Lawrence Krauss on Consciousness and the soul
Krauss dismisses the soul as a prescientific concept and argues that physics leaves no room for non-physical minds.
Krauss approaches the soul question as a physicist. He argues that the laws of physics underlying everyday life are completely understood, and they leave no room for an immaterial substance that interacts with the brain. If the soul influenced neural activity, it would violate conservation of energy — and no such violation has ever been detected.
He points to the success of neuroscience in explaining consciousness in terms of brain activity. Every aspect of consciousness that has been investigated — perception, memory, emotion, decision-making — has been found to depend on specific brain structures. Damage to the brain damages consciousness. Death of the brain ends it.
Krauss regards the persistence of belief in the soul as a failure of science education. The concept made sense before we understood neuroscience and physics, just as the concept of a flat earth made sense before we understood astronomy. It is a prescientific idea that should be retired.
“The laws of physics underlying everyday life are completely understood. And there is no room in those laws for a soul.”