I've been reading about Paul Davies using the thought experiments about "Maxwell's Demon" sorting atoms in a gas into high- and low-temperature bins, to extrapolate how some biological systems seem to bootstrap their way from lower information content to higher.
Along the way, I've come across various arguable talking points. One is that Maxwell's Demon is a paradox, because the Second Law of Thermodynamics is violated.
More recent scientific explanations say that this is not so, because the demon has to occasionally clear its memory of previous information about the atoms in the gas.
Ignored in both cases is that a demon is a supernatural being, and probably continually maintains part of its existence outside of our physical universe--since everyone assumes that the energy expended by the demon is "free", and that it doesn't require any physical food.
Likewise, one cannot assume that it keeps its brain entirely within our physical universe, and that its memory is as finite as ours.
In the same way, for Schrodinger's Cat to be in the binary state of Dead/Not Dead, you have to ignore most of what physically happens at death, and all of the spiritual transition (whatever that may or may not entail for a cat) as well.
This song is haunting, although not directly applicable to my personal experience.
There's an interesting semi-parallel in Revelation 7:17 and 8:1:
"...and God shall wipe all tears from their eyes. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour."
Some years back there were some public comments from famous authors about the Susan in the Narnia books not being present for the Final Battle and what followed. It was framed as bigotry against women and people of average morals.
Neil Gaiman's came in the form of a short story, "The Problem of Susan," which from an excerpt I found is apparently quite vile.
Gaiman has fallen out of public favor as allegations against him have begun to surface.
Two other authors were J. K. Rowling, who ought to know better, and Phillip Pullman, who also writes vile stories, I've been told.
Pastor Douglas Wilson has a lucid, sensitive, and rather long rebuttal to the Problem of Susan; link below.
My own, lesser contribution here, is that C. S. Lewis was a fan of George MacDonald, and MacDonald wrote some vivid portrayals of spiritual devolution. In The Princess and Curdie, Curdie was given the ability to discern which beast a person's moral character was descending into by holding their hand. In ...
