. In animals, these cells quickly repaired vascular damage, cutting the death rate after a heart attack in half and restoring the blood flow to ischemic limbs that might otherwise have to be amputated.
Lanza and a team lead by Kwang-Soo Kim at Harvard University have also reported a safe method for generating induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Human iPS cells were created from skin cells by direct delivery of proteins, thus eliminating the harmful risks associated with genetic manipulation. The Editors of the prestigious journal Nature selected Lanza and Kim's paper on protein reprogramming as one of five "Research Highlights." Discover magazine stated, "Lanza's single-minded quest to usher in this new age has paid dividends in scientific insights and groundbreaking discoveries."
Dr. Lanza has received numerous awards, including being named one of TIME Magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World"; the 2013 Il Leone di San Marco award in Medicine (The Italian Heritage and Culture Committee, along with Regis Philbin [in Entertainment]); including an NIH Director's Award (2010) for "Translating Basic Science Discoveries into New and Better Treatments"; the 2010 'Movers and Shakers' Who Will Shape Biotech Over the Next 20 Years (BioWorld)(along with Craig Venter and President Barack Obama); the 2007 100 Most Inspiring People in the Life-Sciences Industry (PharmaVOICE, "For his discoveries 'behind the medicines making a significant impact on the pipelines of today and of the future'"; the 2007 Outstanding Contribution in Contemporary Biology Award (Brown University, "For his groundbreaking research and contributions in stem cell science and biology"; the 2006 All-Star Award for Biotechnology (MA High Tech, for "pushing stem cells' future"); the 2005 Rave Award for Medicine (Wired magazine, "For eye-opening work on embryonic stem cells"); and Lanza is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Who's Who in Science and Engineering; Who's Who in American Education, and Who's Who in Technology, among others. Dr. Lanza has served in numerous national and international leadership capacities, including Conference Co-Chairman, International Symposium on Stem Cells (Tianjin, China 2008); Stem Cell Advisory Committee, International Stem Cell Registry; He has given keynote addresses at dozens of national and international societies, including ASAIO (2001), Annual Molecular & Cellular Biology Symposium (2002), Biotechniques Live/Drug Discovery Technology & Development World Congress (2005), International Stem Cell Conference (2007), Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS)(2007), Translational Regenerative Medicine Forum (2010), among others.
Dr. Lanza and his research have been featured in almost every media outlet in the world, including CNN, TIME, Newsweek, People, as well as the front pages of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, among others. Lanza has worked with some of the greatest thinkers of our time, including Nobel laureates Gerald Edelman and Rodney Porter, renowned Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner (the "Father of modern behaviorism"), Jonas Salk (discoverer of the Polio vaccine), and heart transplant pioneer Christiaan Barnard. His current research focuses on stem cells and regenerative medicine and their potential to provide therapies for some of the world's most deadly and debilitating conditions.
In 2007, Lanza published a feature article, "A New Theory of the Universe" in The American Scholar, a leading intellectual journal which has previously published works by Albert Einstein, Margaret Mead, and Carl Sagan, among others. His theory places biology above the other sciences in an attempt to solve one of nature's biggest puzzles, the theory of everything that other disciplines have been pursuing for the last century. This new view has become known as Biocentrism. In 2009, he co-authored a book "Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe" with leading astronomer Bob Berman. In biocentrism, space and time are forms of animal sense perception, rather than external physical objects. Understanding this more fully yields answers to several major puzzles of mainstream science, and offers a new way of understanding everything from the microworld (for instance, the reason for Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and the double-slit experiment) to the forces, constants, and laws that shape the universe. Nobel laureate E. Donnall Thomas stated "Any short statement does not do justice to such a scholarly work. The work is a scholarly consideration of science and philosophy that brings biology into the central role in unifying the whole."
You can read more about Dr. Robert Lanza's work at:
http://www.robertlanza.com/
http://www.robertlanzabiocentrism.com/
https://beyondbiocentrism.com
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Bob Berman
Robert Berman, known as Bob Berman, is an American astronomer, author, and science popularizer. He runs Overlook Observatory at his home in Woodstock, New York, USA. He was an adjunct professor of astronomy at the liberal arts college, Marymount Manhattan College, from 1996 to 2000 and has appeared on CBS This Morning, the Today Show, and the Late Show with David Letterman.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Benjamin Thomas (Bob Berman - IdeaFestival 2009 Uploaded by Edward) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
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Maarten
2.0 out of 5 stars Yeah its cute but...
Reviewed in Australia on 17 December 2018
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The book was riddled with common logical fallacies and hard to get through without facepalming. The idea is nice, but really it reads more like a coping mechanism of the author rather than a serious alternative explanation of reality
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B DE JONG
5.0 out of 5 stars Revolutionary
Reviewed in Australia on 28 February 2021
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A brilliant book that turns life as we know it on its head.
Read this if you want to know the meaning of life.
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Alex
4.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking and fascinating.
Reviewed in Australia on 18 June 2014
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Manages to deal with complex subject matter in an easy to understand manner. Fascinating & mind boggling - I definitely recommend it!
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GRAHAM COTTER
4.0 out of 5 stars Biocentrism
Reviewed in Australia on 17 June 2014
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A fresh new way of looking at life, and finding answers to questions that have been asked for so long!
Well worth the money!
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Mark A. Hodgson
3.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating but too much warped reasoning - for me anyway!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 April 2019
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I initially bought this book because I was looking for a study on “consciousness” specifically. Whilst I enjoyed it, I find some of the central tenets somewhat confused. Much of it tends towards solipsism- as I understand that field anyway. There are also some rather unwarranted conclusions jumped to - especially for a work of science. For example he talks about the Big Bang as being a description of the universe having a birth which therefore means it will have an end. Why? That does not necessarily follow in strict reasoning. Also the tenet that observation
‘Creates’ the world or objects being observed seems to me like wanting to have your cake and eat it. Sure the experience of the universe only happens in the brain (for arguments sake, although why only in the brain?) - viz the tree falling in the forest actually makes no sound - it’s the sense organ of a conscious being that creates the sound but interpreting the vibrations. But there must be something there creating the vibrations in the case of sound or reflections in the case of the moon being observed for the sense organ to pick it up. The text seems to ride rough shod over cause and effect. If I create the moon by observing it - what are all the other people in the world seeing? Or am I the only person in the world? Fascinating book but far too many holes in the train of logic for me.
