The Immortality Project
Professor John Fischer of UC Riverside was given five million dollars to answer life’s biggest question, “where do we go after we die?”.
The Immortality Project, funded by the Templeton Foundation, will explore the possibility of living forever or life after death.
Fischer will select a group of scientists to conduct scientific, cultural and spiritual studies. For example, hooking subjects up to virtual reality devices to experience a simulated death. After, they will be questioned on what they experienced.
Studies will also make cross-cultural comparisons of varying views of after life or of heaven. For example, the western culture is known to see a light at the end of the tunnel, while the Japanese have reported seeing a rock garden.
“If free will is so important in real life, why isn’t there free will in heaven? These are the kind of questions we are going to attempt to answer”, said Fischer.
The purpose of the project is to bring clarity to society about the possibilities of afterlife. The results will be published in 2015.