Review of the book by David Fontana is there an afterlife?

There's a review of the book by David Fontana is there an afterlife?

http://www.accampbell.uklinux.net/bookreviews/r/fontana.html

Apparently the reviewer believes that the evidence from neuroscience strongly supports the view of extinction he said it's not the final answer he believes. He seems to have no knowledge about the transmission theory if he did then he would realize the evidence of dependency of the mind on the brain can be explained that way too and if psi exists which it appears he never heard of either would show that the mind probably survives death.


He mentions here

As with other reviews of the evidence for survival, this one leaves the reader (this reader, anyway) feeling baffled. The whole weight of modern neuroscience makes survival all but inconceivable

It does? what about the transmission theory that can also accommodate all the evidence for the complete dependency of the mind on the brain?

For example using the television analogy

The vulnerability of consciousness to anesthetics, to caffeine, and to something as simple as a sharp blow to the head, shows its very close dependence on neural activity in the brain.

Damaging the circuitry of a TV set will impair its ability to display an image, but the TV signal is unaffected.

>As brain complexity increases, mental abilities also increase

Why? Because the brain can decode the signal with greater efficacy. To vary the analogy, a powerful radio can pick up more signals than a weak radio. Or to return to TV, a cable-ready TV can pick up more channels than one that is not cable-ready.

>Brain complexity, then, causes mental ability.

Correlation is not causality. Brain complexity is directly proportional to mental ability, but is this complexity necessary to produce consciousness or to receive and decode consciousness?

More information on the transmission theory vs. materialist theories of the mind and brain

can be found here

http://www.survivalafterdeath.org/articles/carter/consciousness.htm - Does Consciousness depend on the Brain?

http://www.survivalafterdeath.org/articles/hart/consciousness.htm - Can Consciousness Survive Destruction of the Brain?

http://www.esalenctr.org/display/confpage.cfm?confid=9&pageid=86&pgtype=1 - Transmission Theory of Consciousness