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MB
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting - but deeply flawed
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 June 2021
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An interesting read, but it contains nothing new. It addresses questions that I suspect most human beings have thought of at one time or another. It is interesting in so far as it presents someone’s opinion as a comparison to one’s own. Therein lies a potential problem, however. So far as I could ascertain, Lanza appears to make no distinction between fact and his own opinion. Indeed, in reading the book I developed the feeling that in Lanza’s world there may be only two types of opinions; his own opinions and the wrong opinions.
It is unfortunate that Lanza appears to take the line that physicists are not the folk to further knowledge in any way whatsoever in the area of consciousness. Yet he fails to say how he would further such knowledge or how he thinks it may be furthered. If the autobiographical sections were removed from this book, the remainder might read somewhat like the introduction to a proposal for work but with no consideration of the work that is required and/or how it may be approached. It does not address the issue of its own subheading “How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe”.
The warning is there before the book is opened. Lanza adds ‘MD’ after his name on the cover. Most authoritative works for popular consumption are not graced with the author’s graffiti on the cover. Respect for opinions need to be earned not demanded.
Despite the various issues outlined above, the work was interesting in so far as the subject matter gels with some other lines of interest that I am pursuing currently. I will therefore persevere and take a look at some of Lanza’s more recent work. There is indeed one glimmer of hope in the book. Lanza insists that physics is not the way to progress the understanding of consciousness. He seems to find it necessary to criticise not only ‘physics’ generally but also physicists. His aim appears to be to promote the idea that biology should take over from the point that physics has reached (This is arguably similar to events at the start of the twentieth century when physics took over from chemistry as the leading area of advancement). Then, at the very end, he concedes “It may take a multidisciplinary approach to achieve tangible results…”. Indeed, I could not agree more. However, this book does nothing to move towards that. It appears to try to drive wedges between the sciences and offers absolutely no suggestion as to how his “biocentrism” or the presumably larger field of “biology” can or will (given appropriate research) assist in the aim of understanding consciousness. It may be that it will need scientists more willing to build on what exists, rather than criticising it, to make progress.
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Cate
5.0 out of 5 stars A transfixing reading experience
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 October 2019
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When you are prepared to read this book, it will bring you spiritual relief. Intellectually, you will appreciate the conclusions reached by such a brilliant polymath, because he's reached them with humility and care in his reasoning.
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LightBringer
5.0 out of 5 stars A book that makes you glance away from the page ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 July 2017
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A book that makes you glance away from the page every now and then, to look at the world in a completely new way but also as if someone has just put into words how you have always felt about reality.
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Bethany
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Perspective
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 September 2020
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This opened my mind a lot and has made me dive deeper into different ideologies about the nature of our existence.
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Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe by Robert Lanza | Goodreads
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Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe
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3.94 · Rating details · 3,869 ratings · 440 reviews
Robert Lanza is one of the most respected scientists in the world—a US News & World Report cover story called him a "genius" and a "renegade thinker," even likening him to Einstein. Lanza has teamed with Bob Berman, the most widely read astronomer in the world, to produce Biocentrism, a revolutionary new view of the universe.
Every now and then a simple yet radical idea shakes the very foundations of knowledge. The startling discovery that the world was not flat challenged and ultimately changed the way people perceived themselves and their relationship with the world. For most humans of the 15th century, the notion of Earth as ball of rock was nonsense. The whole of Western, natural philosophy is undergoing a sea change again, increasingly being forced upon us by the experimental findings of quantum theory, and at the same time, towards doubt and uncertainty in the physical explanations of the universe’s genesis and structure. Biocentrism completes this shift in worldview, turning the planet upside down again with the revolutionary view that life creates the universe instead of the other way around.
In this paradigm, life is not an accidental byproduct of the laws of physics. Biocentrism takes the reader on a seemingly improbable but ultimately inescapable journey through a foreign universe—our own—from the viewpoints of an acclaimed biologist and a leading astronomer. Switching perspective from physics to biology unlocks the cages in which Western science has unwittingly managed to confine itself. Biocentrism will shatter the reader’s ideas of life—time and space, and even death. At the same time it will release us from the dull worldview of life being merely the activity of an admixture of carbon and a few other elements; it suggests the exhilarating possibility that life is fundamentally immortal.
The 21st century is predicted to be the Century of Biology, a shift from the previous century dominated by physics. It seems fitting, then, to begin the century by turning the universe outside-in and unifying the foundations of science with a simple idea discovered by one of the leading life-scientists of our age. Biocentrism awakens in readers a new sense of possibility, and is full of so many shocking new perspectives that the reader will never see reality the same way again. (less)
Every now and then a simple yet radical idea shakes the very foundations of knowledge. The startling discovery that the world was not flat challenged and ultimately changed the way people perceived themselves and their relationship with the world. For most humans of the 15th century, the notion of Earth as ball of rock was nonsense. The whole of Western, natural philosophy is undergoing a sea change again, increasingly being forced upon us by the experimental findings of quantum theory, and at the same time, towards doubt and uncertainty in the physical explanations of the universe’s genesis and structure. Biocentrism completes this shift in worldview, turning the planet upside down again with the revolutionary view that life creates the universe instead of the other way around.
In this paradigm, life is not an accidental byproduct of the laws of physics. Biocentrism takes the reader on a seemingly improbable but ultimately inescapable journey through a foreign universe—our own—from the viewpoints of an acclaimed biologist and a leading astronomer. Switching perspective from physics to biology unlocks the cages in which Western science has unwittingly managed to confine itself. Biocentrism will shatter the reader’s ideas of life—time and space, and even death. At the same time it will release us from the dull worldview of life being merely the activity of an admixture of carbon and a few other elements; it suggests the exhilarating possibility that life is fundamentally immortal.
