Even in modern secular societies, there’s a persistent belief that death may not be the end of something resembling a conscious human experience. So what has kept the idea of an ‘afterlife’ churning throughout human history? Featuring insights from the frontiers of evolutionary psychology, philosophy and a healthy dose of gallows humour, this short from BBC Reel sets out to understand why, starting from a young age, we seem to be so eager to project consciousness beyond its apparent end. Further, the video investigates whether the contemporary notion that we could potentially upload our ‘selves’ to become immortal is based on science or is just another expression of our seemingly immortal desire to outlive death.
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Evolution
How – and how not – to think about the role randomness plays in evolution
60 minutes
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Meaning and the good life
A Japanese religious community makes an unlikely home in the mountains of Colorado
9 minutes
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Physics
The rhythms of a star system inspire a pianist’s transfixing performance
5 minutes
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Bioethics
Is it ethical to have a second child so that your first might live?
10 minutes
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Art
Watch as Japan’s surplus trees are transformed into forest-tinted crayons
4 minutes
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Meaning and the good life
‘Everydayness is the enemy’ – excerpts from the existentialist novel ‘The Moviegoer’
2 minutes
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Biology
A spectacular, close-up look at the starfish with a ‘hands-on’ approach to parenting
5 minutes
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Technology and the self
A filmmaker finds a tactile beauty in the creation of her prosthetic leg
11 minutes
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Knowledge
An Indigenous myth and a geological survey elicit two ways of knowing one place
4 minutes