We go to and fro our little affairs on an insignificant little planet orbiting an insignificant little sun. Scientists tell us that the universe doesn’t care if we—the little creatures who inhabit this earth—are alive or dead. But there’s a problem with this view—a big problem.
BIOCENTRISM
How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe
“Any short statement does not do justice to such a scholarly work.”
Nobel Prize Winner E. Donnall Thomas, referring to Lanza’s A New Theory of the Universe
BEYOND BIOCENTRISM
Rethinking Time, Space, Consciousness, and the Illusion of Death
Biocentrism shocked the world with a radical rethinking of the nature of reality … but that was just the beginning.
The Biocentric Universe Theory: Stem-cell guru Robert Lanza presents a radical new view of the universe and everything in it.
Discover Magazine
A New Theory of the Universe: Biocentrism builds on quantum physics by adding life to the equation.
The American Scholar
A new theory asserts that biology, not physics, will be the key to unlocking the deepest mysteries of the universe.
WIRED.com
The quest to unify all of physics into a “the theory of everything” has inspired a host of ideas. Now a pioneer in the field of stem cell research has weighed in with an essay that brings biology and consciousness into the mix.
MSNBC.com Cosmic Log
How biology is central to constructing a more complete and unified theory of the Universe
The Scientist
“… Robert Lanza’s work is a wake-up call to all of us”
—David Thompson, Astrophysicist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
“The heart of [biocentrism], collectively, is correct…So what Lanza says in this book is not new. Then why does Robert have to say it at all? It is because we, the physicists, do NOT say it–or if we do say it, we only whisper it, and in private–furiously blushing as we mouth the words. True, yes; politically correct, hell no! Bless Robert Lanza for creating this book, and bless Bob Berman for not dissuading friend Robert from going ahead with it…Lanza’s remarkable personal story is woven into the book, and is uplifting. You should enjoy this book, and it should help you on your personal journey to understanding.”
—Richard Conn Henry, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University
“It is genuinely an exciting piece of work…and coheres with some of the things biology and neuroscience are telling us about the structures of our being. Just as we now know that the sun doesn’t really move but we do (we are the active agents), so it is suggesting that we are the entities that give meaning to the particular configuration of all possible outcomes we call reality.”
—Ronald Green, Eunice & Julian Cohen Professor and Director, Ethics Institute, Dartmouth College
“[Biocentrism] takes into account all the knowledge we have gained over the last few centuries…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, renowned scientist, W.H. Boyce Professor, Chair, and Director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
“Having interviewed some of the most brilliant minds in the scientific world, I found Dr. Robert Lanza’s insights into the nature of consciousness original and exciting. His theory of biocentrism is consistent with the most ancient traditions of the world which say that consciousness conceives, governs, and becomes a physical world.”
—Deepak Chopra, Bestselling Author, one of the top heroes and icons of the century
“It’s a masterpiece…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…Bravo”
—Michael Lysaght, Professor and Director, Center for Biomedical Engineering, Brown University
“Now that I have spent a fair amount of time the last few months doing a bit of writing, reading and thinking about this, and enjoying it and watching it come into better focus, And as I go deeper into my Zen practice, And as I am about half way through re-reading Biocentrism, My conclusion about the book Biocentrism is: Holy shit, that’s a really great book!
—Ralph Levinson, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
“I downloaded a digital copy of [Biocentrism] in the privacy of my home, where no one could observe my buying or reading such a “New Agey” sort of cosmology book. Now, mind you, my motivation was not all that pure. It was my intention to read the book so I could more effectively refute it like a dedicated physicist was expected to. I consider myself to be firmly and exclusively entrenched in the cosmology camp embodied by the likes of Stephen Hawking, Lisa Randall, Brain Greene, and Edward Witten. After all, you know what Julius Caesar said: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” I needed to know what the other camps were thinking so I could better defend my position. It became necessary to penetrate the biocentrism camp.
The book had the completely opposite effect on me. The views that Dr. Lanza presented in this book changed my thinking in ways from which there could never be retreat. Before I had actually finished reading the book, it was abundantly obvious to me that Dr. Lanza’s writings provided me with the pieces of perspective that I had been desperately seeking. Everything I had learned and everything I thought I knew just exploded in my mind and, as possibilities first erupted and then settled down, a completely new understanding emerged. The information I had accumulated in my mind hadn’t changed, but the way I viewed it did— in a really big way.”
Work with B.F. Skinner
The Father of Modern Behaviorism
SCIENCE 207; 543 (1980)
Lanza (with Skinner & Epstein)
Work with Christiaan Barnard
Performed the World’s First Heart Transplant
New England Journal of Medicine 307; 1275 (1983)
Lanza (with Barnard & Cooper)
JAMA 249; 1746 (1983)
Lanza (with Barnard, Cooper & Cassidy)
American Heart Journal 107; 8 (1984)
Lanza (with Barnard, Cooper & Boyd)
Robert Lanza featured on Barbara Walter’s
ABC Special “Live to be 150. Can you do it?”
Robert Lanza is an American Doctor of Medicine, scientist, Chief Scientific Officer of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) and Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
I spent a couple of years rolling pennies and eating canned spinach and pasta while I tried to understand the universe.
“…his mentors described him [Lanza] as a “genius,” a “renegade” thinker, even likening him to Einstein.”
Who Are We?
We’re taught that the universe can be fundamentally divided into two entities: ourselves and that which is outside of us. But you’re not an object — if you divorce one side of the equation from the other you cease to exist.