The 21st century is predicted to be the Century of Biology, a shift from the previous century dominated by physics. It seems fitting, then, to begin the century by turning the universe outside-in and unifying the foundations of science with a simple idea discovered by one of the leading life-scientists of our age. Biocentrism awakens in readers a new sense of possibility, and is full of so many shocking new perspectives that the reader will never see reality the same way again. (less)
Hardcover, 223 pages
Published April 14th 2009 by BenBella Books
Original Title
Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe
Edition Language
English
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Jun 17, 2018William Richburg rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
A Worldview That Works For The 21st Century
Perhaps the most important book about science ever written.
The authors, both scientists with impeccable credentials, have made an enormous contribution to human civilization that will raise the consciousness of every serious open minded reader.
Perhaps the most important book about science ever written.
The authors, both scientists with impeccable credentials, have made an enormous contribution to human civilization that will raise the consciousness of every serious open minded reader.
Dec 03, 2013Susan Botich rated it it was amazing
Robert Lanza has been noted as a brilliant biologist, having accomplished significant breakthroughs in stem cell research as well as other contributions to medical science. In Biocentrism, he elucidates an extremely challenging concept for the reader bound to the status quo to grasp: that the universe is actually a perception of consciousness, not a static "out there" reality. Lanza explains step-by-step how this is so, using known and quantified laws of physics and other sciences, and explains his claim in an exquisite, elegant yet easy-to-understand language so that any lay person can easily grasp what he is saying. He also has a wonderful sense of humor that pops through at the most unexpected times that brings a lightheartedness to the weight of his subject.
I highly recommend this book to everyone who enjoys exploring the age-old quandary of the origin of the universe. (less)
I highly recommend this book to everyone who enjoys exploring the age-old quandary of the origin of the universe. (less)
This is one of those books that I will always believe changed my life. It's also going to be one of the few books I read more than once. Biocentrism helped me understand how I am not alone in this universe, but a part of it, and realize that I do matter in the grand scheme of things, if only to create the world around me. I came across this theory after reading James Rollins' "The Eye of God" and it was nothing like I expected. Since reading this book I have felt much closer to the universe and more aware of the world around me. I have comforted friends who suffer from bouts of depression and loneliness, including myself.
Don't get me wrong, this is a difficult read; possibly the most difficult I have ever read. But if you put the time into it and really apply the concepts, it could open you up to a world you never knew was around you. (less)
Don't get me wrong, this is a difficult read; possibly the most difficult I have ever read. But if you put the time into it and really apply the concepts, it could open you up to a world you never knew was around you. (less)
Nov 15, 2013Wayne rated it it was amazing
Recommends it for: Everyone
Recommended to Wayne by: Goodreads
This book of biocentrism is a scientific book. It is one of the best books I have ever read. Not that it was entertaining. It wasn't. What this book did was introduce me to some of the most amazing experimental accomplished in the realm of quantum physics and some conclusions that can be drawn. There is not any argument in the scientific community about much of the results of experiments in quantum physics but it has become clear that quantum physic is ill equipped to explain many things. Thus came along biocentrism. The concepts in biocentrism has its roots in quantum physic testing but a great deal of thought and reflection is required to objectively delve into this exciting new field.
One of the quantum physics experiments that is astounding is the two photons that go through a slit and are divided by space. Observing one photon which is a subatomic particle causes it to change and exhibit wave characteristics with vertical polarization. The twin photon separated by considerable space immediately changes from a particle to a wave with horizontal polarization. This leads to a conclusion that philosophers for years have speculated upon. Space and time do not exist in the real universe but are only fabrications of the human mind to enable us to sort things out. Another concept is that if you could travel at the speed of light you could be everywhere in the universe at the same time. Putting it another way if you were in a space ship approaching the speed of light the cosmos would look like a basketball in front of you.
For engineers, philosophers, and scientist this is a must read book. I think everybody should read this book. This book gets as close to religion as science has ever done. I love reading science books that explain complex ideas in a way that can be easy visualized. This book does this. The more I learn the more the reality of a supreme being and eternal life are manifested. The body dies but the spirit lives on. As the scientists will say energy never is destroyed it only changes form. And science shows we are energy. It can be measure as equivalent to a 100 watt light bulb.
So read this book and let your mind be stretched. You will find it fascinating. (less)
One of the quantum physics experiments that is astounding is the two photons that go through a slit and are divided by space. Observing one photon which is a subatomic particle causes it to change and exhibit wave characteristics with vertical polarization. The twin photon separated by considerable space immediately changes from a particle to a wave with horizontal polarization. This leads to a conclusion that philosophers for years have speculated upon. Space and time do not exist in the real universe but are only fabrications of the human mind to enable us to sort things out. Another concept is that if you could travel at the speed of light you could be everywhere in the universe at the same time. Putting it another way if you were in a space ship approaching the speed of light the cosmos would look like a basketball in front of you.
For engineers, philosophers, and scientist this is a must read book. I think everybody should read this book. This book gets as close to religion as science has ever done. I love reading science books that explain complex ideas in a way that can be easy visualized. This book does this. The more I learn the more the reality of a supreme being and eternal life are manifested. The body dies but the spirit lives on. As the scientists will say energy never is destroyed it only changes form. And science shows we are energy. It can be measure as equivalent to a 100 watt light bulb.
So read this book and let your mind be stretched. You will find it fascinating. (less)
Aug 02, 2014Joshua Wulf rated it it was amazing
After reading a lot on relativity, quantum mechanics, and consciousness, this is the first book where I felt that the author had a solid grasp of all three and was able to bring something to the conversation.
The Western scientific revolution was predicated on an ontology of objective things that had an existence independent of observers. The periodic table we encountered in high school science is a good example. It exists independent of the reader of the table or the observer of the elements. The observer is an afterthought, and superfluous to the elements, which have their own concrete existence.
However, this view of the world - though utilitarian in that it produces technology such as the computer I am using to write this review - ignores that the entire ontological structure is in fact built through the very observation of the observer that it ignores.
The book begins by examining the Zen-koan-like question "If a tree falls in the woods and there is no-one there to hear it, does it make a sound?"
The authors approach this question in a way that distinguishes sense perception from the phenomena it perceives. "Sound" is a perception - it requires an observer. Things do not make sound - we perceive certain phenomena as sound. Sound is an emergent phenomenon at the intersection of consciousness, senses, and stimulus. The author uses this to show how closely, and transparently, consciousness and observing are bound to our observations; and how difficult it is for us to reason about the world with this distinction.
