NDE Reports
388 reports. The question isn't whether NDEs are real — it's whether reporting timing is.
Decision Chain: NDE
Ingest NDERF reports with day-level timestamps. 388 reports from the Near Death Experience Research Foundation.
388 reports ingested. Day-level precision.
Fit a self-exciting point process. Measures how much of the reporting pattern is contagion vs. independent.
Branching ratio 0.629. Half-life 69 days. 90 independent, 298 triggered.
The 69-day half-life matches book publication and media interview cycles. People report NDEs after seeing them discussed.
69-day half-life aligns with book/documentary/media cycles. Submission timing is media-driven.
Submission timing is media-driven — experiences may still be real
The Hawkes process reveals that WHEN people report NDEs is driven by media waves — book releases, documentaries, news coverage. The 69-day half-life matches publishing cycles. This does not mean NDEs aren't real. It means the act of filing a report on NDERF is prompted by media exposure. 23.2% of reports are genuinely independent of this media cycle, suggesting some people report regardless of external prompting.