A Burst of Conscious Light

Provides evidence that human consciousness can never be reproduced and exposes the perils of artificial intelligence • Explains how consciousness transcends the brain and body through quantum theory and accounts of consciousness in the clinically dead • Shares scientific evidence of how the image on the Shroud of Turin was produced and connects these findings to evidence concerning near-death experiences • Reveals how consciousness cannot be reproduced by a machine and how attempts to do so threaten what makes us human Stephen Hawking once said that the unanticipated consequences of artificial intelligence will be the greatest threat to humanity's survival. In this book, Dr. Andrew Silverman reveals why the powerful consciousness of the human mind could never be manufactured and so cannot be reproduced with technology. Integrating extensive scientific research from three seemingly unrelated fields of study--quantum mechanics, near-death experiences, and the Shroud of Turin--Silverman reveals the pitfalls and perils of artificial intelligence and addresses the fundamentally flawed thinking that underlies it. Drawing on his work as one of the leading experts on the Shroud of Turin as well as research by scientists from NASA and Los Alamos, he shows how the image on the Shroud could only have been produced by a flash of light as intense as a nuclear explosion--a burst of light that occurred after the body was in the tomb. Sharing medical evidence of consciousness in people declared clinically dead, the author shows how the light of consciousness evidenced by the Shroud is also a consistent feature of most near-death experiences. Exploring the non-local nature of consciousness--how it transcends the physical brain and body, Silverman explains why the human mind cannot be reduced to a computer and examines what separates sentient beings from machines. He shows how getting caught up in the push for artificial intelligence and the technological quest for immortality--through the attempt to “download” our minds onto computers--will only lead us to devalue and erase what makes us unique and irreplaceable in this cold, dark universe: our humanity.

Recognized as a leading scientific expert on the Shroud of Turin, Dr. Andrew Silverman is a medical doctor with a background in physics. For over thirty years, he has been conducting research on the mind-matter continuum, near-death experiences, and the Shroud. He has presented his findings in peer-reviewed scientific papers and at international scientific conferences. He lives in Buckinghamshire, England.

Foreword by Daniel Langsman Acknowledgments Author's Note on the Structure of This Book INTRODUCTION The Limitless Potential of Humanity 1 The Intriguing Cloth What Is the Shroud of Turin, and Why Is Its Image Still a Mystery? 2 How Did the Image Form? 3 Of Mind and Matter 4 The Universe and the Mind's “I” 5 The Origin of Separation What Are Space, Time, and Matter, and Why Do They Exist? 6 You Have No Beginning or End 7 The Clues on the Cloth 8 Existence beyond Time What Are We? 9 Here and Now A Time-Mind-Space-Matter Continuum 10 Five Points What I Am Not Saying! EPILOGUE Natural vs. Artificial APPENDIX Scientific Investigation of the Shroud Glossary References Bibliography Index