This is by no means the first time I'd encountered the question of the tree in the woods, but before reading this, it had never occurred to me that the language of "sound" intrinsically implies an observer. Otherwise the "what happened" is merely pressure waves in air. These only become "sound" when perceived through the ear of an observer that processes this phenomenon as sound. No observer = no "sound"; merely pressure waves.
Observation is invisibly embedded in our language and the ideal of objectivity promoted by classical science is an illusion. Lanza uses this example to cause the observer to show up in classical physics.
This is just the beginning, though.
The discoveries of Quantum Mechanics, beginning in the 20th century, turned the ontological basis of science on its head. It turns out that the universe does not exist in the concrete fashion depicted in the periodic table when no-one is looking at it. Ignoring the consciousness of the tree for the moment - if there is no observer present, not only does the tree not make a sound when it falls - it doesn't even exist!
Not only the existence of concrete elements beginning from atoms, but even the phenomenon of time and space themselves are dependent on observation.
In other words, time and space are not an objective background against which reality takes place, but rather they emerge from the interaction of the universe and our experience. Consciousness really is at the centre of everything that we know about the world. Time and space, and even concrete matter do not appear unless consciousness is present. Quantum mechanical experiments have given us knowledge of what the universe "looks like" when no-one is looking: it is an uncollapsed wave function - a state of undetermined probability.
Relativity was the first clue that experience dictates the nature of reality - with changes to space and time taking place depending on the observer - and quantum mechanics has shown that it is not merely a late-stage artifact of reality, but at its very core.
Lanza then takes us further, to show how the primacy of consciousness not only explains both relativity and quantum mechanics, but reconciles the two.
Having personally spent over a decade studying yoga and Eastern philosophy, in addition to my western scientific and engineering education and career, I found this book to come the closest of any I have read to date in presenting an accurate synthesis of the two.
I've read many books that misrepresented either, and sometimes both, in their efforts.
Having given the author credit for presenting a synthesis, in some respects his original material represents a more accurate presentation of ancient ideas than when he is explicitly presenting "Eastern religion" or philosophy. Those parts are a superficial presentation, dwelling on the popularly-known aspects like unified consciousness (Advaita) or reincarnation.
There are other aspects of Vedic cosmology that are more interesting in light of the findings of relativity and quantum mechanics and the desire of the author to explain these things in light of consciousness.
In a discourse on the nature of the material world (a section of Eastern philosophy known as "Sankhya" or "Distinction"), material nature is described in the Srimad Bhagavatam as "pradhana" - an undifferentiated state of potential:
"The unmanifested eternal combination of the three modes is the cause of the manifest state and is called pradhana. It is called prakriti when in the manifested stage of existence." SB. 3.26.10
The discussion continues to describe the various object of sense perception ("sound", "sight", etc), the sense organs ("ears", "eyes"), which are material, and then the senses ("hearing", "vision") and mental apparatus, which are of a subtle material nature, through which consciousness experiences the world (SB. 3.26.11-14), and then explains that both time and the appearance of space of variegated experience arise from the undifferentiated material potentiality through the injection of consciousness (SB.3.26.15-19).
This is, in fact, the argument being made by Lanza in this book. Quantum mechanical experiments reveal that the world exists as a cloud of undifferentiated, unmanifested "probability" until experienced by consciousness through senses, at which point it "collapses" into a deterministic state.
The author of this book comes down against the Many Worlds interpretation of QM.
Personally, I find the Many Worlds interpretation of QM to be more in line with the descriptions given in Bhagavatam, which - in addition to the consciousness-first nature of reality, and sensory-driven wave form collapse - deals with karma - fate and freewill.
An Einsteinian block universe is experienced by living entities as a sequence of events. However, the sequence is "predetermined" in that time is a subjective experience - not an objective reality. This gives us a universe in which past, present, and future are already written, and are merely experienced sequentially. (Don't worry if you don't get that immediately - it took me a lot of reading about the implications of the physics arrow of time to get that).
However, QM demonstrates that quantum uncertainty exists. This is one of the issues in reconciling Newtonian/Einsteinian physics of the macro-world with the Quantum Mechanical nature of the microscopic.
The Many Worlds interpretation of QM allows that an unlimited number of static, predetermined Einsteinian block universes exist, but which universe you are in can change at every moment.
Exactly this scenario is described in Bhagavad-gita, where Arjuna is shown "the Universal Form" - a vision of the Einsteinian block universe in which past, present, and future are all present and visible. He is told that the fate of his enemies is already sealed, but he has the free will to become the agent of that fate. The stage is set, the script is written, but the casting is open.
In this model predetermination and free will co-exist, as they do in a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure. All the paths are there, already written; but which one you are on can change.
The factors that influence the flow of a living entity through different paths (different universes == different fates) are discussed in Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita, and many other texts of Buddhist and Vedic-derivation.
I'm looking forward to the book that builds on Lanza's offering with a more detailed exposition of the relationship between relativity, QM, and consciousness; the insights available in Eastern philosophies, and the issues of fate and free will.
In some universes there will be a Joshua Wulf reading it. In others Joshua Wulf will be the writer. I wonder which one I will experience? (less)
The Western scientific revolution was predicated on an ontology of objective things that had an existence independent of observers. The periodic table we encountered in high school science is a good example. It exists independent of the reader of the table or the observer of the elements. The observer is an afterthought, and superfluous to the elements, which have their own concrete existence.
However, this view of the world - though utilitarian in that it produces technology such as the computer I am using to write this review - ignores that the entire ontological structure is in fact built through the very observation of the observer that it ignores.
The book begins by examining the Zen-koan-like question "If a tree falls in the woods and there is no-one there to hear it, does it make a sound?"
The authors approach this question in a way that distinguishes sense perception from the phenomena it perceives. "Sound" is a perception - it requires an observer. Things do not make sound - we perceive certain phenomena as sound. Sound is an emergent phenomenon at the intersection of consciousness, senses, and stimulus. The author uses this to show how closely, and transparently, consciousness and observing are bound to our observations; and how difficult it is for us to reason about the world with this distinction.
