All that matters is the traffic.

For science, death is a multi-organ failure with molecular degeneration. For philosophy, consciousness transcends and nothing disappears as long as it is remembered. For the taxi driver, all that matters is that the traffic keeps moving.

There are questions you don't expect to solve at a bar counter. Death is one of them. But if you ask with enough insistence, everyone answers from their own trade. And the contrast between the answers says more about the one asking than the one answering.

## Death as multi-organ failure

A scientist is clear about it: death is a physical process. Cells stop reproducing, oxygen stops reaching the blood and the organs stop working one after another. The body stops responding to vital signs and molecular degeneration sets in. In the end, only bones are left.

There is no room for metaphor here. It is a multi-organ failure, measurable and observable. The person disappears entirely in biological terms. What remains is inert matter.

## Consciousness that transcends, according to the philosopher

The philosopher won't settle for biology. He asks whether matter is res extensa or has limits, and how long it has been there. His answer: things mutate and transform, but ideas about them endure.

Consciousness, therefore, transcends this existential plane. Nothing disappears as long as it is remembered. And since those memories are immanent, they never quite vanish. It is a borrowed immortality, one that depends on the memory of the living.

## The priest, repentance and the kingdom of heaven

The priest doesn't get into disquisitions about matter or consciousness. His answer is practical: you must purify your sins to be at peace with God. It is the only way to enter the kingdom of heaven.

So you'd better repent sooner rather than later. From this point of view, death is neither a physical process nor a philosophical problem. It is a deadline. And like any deadline, it can only be extended if you meet the requirements.

## The taxi driver and the fine for obstructing traffic

The taxi driver contributes the only direct experience. Once he drove past a body wrapped in something like aluminium foil. It looked like a mortadella sandwich, though it wasn't slim enough to be a durum nor small enough to be an ordinary sandwich. Next to it was a shoe. The deceased must have had big feet, because placed beside it, the shoe looked like a coffin.

He was left wondering whether he should say a prayer facing Mecca, whether an Our Father would be enough, which way the thing was facing. He didn't know. What he did know is that the officer standing nearby fined him for obstructing traffic. So, come what may, all that matters is that the traffic keeps moving.