Why Do We Exist?
What sustains us in and above the void of nothingness? We can’t see the laws that uphold the world, and that if they be removed the Universe would collapse to nothing.
What Are We?
New experiments suggest part of us exists outside of the physical world. We assume there’s a universe “out there” separate from what we are, and that we play no role in its appearance. Yet experiments show just the opposite.
Is Death the End?
Experiments suggest we create time, not the other way around. Life is just one fragment of time, one brushstroke in a picture larger than ourselves, eternal even when we die.
Five Reasons You Won’t Die
A long list of scientific experiments suggests our belief in death is based on a false premise. This article provides five compelling reasons why you won’t die.
Life Is Forever
Experiments suggest life cannot be destroyed. According to Biocentrism, consciousness can’t be extinguished in a timeless, spaceless world.
Do You Only Live Once?
Life is a flowering and adventure that transcends our ordinary linear way of thinking, an interlude in a melody so vast and eternal that human ears can’t appreciate the tonal range of the symphony.
Why You Will Always Exist
Can life really be reduced to the laws of physics, or are we part of something more noble and triumphant?
Why You’re Alive And Can Never Die
The contemplation of time and the discoveries of modern science suggest that the mind is the ultimate reality, paramount and limitless.
World May Be Influenced By The Future
An amazing set of experiments suggest that events in the future may influence things happening in the world now. The past, present and future are inseparably entangled.
Is This All We Are, Is There Nothing More?
Why out of all of existence do you get to be, say, just a plumber or a hairdresser — followed by nothingness for the rest of eternity.
What Is It Like After You Die?
The mystery of life and death cannot be examined by visiting the Galapagos or looking through a microscope. Even Einstein realized this isn’t the case.
Judgement Day is Coming
We suppose ourselves to be a pond; and if there is any justice, it must approach upon these shores. But there are consequences to our actions that transcend our ordinary, classical way of thinking.
Is There A God Or Is There Nothingness?
Ideally, our concepts of nature and God should adapt to our evolving scientific knowledge. Relative to the supreme creator, we humans would be much like the microorganisms we scrutinize under the microscope.
Can Science Resurrect God?
What happens if we project our current scientific knowledge into the future? A new scenario suggests the evolution of a new concept of God.
Biocentrism And The Existence of God
All human knowledge is relational. “Discordant opinions,” said Emerson “are reconciled by being seen to be two extremes of one principle.”
Religion vs. Science’s Answers to the Big Questions
Both science and religion appear to be honing in on a deeper reality, one totally ignored by most people until now.
Did An Outside Entity Create The Universe?
It appears increasingly likely that our universe is not a closed system and that science may not be playing with a full deck.
Biocentrism – The New Face Of The Cosmos
Biocentrism unlocks the cage Western science has unwittingly confined itself. By allowing the observer into the equation opens new approaches to understanding everything from the tiny world of the atom to our views of life and death.
Where Did The Universe Come From?
We take physics as a kind of magic and think everything just popped into existence one day out of nothingness. But we’re living through a profound shift in worldview, from the belief that life is an insignificant part of the physical universe, to one in which we’re the origin.
Anything Beyond the Universe?
We’re about to be broadsided by the most explosive event in history. But it won’t be rockets that take us the next step. Sometime in the future science life will finally figure out how to escape from its corporeal cage.
Did Einstein Set Science Back 100 Years?
Einstein believed he could build from one side of nature — the physical, without the other side — the living. But he was a physicist, and as such, missed what was outside his window.
Could This Theory Provide a Glimpse of Our Ultimate Destiny?
Evolutionary biology suggests life has progressed from a one dimensional reality, to two dimensions to three dimensions, and there’s no reason to think the evolution of life stops there.
What Happened Before Creation?
Everyone knows that something is screwy with the way we visualize the cosmos. Theories of its origins screech to a halt when they reach the very event of interest — the moment of creation, the “Big Bang.”
Are Dreams An Extension Of Physical Reality?
We dismiss dreams because they end when we wake up. But whether awake or dreaming, you’re experiencing the same bio-physical process.
Have Aliens Left The Universe?
In Star Wars, the bars are bustling with alien creatures. But where are they all? Despite half a century of scanning the sky, astronomers have failed to find any evidence of life.
Are We Part Of A Single Living Organism?
If we could see before the first single-cell organism, and after the last man and woman, only you would remain — you, the Great Face behind, that consciousness whose mode of thinking that contains the world.
The Eight Secrets of Life
Where did it all come from? Why are we here? Switching our perspective from physics to biology undoes some of the biggest “facts” we’ve been taught about the world.
Rethinking The Nature Of Life
Life is more than just the dance of atoms described in our science textbooks. We’re all ephemeral forms of an individuality greater than ourselves, eternal even when we die.
Can A Tree Consciously Experience The World?
We think of time and consciousness in human terms. But like us, plants possess receptors, microtubules and sophisticated intercellular systems that likely facilitate a degree of spatio-temporal consciousness.
What Is Happiness?
Did you ever wonder why people like Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson didn’t fare any better than you or I despite all their money, fame, and access to people of wisdom? The answer lies in your own backyard.
Can Objects And Machines Be Made To Think?
It seems natural that someday we’ll make machines that’ll think and act like people. However, for a machine or computer there’s no other principle but physic, and the chemistry of the atoms that compose it.