This is by no means the first time I'd encountered the question of the tree in the woods, but before reading this, it had never occurred to me that the language of "sound" intrinsically implies an observer. Otherwise the "what happened" is merely pressure waves in air. These only become "sound" when perceived through the ear of an observer that processes this phenomenon as sound. No observer = no "sound"; merely pressure waves.
Observation is invisibly embedded in our language and the ideal of objectivity promoted by classical science is an illusion. Lanza uses this example to cause the observer to show up in classical physics.
This is just the beginning, though.
The discoveries of Quantum Mechanics, beginning in the 20th century, turned the ontological basis of science on its head. It turns out that the universe does not exist in the concrete fashion depicted in the periodic table when no-one is looking at it. Ignoring the consciousness of the tree for the moment - if there is no observer present, not only does the tree not make a sound when it falls - it doesn't even exist!
Not only the existence of concrete elements beginning from atoms, but even the phenomenon of time and space themselves are dependent on observation.
In other words, time and space are not an objective background against which reality takes place, but rather they emerge from the interaction of the universe and our experience. Consciousness really is at the centre of everything that we know about the world. Time and space, and even concrete matter do not appear unless consciousness is present. Quantum mechanical experiments have given us knowledge of what the universe "looks like" when no-one is looking: it is an uncollapsed wave function - a state of undetermined probability.
Relativity was the first clue that experience dictates the nature of reality - with changes to space and time taking place depending on the observer - and quantum mechanics has shown that it is not merely a late-stage artifact of reality, but at its very core.
Lanza then takes us further, to show how the primacy of consciousness not only explains both relativity and quantum mechanics, but reconciles the two.
Having personally spent over a decade studying yoga and Eastern philosophy, in addition to my western scientific and engineering education and career, I found this book to come the closest of any I have read to date in presenting an accurate synthesis of the two.
I've read many books that misrepresented either, and sometimes both, in their efforts.
Having given the author credit for presenting a synthesis, in some respects his original material represents a more accurate presentation of ancient ideas than when he is explicitly presenting "Eastern religion" or philosophy. Those parts are a superficial presentation, dwelling on the popularly-known aspects like unified consciousness (Advaita) or reincarnation.
There are other aspects of Vedic cosmology that are more interesting in light of the findings of relativity and quantum mechanics and the desire of the author to explain these things in light of consciousness.
In a discourse on the nature of the material world (a section of Eastern philosophy known as "Sankhya" or "Distinction"), material nature is described in the Srimad Bhagavatam as "pradhana" - an undifferentiated state of potential:
"The unmanifested eternal combination of the three modes is the cause of the manifest state and is called pradhana. It is called prakriti when in the manifested stage of existence." SB. 3.26.10
The discussion continues to describe the various object of sense perception ("sound", "sight", etc), the sense organs ("ears", "eyes"), which are material, and then the senses ("hearing", "vision") and mental apparatus, which are of a subtle material nature, through which consciousness experiences the world (SB. 3.26.11-14), and then explains that both time and the appearance of space of variegated experience arise from the undifferentiated material potentiality through the injection of consciousness (SB.3.26.15-19).
This is, in fact, the argument being made by Lanza in this book. Quantum mechanical experiments reveal that the world exists as a cloud of undifferentiated, unmanifested "probability" until experienced by consciousness through senses, at which point it "collapses" into a deterministic state.
The author of this book comes down against the Many Worlds interpretation of QM.
Personally, I find the Many Worlds interpretation of QM to be more in line with the descriptions given in Bhagavatam, which - in addition to the consciousness-first nature of reality, and sensory-driven wave form collapse - deals with karma - fate and freewill.
An Einsteinian block universe is experienced by living entities as a sequence of events. However, the sequence is "predetermined" in that time is a subjective experience - not an objective reality. This gives us a universe in which past, present, and future are already written, and are merely experienced sequentially. (Don't worry if you don't get that immediately - it took me a lot of reading about the implications of the physics arrow of time to get that).
However, QM demonstrates that quantum uncertainty exists. This is one of the issues in reconciling Newtonian/Einsteinian physics of the macro-world with the Quantum Mechanical nature of the microscopic.
The Many Worlds interpretation of QM allows that an unlimited number of static, predetermined Einsteinian block universes exist, but which universe you are in can change at every moment.
Exactly this scenario is described in Bhagavad-gita, where Arjuna is shown "the Universal Form" - a vision of the Einsteinian block universe in which past, present, and future are all present and visible. He is told that the fate of his enemies is already sealed, but he has the free will to become the agent of that fate. The stage is set, the script is written, but the casting is open.
In this model predetermination and free will co-exist, as they do in a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure. All the paths are there, already written; but which one you are on can change.
The factors that influence the flow of a living entity through different paths (different universes == different fates) are discussed in Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita, and many other texts of Buddhist and Vedic-derivation.
I'm looking forward to the book that builds on Lanza's offering with a more detailed exposition of the relationship between relativity, QM, and consciousness; the insights available in Eastern philosophies, and the issues of fate and free will.
In some universes there will be a Joshua Wulf reading it. In others Joshua Wulf will be the writer. I wonder which one I will experience? (less)
Before reading this book, I had always thought of time as somehow real. But now I know it isn't. Whey you look at a distant star, you think you are seeing light millions of years old. This is only because the science, in the last hundred years or so, has told us so. But, quantum entanglement means that if I am on that distant star, and I am quantumly entangled with you, the reader, then things happen simultaneously. These two principles seem to violate each other. How can things be millions of light years apart but acting simultaneously? Here is a quote from Wikipedia:
"Like Einstein, Schrödinger was dissatisfied with the concept of entanglement, because it seemed to violate the speed limit on the transmission of information implicit in the theory of relativity.[16] Einstein later famously derided entanglement as "spukhafte Fernwirkung"[17] or "spooky action at a distance.""
But, as the observer knows, they are seeing the light from the stars now, as you look at that star, in the evening, in the sky, and hear the trees rustle around you. The time is now, not millions of years ago.
It is all a very clever illusion, and we are creating it with our completely lost-from-source minds. And we believe it to be "real" and out of our control. But it is we, the observer, who are out of control.
