Why People Believe Weird Things

Immortality is scientifically unlikely.

In 1994, Frank J. Tipler released a book called The Physics of Immortality, which initially received a lot of attention. It might be tempting to believe we have proof that immortality is real, but Tipler’s pseudoscientific theory is untenable.

Tipler believed that by the far distant time when the universe collapsed on itself, humans would have invented a computer that could use the energy thrown up by that catastrophe to virtually recreate every human being from data stored in their memories. Mankind would be saved in a new virtual universe by a godlike computer.

Tipler’s book includes a scientific appendix where he tried to explain his theory with mathematical formulas, and suggested how sufficient scientific progress could be made. However, even if it is possible that his theory could come true, many rational arguments can be ranged against it.

The most important thing is that no one knows if all the prerequisites for building an all-knowing computer will ever be met. Science enables steady progress, but today we’re nowhere near building a computer with the power to store an almost infinite amount of information, and we don’t know if we’ll ever be.

Tipler’s theory also relies on many hypotheticals. The construction of his super computer lies far in the future, meaning many things need to occur in just the right way for it to happen. If one of these hypotheticals doesn’t occur just as Tipler predicts, the computer might not be constructed at all.

So, although it’s technically possible that the godlike computer will be built one day and we’ll all be reborn in eternity, at the moment Tipler’s theory is not coherent enough to be taken seriously.

. Clearly, creationism has nothing to do with scientific method or scientific research. In fact, it’s a complete rejection of the laws and conduct of science.