Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe
by
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.
(less)
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.
(less)
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!
(less)
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!
(less)
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)
