According to a certain scholar in One Piece, the human soul weighs about 21 grams. Here’s the hidden significance behind that specific number.
One Piece Chapter 1072, “The Weight of Memory,” dealt a lot with the idea of weighing the metaphysical. This included things like pain, mental images, and, of course, memories. However, Dr. Vegapunk brought up one particularly important example.
He mentioned that the weight of a human soul was approximately 21 grams. At the very least, this was the theory put forth by a scholar from West Blue. What makes this measurement important, however, is that it’s a reference to a real-world experiment based on measuring human souls.
Where Does the Idea of the Soul Weighing 21 Grams Come From?
The 21 grams experiment was conducted by Duncan MacDougall at the beginning of the 20th century. The physician hypothesized that the human soul had a weight to it and conducted an experiment to figure out just what that weight was. He took six patients at death’s door and weighed each of them at the moment of death. One such patient notably lost three-quarters of an ounce, which comes out to 21.3 grams.
Unfortunately for MacDougall, the scientific community didn’t agree with his assessment. They pointed out several flaws with his limited sample size and flawed methods. He also based his conclusion on one of six patients, and even that patient’s weight loss could arguably be explained scientifically. In the end, the 21 grams experiment became a prime example of selective reporting.
Despite the incredulity surrounding MacDougall’s experiment, it gained popularity due to its concept. The idea of a soul having weight had a sort of romanticism to it, which is probably why MacDougal’s proposed weight of 21 grams has been used so often in popular culture. It’s been featured in all sorts of songs, novels, and TV shows. In the world of anime, the soul weighing 21 grams has also been referenced in Gantz and Empire of Corpses. Since most of these are works of fiction, fantasy, and sci-fi, it’s reasonable to assume that there is a soul and it does weigh 21 grams in their stories.
In One Piece’s case, it’s reasonable to believe that there is a soul. However, most of the known means of interacting with or quantifying something as paranormal as a soul can only be performed with the fantastical abilities of a Devil Fruit; such abilities include those of the Soul-Soul Fruit, the Revive-Revive Fruit, and, presumably, the Paw-Paw Fruit. Unless the West Blue scholar had access to such a Devil Fruit power, they may have instead relied on MacDougall’s flawed method. For all anyone knows, that scholar’s method was just as inaccurate as MacDougall’s.
In all likelihood, however, the true weight of the soul will probably end up being irrelevant. Vegapunk only brought up this experiment as a lead-in to his discussion of weighing memory. That said, if the topic of a soul’s weight ever does somehow come back, it will likely be confirmed to weigh 21 grams for lack of a better answer.
Src: cbr.com