We need to become better observers. This book helps. (less)
"Like Einstein, Schrödinger was dissatisfied with the concept of entanglement, because it seemed to violate the speed limit on the transmission of information implicit in the theory of relativity.[16] Einstein later famously derided entanglement as "spukhafte Fernwirkung"[17] or "spooky action at a distance.""
But, as the observer knows, they are seeing the light from the stars now, as you look at that star, in the evening, in the sky, and hear the trees rustle around you. The time is now, not millions of years ago.
It is all a very clever illusion, and we are creating it with our completely lost-from-source minds. And we believe it to be "real" and out of our control. But it is we, the observer, who are out of control.
We need to become better observers. This book helps. (less)
I want all of my friends to read this so we can talk about it for hours. My only problem with this book was some questions he left answered (which did not compromise my rating because questions are not the same as criticism.) His premise is logically viable, it works very well with Bohm's hypothesis; however I would have enjoyed him exploring more of the various states of consciousness or even more of the neuroscience behind consciousness. I think it would have strengthened his argument if he was able to elaborate, for consciousness is not a static entity. Brain waves, for example: alpha, beta, theta, and delta, sleep, dreaming & altered states of consciousness that can come about through psychoactive drugs or meditation. Anyway, this was an amazing, horizon-expanding altered view of the universe. It annoyed me to read in some of the reviews that this was a philosophy book when he clearly used experiments and data from the literature to prove every point he made. It's like people skipped the intro, skimmed the first view paragraphs in each chapter and wrote it off as a new-age concept book written by a hippie.
If life exists because consciousness exists, that could be the "theory of everything" that physicists & philosophers alike have been looking for since man could "think, therefore I am." (less)
If life exists because consciousness exists, that could be the "theory of everything" that physicists & philosophers alike have been looking for since man could "think, therefore I am." (less)
Nov 24, 2010Linda Robinson rated it really liked it
Reading science/cosmology/metaphysical in combination makes me forget my name and all my passwords. But I zipped right through this book which leads me to believe that I am already on the path, or I totally don't get it. The book quotes a Zen saying, "Name the color, blind the eye," and perhaps putting a label to consciousness does the same to awareness. But the book addresses questions I have now. What was there before the Big Bang? What is the universe expanding into? Quantum physics doesn't answer. The answer cannot be nothing, because nothing is not model-based reality. Quantum physics is working on finding a Grand Unified Theory (GUT) that wraps all this up nicely. In waves or strings, or M-theory, or vintage jacquard ribbon? Superposition experiments now underway might reveal something. But what if, the authors of Biocentrism query, what if consciousness is what created it all? Suppose that external and internal are just language distinctions. Suppose time and space are constructs of our consciousness? (less)
Jan 14, 2020Dennis Venturoni rated it it was amazing
I bought this book a couple of years ago on a whim, and it forever changed how I look at the universe. Biocentrism is scientific theory mixed in with some philosophy and metaphysics. Lanza does a good balancing act, and his theories are compelling. The idea that physicists have had it exactly backward the past hundred-plus years, that the universe is in fact a construct of our own minds and cannot exist without us, not the other way around, is mindblowing. I think Lanza is onto something
Aug 09, 2012Kitap rated it it was ok
Recommended to Kitap by: Dr. Bryan Miller
Shelves: hinduism, library-public, buddhism, philosophy, science-physics, new-age, science-biology, science
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
May 28, 2011Jafar rated it it was ok · review of another edition
This book is a bunch of baloney. When I read The Master and His Emissary a few weeks ago, I complained that McGilchrist had written such a large tome to support his claim that I got lost putting it together. Lanza has gone to the other extreme. He’s making pretty much the biggest claim that anyone can make, i.e., explaining existence itself, and he’s put together a few chapters of hogwash to prove it. Lanza is not only sloppy in every aspect, he comes off totally smug and arrogant. You can almost read “Look, aren’t I a genius” between the lines. He’s inserted a few stories from his own personal life for no apparent reason but self-infatuation.
Lanza explicitly denies the reality of time and space. Implicitly, he also denies the existence of an objective reality outside ourselves. Nothing exists out there if there is no “consciousness” to observe it. He stays clear of defining this consciousness and explaining how it came about if nothing existed prior to it. What he offers in term of “scientific proof” is: a) the infamous double-slit experiment of quantum mechanics; b) the amazing fact that the constants of physics appear as if they’d been fine-tuned for the eventual emergence of starts and planets and life. As puzzling and inexplicable these two may be (there are theories and explanations), none of them can support Lanza’s claim by any stretch of imagination. The only chapter worth reading in the book is the one about the double-slit experiment and its different ingenious variations.
I should have taken Deepak Chopra’s endorsement of this book as a bad sign. Lanza plays defensive in the introduction and says that he’s not trying to prove any New Age philosophies (I have to give him credit for realizing that this would be quite bad for a book that claims to be scientific), but in the end what he says is not more than some New Age mumbo-jumbo about the universe being a single and continuous consciousness, etc. – all with the pretense of being scientific.
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Lanza explicitly denies the reality of time and space. Implicitly, he also denies the existence of an objective reality outside ourselves. Nothing exists out there if there is no “consciousness” to observe it. He stays clear of defining this consciousness and explaining how it came about if nothing existed prior to it. What he offers in term of “scientific proof” is: a) the infamous double-slit experiment of quantum mechanics; b) the amazing fact that the constants of physics appear as if they’d been fine-tuned for the eventual emergence of starts and planets and life. As puzzling and inexplicable these two may be (there are theories and explanations), none of them can support Lanza’s claim by any stretch of imagination. The only chapter worth reading in the book is the one about the double-slit experiment and its different ingenious variations.
I should have taken Deepak Chopra’s endorsement of this book as a bad sign. Lanza plays defensive in the introduction and says that he’s not trying to prove any New Age philosophies (I have to give him credit for realizing that this would be quite bad for a book that claims to be scientific), but in the end what he says is not more than some New Age mumbo-jumbo about the universe being a single and continuous consciousness, etc. – all with the pretense of being scientific.
