Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
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Lucas Oliveira
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Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by Lucas Oliveira »

BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - Best Evidence for Afterlife

http://www.bigelowinstitute.org/


Purpose of BICS Essay Competition

The purpose of the BICS essay awards is to raise the public awareness for the Survival of Human Consciousness topic and to stimulate research. The goal of the essay contest is to award contestants for writing papers that summarize the best evidence available for the survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death.

BICS intention is to provide a public service by:

1. Creating and implementing the essay contest
2. Publishing responsible information to the widest audience possible and, if all goes well, proceed to a possible second contest
3. BICS envisions the essays focus to be on scientific evidence as well as objective and subjective supported documentation as gathered

From special cases, including older cases, from very credible witnesses

From photographic or electronic data

From all available literature

From highly validated and authenticated human experiences

From other relevant sources

BICS has assembled a competent board of directors with deep experience in the topic to provide advice on the strategic direction and priorities of the Institute. The board of directors are: acclaimed journalist and author Leslie Kean, forensic neurologist Christopher C. Green MD PhD, theoretical physicist Harold Puthoff PhD, Brian Weiss MD who has lectured worldwide on survival of consciousness and associated topics, Rice University Professor of Philosophy and Religious Thought Jeffrey Kripal PhD, University of California Irvine Professor of Statistics Jessica Utts PhD, Anomalies Researcher and BICS Founder Robert T. Bigelow and Molecular Biologist and Anomalies Researcher Colm A. Kelleher PhD.


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Lucas Oliveira
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Re: Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by Lucas Oliveira »

Is there life after death? Businessman offers near-million dollar prize to find out
https://www.mysterywire.com/mysteries/b ... dies-bics/

featured in NY Times:
https://www.mysterywire.com/mysteries/b ... ork-times/

Robert Bigelow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bigelow


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coconut
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Re: Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by coconut »

According to DN 23, it's not possible to produce evidence of after life. One can only produce anecdotes (subjective), not evidence (objective). Someone can see for themselves, but they cannot produce objective evidence to show others. The closest thing to "evidence" in the suttas, is when the Buddha brings a flower from heaven to give to the fire ascetic leader, but that's not evidence of after-life, that's just evidence of another place.
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JamesTheGiant
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Re: Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by JamesTheGiant »

How fun! I'll be interested to read the essays. I already believe in rebirth but it's always interesting to see other perspectives on the topic.
(My auto-correct changes rebirth to reboot 😆)
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Re: Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by Spiny Norman »

Do I win anything for accounts of alien abduction? :tongue:
Buddha save me from new-agers!
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JamesTheGiant
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Re: Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by JamesTheGiant »

Spiny Norman wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 8:01 pm Do I win anything for accounts of alien abduction? :tongue:
I'd bet there is a prize offered somewhere, to give to anyone who can prove the existence of aliens. Did they leave any tools behind, when they probed you? :shock:
coconut
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Re: Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by coconut »

JamesTheGiant wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 9:58 pm
Spiny Norman wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 8:01 pm Do I win anything for accounts of alien abduction? :tongue:
I'd bet there is a prize offered somewhere, to give to anyone who can prove the existence of aliens. Did they leave any tools behind, when they probed you? :shock:
Well, apparently aliens will announce themselves to the world on july 8th or july 18th, so we can wait and see if that happens.
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JamesTheGiant
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Re: Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by JamesTheGiant »

coconut wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 10:31 pm Well, apparently aliens will announce themselves to the world on july 8th or july 18th, so we can wait and see if that happens.
I wonder if they'd have a Buddha in their world. Or similar.
I wish they'd come, humans might stop fighting each other so much.
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Re: Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by SarathW »

JamesTheGiant wrote: Wed Jan 27, 2021 4:52 am
coconut wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 10:31 pm Well, apparently aliens will announce themselves to the world on july 8th or july 18th, so we can wait and see if that happens.
I wonder if they'd have a Buddha in their world. Or similar.
I wish they'd come, humans might stop fighting each other so much.
Then we have to fight with the aliens.
So back to square one.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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Re: Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by coconut »

JamesTheGiant wrote: Wed Jan 27, 2021 4:52 am
coconut wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 10:31 pm Well, apparently aliens will announce themselves to the world on july 8th or july 18th, so we can wait and see if that happens.
I wonder if they'd have a Buddha in their world. Or similar.
I wish they'd come, humans might stop fighting each other so much.
Well the theory is, is that they're inter-dimensional, as the FBI archives say they're from different lokas (planes), and that they only come here and interfere when humans do nuclear testing.

And the guy who gave the july 8th-18th, 2021 date, he gave it 7 years ago, he said it's because humans are misusing technology and the aliens need to step in. He said this 7 years ago. And a few government authorities confirmed it.

So aliens, if they are real, apparently interfere when humans do bad things with our tech.

and here's ven varados excerpt on aliens

Each universe has only one earth, one sun, and one moon. Therefore seekers of extra-terrestrial life will need to search outside our universe, not within it: tasmiṃ sahassadhā loke sahassaṃ candānaṃ sahassaṃ suriyānaṃ sahassaṃ (A.5.59).

In each thousandfold multi-universe system Mahābrahmā ranks as foremost: yāvatā bhikkhave sahassīlokadhātu mahābrahmā tattha aggamakkhāyati (A.5.59). The prefix Mahā- is insignificant, because Mahābrahmā and Brahmā are interchangeable. Therefore at present there is apparently space for just ten Brahmās. Paccekabrahmās (e.g. S.1.146) are perhaps Brahmās without multi-universe system sovereignty.
So who knows, wait and see I guess
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Re: Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by SteRo »

There is a difference between "essays" and "evidence". So what are they looking for? The best persuasion or evidence?

The Dalai Lama is an expert in persuasion for some folks but he certainly is a failure in terms of evidence. Maybe they should contact him or consider transcripts of his teachings.
Cleared. αδόξαστος.
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Assaji
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Re: Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by Assaji »

SteRo wrote: Wed Jan 27, 2021 12:04 pm There is a difference between "essays" and "evidence". So what are they looking for? The best persuasion or evidence?
He is mostly talking about "evidence" in a legal sense - accounts of eyewitnesses, etc. So far, mainstream science hasn't much to offer in terms of validation of non-material phenomena, so he has not much choice.

IMHO the money would be better spent on developing the methodology of "first-person" validation, researched by Francisco Varela.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/do ... 1&type=pdf

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.10 ... 15743-2_18
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Lucas Oliveira
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Re: Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by Lucas Oliveira »

Near-Death Experiences

Evidence for Their Reality

by Jeff rey Long, MD

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl ... _p0372.pdf
NDERF is the largest NDE site in the world, with over 4,000 experiences in more than 23 languages!
https://www.nderf.org/

Review of "Evidence of the Afterlife"
http://neardth.com/evidence-of-the-afterlife.php

The Nine Lines of Evidence
http://www.newdualism.org/nde-papers/Lo ... 2--1-2.pdf

Exceptional Experiences
https://www.nderf.org/Archives/exceptional.html
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confusedlayman
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Re: Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by confusedlayman »

do they accept mathematical formula or theoretical answer like e=mc2
I may be slow learner but im at least learning...
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Re: Best Evidence for Afterlife - BICS ESSAY COMPETITION - $ 500,000 Prize

Post by salayatananirodha »

i dont rely on personal accounts or evidence to verify rebirth. its almost purely my conviction in the dhamma and the thorough explanation of how it operates. grasping --> existence --> birth
I host a sutta discussion via Zoom Sundays at 11AM Chicago time — message me if you are interested
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