Cox is one of those science celebs. Anyway, this is what he says:
The popstar-turned-scientist appeared on the Joe Rogan Podcast where he discussed the idea of humans having souls, among other topics.
In his estimate, there is no observable force – the soul – that interacts with the human body at the subatomic level.
If such a force existed within us, it would strongly react with the particles our bodies are made of.
Instead, physicists have so far only observed four fundamental forces governing this world – gravity, the weak and strong nuclear force, and electromagnetism.
None of these forces could explain the concept of a soul trapped inside the body.
Sebastian Kettley, “Life after death: Brian Cox says physics ‘ruled out’ the human soul at particle level” at Express
It’s hard to know how to deal with such fundamental ignorance.
This is more what spiritual reality is like: A man in his nineties once got a message from beyond this world. It was pure information, not particles:
Circumstances prevented me visiting my father one Friday in January. But I received a phone call that evening from his closest sister, about 93, who lives in an old-age home in a midwestern city.
She told me that after sixty years of practical atheism, anti-Catholicism, and anti-Christianity, Dad wanted to be reconciled to the Church. He had a dream, she said. His parents appeared and were calling him, urging this course on him, so that he could one day join them in glory. He told her he hoped that I, as a Catholic, could help.
Unlike some family members, I did not think his wish proceeded from an addled mind. I recognized its source instinctively. He wanted someone from heaven to forgive him, someone whose word he need never doubt.
Denyse O’Leary, “There is a country for old men” at Catholic Education
And it happened. He had a strong, a perfect plea.
Particles don’t do that to people.
Note: I (O’Leary for News) should add that that man completely changed his behaviour around health care staff and became rather a favourite with them. When he died in Ottawa in 2018 (he was 99 and had had a stroke), staff members were weeping and hugging his relatives for comfort. So, whatever happened there when he declared “My sins have been forgiven” was certainly real, however you want to interpret it.
Hat tip: Ken Francis, co-author with Theodore Dalrymple of The Terror of Existence: From Ecclesiastes to Theatre of the Absurd