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Jun 13, 2014Connor Adams rated it it was amazing
Robert Lanza steps forward to prompt a paradigm shift in the way we think. For those of us who have been waiting for science to finally tackle (Or at least tickle) the behemoth question of consciousness and produce a piece of literature that can practically influence us in a down to earth manner regarding our daily rituals, without boiling down reality to a mass of random stupidity; this is for you.
A wonderful, colourful read, striking the perfect balance between fact, story and wonder, leaving out all the 'spooky knowledge' that so taints previous explanations of the sorts.
Would recommend to all. (less)
A wonderful, colourful read, striking the perfect balance between fact, story and wonder, leaving out all the 'spooky knowledge' that so taints previous explanations of the sorts.
Would recommend to all. (less)
Mar 11, 2014Jeffrey Sylvester rated it it was amazing
“Biocentrism” by Robert Lanza and Robert Berman is excellent.
Lanza is an M.D., and advanced cell scientist, and Berman a famous astronomer. They propose that life creates the universe and not the other way around, and that biology should be the discipline used to develop a “theory of everything” that accounts for life and consciousness to better understand reality, being and the cosmos.
According to Lanza the physics model that Western science has employed has reached its limits in attempting to explain the age-old questions raised by philosophers and theologians regarding the cosmos, the origin of existence and consciousness.
Lanza challenges readers to question the claims of contemporary science such as where the Big Bang came from, the probability of our existence, and how consciousness arose from matter. Essentially Lanza makes the case that the more we know, the less we understand, and that answering the aforesaid questions requires a fundamental shift away from physics and toward biology. By extension, Lanza suggests the theory he proposes, Biocentrism, provides the answers physics cannot answer. Beyond offering the basis for a complete paradigm shift that opens new lines of investigation in physics and cosmology, Lanza suggests other researchers conduct “quantum superposition” experiments to either confirm or refute the theory.
Like any decent resource, Lanza spends much of his time declaring the limitations of what we know before proceeding with his proposed theory that could help close those gaps. For example, we now know that 96% of the universe is dark energy and dark matter but we have little idea of what those are or how they operate. We understand and guide our lives based on animal conceptions of time and space but both are illusory. We have academic fleets dedicated to brain science but the holes in the methodologies used to explain consciousness is never discussed (a problem particularly rife in behavioral ‘science’). We suggest that life was an incredibly improbable chance event when it is more probable the universe was fine-tuned to support life. We operate within the confines of human language and logic, and due to these limitations, are “constitutional materialists, hard-wired, designed, to think linearly”, always seeking sociological and scientific certainty upon which to base the order of our lives.
Much of biocentrism is explained through Lanza and Berman’s understandings of quantum theory and the bizarre relationships between subatomic particles. I have read several breakdowns of this theory by different scholars and felt Lanza’s was well explained. He also uses variations of the Anthropic Principle to support his arguments and ultimately concludes that consciousness must exist beyond our terrestrial realm, and that the content of our minds constitute “reality”, as humans throughout history have always suspected.
Structurally Lanza’s book is user-friendly, particularly at the end where Lanza breaks down “Answers to Basic Questions” and the different ways in which Classical Science, Western Religions and advocates of Biocentrism would respond. The dialogue he sets forth helps exemplify what Western science cannot know and what Biocentrism can provide in consideration of the gaps exposed.
I have also found fascinating how many scholars, building upon recent theoretical findings in physics, have concluded that these new theories increasingly support multi-universe, BiosLogos, and the Anthropic theories, the tenets of which line up with various aspects of millennia old Eastern religions.
5 stars out of 5 for Lanza and Berman!
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Lanza is an M.D., and advanced cell scientist, and Berman a famous astronomer. They propose that life creates the universe and not the other way around, and that biology should be the discipline used to develop a “theory of everything” that accounts for life and consciousness to better understand reality, being and the cosmos.
According to Lanza the physics model that Western science has employed has reached its limits in attempting to explain the age-old questions raised by philosophers and theologians regarding the cosmos, the origin of existence and consciousness.
Lanza challenges readers to question the claims of contemporary science such as where the Big Bang came from, the probability of our existence, and how consciousness arose from matter. Essentially Lanza makes the case that the more we know, the less we understand, and that answering the aforesaid questions requires a fundamental shift away from physics and toward biology. By extension, Lanza suggests the theory he proposes, Biocentrism, provides the answers physics cannot answer. Beyond offering the basis for a complete paradigm shift that opens new lines of investigation in physics and cosmology, Lanza suggests other researchers conduct “quantum superposition” experiments to either confirm or refute the theory.
Like any decent resource, Lanza spends much of his time declaring the limitations of what we know before proceeding with his proposed theory that could help close those gaps. For example, we now know that 96% of the universe is dark energy and dark matter but we have little idea of what those are or how they operate. We understand and guide our lives based on animal conceptions of time and space but both are illusory. We have academic fleets dedicated to brain science but the holes in the methodologies used to explain consciousness is never discussed (a problem particularly rife in behavioral ‘science’). We suggest that life was an incredibly improbable chance event when it is more probable the universe was fine-tuned to support life. We operate within the confines of human language and logic, and due to these limitations, are “constitutional materialists, hard-wired, designed, to think linearly”, always seeking sociological and scientific certainty upon which to base the order of our lives.
Much of biocentrism is explained through Lanza and Berman’s understandings of quantum theory and the bizarre relationships between subatomic particles. I have read several breakdowns of this theory by different scholars and felt Lanza’s was well explained. He also uses variations of the Anthropic Principle to support his arguments and ultimately concludes that consciousness must exist beyond our terrestrial realm, and that the content of our minds constitute “reality”, as humans throughout history have always suspected.
Structurally Lanza’s book is user-friendly, particularly at the end where Lanza breaks down “Answers to Basic Questions” and the different ways in which Classical Science, Western Religions and advocates of Biocentrism would respond. The dialogue he sets forth helps exemplify what Western science cannot know and what Biocentrism can provide in consideration of the gaps exposed.
I have also found fascinating how many scholars, building upon recent theoretical findings in physics, have concluded that these new theories increasingly support multi-universe, BiosLogos, and the Anthropic theories, the tenets of which line up with various aspects of millennia old Eastern religions.
