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Book Spotlight: Biocentrism

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

"One of the most interesting books to cross my desk this summer was Biocentrism, written by Dr. Robert Lanza, who is probably best known for his groundbreaking work with stem cells. The book is an out-and-out challenge to modern physics. I found the attack on physics to be pretty compelling"
—Eric Berger, Science Editor at the HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe

Biocentrism takes you 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. It will shatter your ideas of life-time and space, and even death…you will never see reality the same again.

"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… Most importantly, it makes you think."
—Nobel Prize Winner E. Donnall Thomas

Beyond Biocentrism: Rethinking Time, Space, Consciousness, and the Illusion of Death

"Beyond Biocentrism is an enlightening and fascinating journey that will forever alter your understanding of your own existence."
—Deepak Chopra

"Beyond Biocentrism is a joyride through the history of science and cutting-edge physics, all with a very serious purpose: to find the long-overlooked connection between the conscious self and the universe around us."
—Corey Powell, ex editor-in-chief, Discover magazine

"Will machines ever achieve consciousness? Are plants aware? Is death an illusion? These are some of the big questions tackled in Beyond Biocentrism, which serves up a new, biology-based theory of everything that is as delightful to read as it is fascinating."
—Pamela Weintraub, ex editor-in-chief of OMNI Magazine

The Grand Biocentric Design: How Life Creates Reality

What is consciousness? Why are we here? Where did it all come from? Humans have been asking these questions forever, but science hasn't succeeded in providing many answers – until now. In The Grand Biocentric Design, Robert Lanza, one of Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People," is joined by theoretical physicist Matej Pavsic to shed light on the big picture that has long eluded philosophers and scientists alike.

"quite thrilling ... its notions are exciting ones, and they do a sound job of linking them to observable, replicable experiments. Fans of revolutionary science—or just big, cerebral questions—will enjoy this ambitious work. A thought-provoking dispatch from the frontier of physics."
—Kirkus Reviews

"a masterpiece"
—Anthony Atala, W. Boyce Professor, Wake Forest University

"paradigm-shattering"
—Lucian Del Priore, Robert R. Young Professor, Yale University

"It's fabulous—I couldn't put it down!"
—Ralph Levinson, Professor Emeritus, UCLA

"Robert Lanza is one of the most creative and brilliant scientists I have ever known"
—Kwang-Soo Kim, Professor, Harvard University

Lanza's new paper published in leading physics journal

Observers determine the structure of spacetime itself

The paper—published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (one of the world's leading journals in cosmology & astrophysics, covering the latest developments and breakthroughs including Stephen Hawking's groundbreaking work on the evolution of the early universe)—was co-authored with Dmitriy Podolskiy and Andrei Barvinsky, one of the world's leading theorists in quantum gravity & quantum cosmology. The paper shows that networks of observers define the structure of physical reality/spacetime itself. In particular, it reveals the exasperating incompatibility between Einstein's general relativity and quantum mechanics vanishes if one takes the properties of observers—us—into account. The study also represents a rare case in physics when the presence of observers drastically changes the behavior of observable quantities themselves not only at microscopic scales but also at very large spatio-temporal scales. Observers determine the value of both the gravitational constant and the effective cosmological constant.

JCAP paper [Read More]
Big Think [Read More]

Book trailer for Lanza's new novel with award-winning author Nancy Kress

If we can alter the structure of reality, should we?

OBSERVER takes you on a mind-expanding journey to the very edges of science. It will thrill you, inspire you, and lead you to think about life and the power of the imagination in startling new ways.

"Robert Lanza is one of the most exciting thinkers of our time, and his novel, OBSERVER, is a thrilling exploration of his most daring theories, a thought-provoking page-turner that asks the most profound question of our existence—what is our role in the true nature of reality?"—Blake Crouch, New York Times bestselling author.

"Robert Lanza has taken the gigantic step of incorporating his ideas into a science fiction novel with Nancy Kress …brilliant…a riveting and moving story."—Rhonda Byrne, #1 New York Times bestselling author.

"A startling, fascinating novel."—Kim Stanley Robinson, New York Times bestselling author.

The Grand Biocentric Design

How Life Creates Reality

"a masterpiece"—Anthony Atala, W. Boyce Professor, Wake Forest University

"paradigm-shattering"―Lucian Del Priore, Robert R. Young Professor, Yale University

"It's fabulous—I couldn't put it down!" —Ralph Levinson, Professor Emeritus, UCLA

"Robert Lanza is one of the most creative and brilliant scientists I have ever known"—Kwang-Soo Kim, Professor, Harvard University

Reception to Biocentrism by Scientists & Scholars

"… 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

From physicist Scott M. Tyson's book The Unobservable Universe

"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."

Robert Lanza Worked (and Published Scientific Papers) with Some of the Greatest Scientists of the 20th Century

Professor Christiaan Barnard

Performed the World's First Heart Transplant

New England Journal of Medicine 307; 1275 (1982) Lanza (with Barnard & Cooper)
JAMA 249; 1746 (1983) Lanza (with Barnard, Cooper & Cassidy)
American Heart Journal 107; 8 (1984) Lanza (with Barnard, Cooper & Boyd)

Dr. Jonas Salk

Developed the Polio Vaccine

J. Supramol. Struct 182;33 (1979) Lanza (with Salk)

Professor B.F. Skinner

Most Influential Psychologist of All Time —American Psychological Association

SCIENCE 207; 543 (1980) Lanza (with Skinner & Epstein)
SCIENCE 212; 695 (1981) Lanza (with Skinner & Epstein)
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 38; 201 (1982) Lanza (with Skinner & Starr)

Professor Rodney Porter

Recipient of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology

Lanza worked with Porter at Oxford University in 1977

Dr. Gerald Edelman

Nobel-winner was "The Father of Modern Immunology"

Lanza worked with Edelman at Rockefeller University in 1976

U.S. News & World Report Cover Story

"…his mentors described him [Lanza] as a "genius," a "renegade" thinker, even likening him to Einstein."

"Robert Lanza is the living embodiment of the character played by Matt Damon in the movie Good Will Hunting. Growing up underprivileged in Stoughton, Mass., south of Boston, the young preteen caught the attention of Harvard Medical School researchers when he showed up on the university steps having successfully altered the genetics of chickens in his basement. Over the next decade, he was to be "discovered" and 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."

Robert Lanza on Huffington Post

THE BIG QUESTIONS

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.

TIME AND DEATH

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.

GOD

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.

THE UNIVERSE

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."

MISCELLANEOUS

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 allnatural 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.