5 stars out of 5 for Lanza and Berman!
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Jun 14, 2014Shane rated it really liked it
Brain successfully fried.
Jun 02, 2013Katelynd Rallo rated it really liked it
At first I thought these guys were full of it. Everything that they started to approach seemed common sense and to be already proven with psychology and philosophy which in my mind are not to be considered a "science". I decided it would be best to actually read the whole book before making a proper judgement.
As I read I realized the point. If you rated this book a low rating it's probably because you didn't get it. Trust me it took me a few times to read this just to grasp the concept fully.
I have always been on the side of science and never believed perception or consciousness were relevant when discussing the matters of the universe. I love science because there is always an answer and there are very few exceptions to the laws and theories we have developed over the course of human history. What makes this book special is it's ability to force the reader to realize their place. The only reason why anything exists is because we exist to perceive it.
I hate to admit it but psychology and philosophy may actually have a place in the world of science, something you would never catch me saying out loud. (less)
As I read I realized the point. If you rated this book a low rating it's probably because you didn't get it. Trust me it took me a few times to read this just to grasp the concept fully.
I have always been on the side of science and never believed perception or consciousness were relevant when discussing the matters of the universe. I love science because there is always an answer and there are very few exceptions to the laws and theories we have developed over the course of human history. What makes this book special is it's ability to force the reader to realize their place. The only reason why anything exists is because we exist to perceive it.
I hate to admit it but psychology and philosophy may actually have a place in the world of science, something you would never catch me saying out loud. (less)
Apr 15, 2010Julie rated it it was amazing
This book must be read twice! I am into my second read and the clarity is overwhelming. Lanza points out and illustrates the flaws in majorly accepted scientific theory about the universe and how it is, and offers up the only possible alternative in his theory of Biocentrism -- a universe that springs from life (the observer), instead of a universe that exists independently of life.
Oct 24, 2012Denise みか Hutchins rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: owned-physically, animals-nature-science
I purchased this book when I saw it mentioned on an episode of Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. It was presented there as an alternative to the preeminent string theory and I was enchanted by the idea. However, what I learned from this book ended up being so much more than that.
Not only does Biocentrism, the theory, do more than simply explain the strange behavior of quantum particles, Biocentrism, the book, was an excellent starting point for all kinds of scientific knowledge. I didn’t just learn about a new theory, I learned about the various scientific experiments and scientific theories that lead the authors to come to the Biocentrism conclusion. If ever I so choose, I can find my way to all that additional science through this book’s bibliography and expand my scientific knowledge even further. I think this is the main reason I LOVED reading this book: it didn’t just shove a new idea in my face and say, “There! Accept it!”, it took the time to explain itself and teach me new things along the way. The two main facets, learning the tenets of a new and wildly different scientific theory and learning about all the solid evidence that supports that theory, worked in harmony to make the whole book extremely readable and eternally fascinating.
Whether or not you end up convinced about this idea’s validity (I certainly am!), this is still an excellent book that sparks new ideas, can elicit extreme emotional response in its reader, is written in an easy style sprinkled with dry humor, and leads the reader to even more avenues of scientific exploration. My view of life and existence has been wholly altered by this book and I’m extremely glad I read it. (less)
Not only does Biocentrism, the theory, do more than simply explain the strange behavior of quantum particles, Biocentrism, the book, was an excellent starting point for all kinds of scientific knowledge. I didn’t just learn about a new theory, I learned about the various scientific experiments and scientific theories that lead the authors to come to the Biocentrism conclusion. If ever I so choose, I can find my way to all that additional science through this book’s bibliography and expand my scientific knowledge even further. I think this is the main reason I LOVED reading this book: it didn’t just shove a new idea in my face and say, “There! Accept it!”, it took the time to explain itself and teach me new things along the way. The two main facets, learning the tenets of a new and wildly different scientific theory and learning about all the solid evidence that supports that theory, worked in harmony to make the whole book extremely readable and eternally fascinating.
Whether or not you end up convinced about this idea’s validity (I certainly am!), this is still an excellent book that sparks new ideas, can elicit extreme emotional response in its reader, is written in an easy style sprinkled with dry humor, and leads the reader to even more avenues of scientific exploration. My view of life and existence has been wholly altered by this book and I’m extremely glad I read it. (less)
Sep 04, 2018Thomas rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
This book is fantastic. It presents a worldview entirely new to me, rooted in science and very exciting. Some of the science blew my mind. The only thing I still struggle with is other consciousness. Does reality exist where not you as the individual, but someone else sees it? How is consciousness tied to the individual? It probably isn't, because the book makes clear there are clear hints to a single consciousness (and no free will), but regardless, I'm still struggling with those questions. (less)
Jun 25, 2009Richard Pinnell rated it did not like it
The central theme of this book is that life creates the universe and that consciousness lies at the center of existence. This is not a new idea and there is absolutely nothing new in this book. Lanza draws on two main sources to back up this idea. The first is that consciousness appears to cause the wave function to collapse in the famous double slit experiment. The second concerns the anthropic principle and how it seems that universe is uncannily just right for life. Both of these 'proofs' are open to various interpretations including the possibility that consciousness does indeed lie at the center of creation. However, that is only one possible conclusion that can be drawn and Lanza adds absolutely zero to the debate. He uses his book to lambaste physics and physicists for such like as not being able to tell us what came before the big bang, whilst at the same time declaring consciousness to be the be all and end all of everything without actually defining what consciousness is or offering any sort of explanation of how it came into existence or how it creates the physical universe. On top of that much of the book contains sections that have absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter and concern nothing more than Lanza's own life experiences. He uses these chapters to butter his own biscuit, blast his own trumpet and bang his own drum interspersed with a bit of name dropping. The worst book I've read all year! (less)
May 04, 2015Neil Hayes rated it it was amazing
The central point of this book is that consciousness creates the universe, not the other way round. Although not a new insight, this compelling book is the best I have read to bring home the importance of this phenomenon, and the simplest explanation of the quantum physics behind it. Interweaved with the science is a charmingly personal account of some defining experiences in Lanza's life. A wonderful book, and to me a must-read for any student of the mind, the universe, or indeed practically anything. (less)
