I have a question: Who here remembers when they first realized they were going to die? I do I was a young boy! and my grandfather had "ust died! and I remember a few days later lying in bed at night trying to ma#e sense of what had happened What did it mean that he was dead? Where had he gone? It was li#e a hole in reality had opened up and swallowed him $ut then the really sho%#ing question o%%urred to me: If he %ould die! %ould it happen to me too? Could that hole in reality open up and swallow me? Would it open up beneath my bed and swallow me as I slept? Well! at some point! all %hildren be%ome aware of death It %an happen in different ways! of %ourse! and usually %omes in stages &ur idea of death develops as we grow older 'nd if you rea%h ba%# into the dar# %orners of your memory! you might remember something li#e what I felt when my grandfather died and when I realized it %ould happen to me too! that sense that behind all of this the void is waiting 'nd this development in %hildhood refle%ts the development of our spe%ies (ust as there was a point in your development as a %hild when your sense of self and of time be%ame sophisti%ated enough for you to realize you were mortal! so at some point in the evolution of our spe%ies! some early human)s sense of self and of time be%ame sophisti%ated enough for them to be%ome the first human to realize! *I)m going to die* This is! if you li#e! our %urseIt)s the pri%e we pay for being so damn %lever We have to live in the #nowledge that the worst thing that %an possibly happen one day surely will! the end of all our pro"e%ts! our hopes! our dreams! of our individual world We ea%h live in the shadow of a personalapo%alypse 'nd that)s frightening It)s terrifying 'nd so we loo# for a way out 'nd in my %ase! as I was about five years old! this meant as#ing my mum +ow when I first started as#ing what happens when we die! the grown,ups around me at the time answered with a typi%al -nglish mi. of aw#wardness and half,hearted Christianity! and the phrase I heard most often was that granddad was now *up there loo#ing down on us!* and if I should die too! whi%h wouldn)t happen of %ourse! then I too would go up there! whi%h made death sound a lot li#e an e.istential elevator +ow this didn)t sound very plausible I used to wat%h a %hildren)s news program at the time! and this was the era of spa%e e.ploration There were always ro%#ets going up into the s#y! up into spa%e! going up there $ut none of the astronauts when they %ame ba%# ever mentioned having met my granddad or any other dead people $ut I was s%ared! and the idea of ta#ing the e.istential elevator to see my granddad sounded a lot better than being swallowed by the void while I slept 'nd so I believed it anyway! even though it didn)t ma#e mu%h sense 'nd this thought pro%ess that I went through as a %hild! and have been through many times sin%e! in%luding as a grown,up! is a produ%t of what psy%hologists %all a bias +ow a bias is a way in whi%h we systemati%ally get things wrong! ways in whi%h we mis%al%ulate! mis"udge! distort reality! or see what we want to see! and the bias I)m tal#ing about wor#s li#e this: Confront someone with the fa%t that they are going to die and they will believe "ust about any story that tells them it isn)t true and they %an! instead! live forever! even if it means ta#ing the e.istential elevator +ow we %an see this as the biggest bias of all It has been demonstrated in over 4// empiri%al studies +ow these studies are ingenious! but they)re simple They wor# li#e this 0ou ta#e two groups of people who are similar in all relevant respe%ts! and you remind one group that they)re going to die but not the other! then you %ompare their behavior So you)re observing how it biases behavior when people be%ome aware of their mortality 'nd every time! you get the same result: 1eople who are made aware of their mortality are more willing to believe stories that tell them they %an es%ape death and live forever So here)s an e.ample: &ne re%ent study too# two groups of agnosti%s! that is people who are unde%ided in their religious beliefs +ow! one group was as#ed to thin# about being dead The other group was as#ed to thin# about being lonelyThey were then as#ed again about their religious beliefs Those who had been as#ed to thin# about being dead were afterwards twi%e as li#ely to e.press faith in 2od and (esusTwi%e as li#ely -ven though the before they were all equally agnosti% $ut put the fear of death in them! and they run to (esus +ow! this shows that reminding people of death biases them to believe! regardless of the eviden%e! and it wor#s not "ust for religion! but for any #ind of belief system that promises immortality in some form! whether it)s be%oming famous or having %hildren or even nationalism! whi%h promises you %an live on as part of a greater whole This is a bias that has shaped the %ourse of human history +ow! the theory behind this bias in the over 4// studies is %alled terror management theory!and the idea is simple It)s "ust this We develop our worldviews! that is! the stories we tell ourselves about the world and our pla%e in it! in order to help us manage the terror of death'nd these immortality stories have thousands of different manifestations! but I believe that behind the apparent diversity there are a%tually "ust four basi% forms that these immortality stories %an ta#e 'nd we %an see them repeating themselves throughout history! "ust with slight variations to refle%t the vo%abulary of the day +ow I)m going to briefly introdu%e these four basi% forms of immortality story! and I want to try to give you some sense of the way in whi%h they)re retold by ea%h %ulture or generation using the vo%abulary of their day +ow! the first story is the simplest We want to avoid death! and the dream of doing that in this body in this world forever is the first and simplest #ind of immortality story! and it might at first sound implausible! but a%tually! almost every %ulture in human history has had some myth or legend of an eli.ir of life or a fountain of youth or something that promises to #eep us going forever 'n%ient -gypt had su%h myths! an%ient $abylon! an%ient India Throughout -uropean history! we find them in the wor# of the al%hemists! and of %ourse we still believe this today! only we tell this story using the vo%abulary of s%ien%e So 3// years ago!hormones had "ust been dis%overed! and people hoped that hormone treatments were going to %ure aging and disease! and now instead we set our hopes on stem %ells! geneti% engineering! and nanote%hnology $ut the idea that s%ien%e %an %ure death is "ust one more %hapter in the story of the magi%al eli.ir! a story that is as old as %ivilization $ut betting everything on the idea of finding the eli.ir and staying alive forever is a ris#y strategy When we loo# ba%# through history at all those who have sought an eli.ir in the past! the one thing they now have in %ommon is that they)re all dead So we need a ba%#up plan! and e.a%tly this #ind of plan $ is what the se%ond #ind of immortality story offers! and that)s resurre%tion 'nd it stays with the idea that I am this body! I am this physi%al organism It a%%epts that I)m going to have to die but says! despite that! I %an rise up and I %an live again In other words! I %an do what (esus did (esus died! he was three days in the 4tomb5! and then he rose up and lived again 'nd the idea that we %an all be resurre%ted to live again is orthodo. believe! not "ust for Christians but also (ews and 6uslims $ut our desire to believe this story is so deeply embedded that we are reinventing it again for the s%ientifi% age! for e.ample! with the idea of %ryoni%s That)s the idea that when you die! you %an have yourself frozen! and then! at some point when te%hnology has advan%ed enough! you %an be thawed out and repaired and revived and so resurre%ted 'nd so some people believe an omnipotent god will resurre%t them to live again! and other people believe an omnipotent s%ientist will do it $ut for others! the whole idea of resurre%tion! of %limbing out of the grave! it)s "ust too mu%h li#e a bad zombie movie They find the body too messy! too unreliable to guarantee eternal life! and so they set their hopes on the third! more spiritual immortality story! the idea that we %an leave our body behind and live on as a soul +ow! the ma"ority of people on -arthbelieve they have a soul! and the idea is %entral to many religions $ut even though! in its %urrent form! in its traditional form! the idea of the soul is still hugely popular! nonetheless we are again reinventing it for the digital age! for e.ample with the idea that you %an leave your body behind by uploading your mind! your essen%e! the real you! onto a %omputer! and so live on as an avatar in the ether $ut of %ourse there are s#epti%s who say if we loo# at the eviden%e of s%ien%e! parti%ularly neuros%ien%e! it suggests that your mind! your essen%e! the real you! is very mu%h dependent on a parti%ular part of your body! that is! your brain 'nd su%h s#epti%s %an find %omfort in the fourth #ind of immortality story! and that is lega%y! the idea that you %an live on through the e%ho you leave in the world! li#e the great 2ree# warrior '%hilles! who sa%rifi%ed his life fighting at Troy so that he might win immortal fame 'nd the pursuit of fame is as widespread and popular now as it ever was! and in our digital age! it)s even easier to a%hieve 0ou don)t need to be a great warrior li#e '%hilles or a great #ing or hero 'll you need is an Internet %onne%tion and a funny %at 78aughter9 $ut some people prefer to leave a more tangible! biologi%al lega%y ,, %hildren! for e.ample &r they li#e! they hope! to live onas part of some greater whole! a nation or a family or a tribe! their gene pool $ut again! there are s#epti%s who doubt whether lega%y really is immortality Woody 'llen! for e.ample! who said! *I don)t want to live on in the hearts of my %ountrymen I want to live on in my apartment* So those are the four basi% #inds of immortality stories! and I)ve tried to give "ust some sense of how they)re retold by ea%h generation with "ust slight variations to fit the fashions of the day 'nd the fa%t that they re%ur in this way! in su%h a similar form but in su%h different belief systems! suggests! I thin#! that we should be s#epti%al of the truth of any parti%ular version of these stories The fa%t that some people believe an omnipotent god will resurre%t them to live again and others believe an omnipotent s%ientist will do it suggests that neither are really believing this on the strength of the eviden%e :ather! we believe these storiesbe%ause we are biased to believe them! and we are biased to believe them be%ause we are so afraid of death So the question is! are we doomed to lead the one life we have in a way that is shaped by fear and denial! or %an we over%ome this bias? Well the 2ree# philosopher -pi%urus thought we %ould ;e argued that the fear of death is natural! but it is not rational *<eath!* he said! *is nothing to us! be%ause when we are here! death is not! and when death is here! we are gone* +ow this is often quoted! but it)s diffi%ult to really grasp! to really internalize! be%ause e.a%tly this idea of being gone is so diffi%ult to imagine So =!/// years later! another philosopher! 8udwig Wittgenstein! put it li#e this: *<eath is not an event in life: We do not live to e.perien%e death 'nd so!* he added! *in this sense! life has no end* So it was natural for me as a %hild to fear being swallowed by the void! but it wasn)t rational!be%ause being swallowed by the void is not something that any of us will ever live to e.perien%e +ow! over%oming this bias is not easy be%ause the fear of death is so deeply embedded in us! yet when we see that the fear itself is not rational! and when we bring out into the openthe ways in whi%h it %an un%ons%iously bias us! then we %an at least start to try to minimize the influen%e it has on our lives +ow! I find it helps to see life as being li#e a boo#: (ust as a boo# is bounded by its %overs!by beginning and end! so our lives are bounded by birth and death! and even though a boo# is limited by beginning and end! it %an en%ompass distant lands%apes! e.oti% figures! fantasti% adventures 'nd even though a boo# is limited by beginning and end! the %hara%ters within it #now no horizons They only #now the moments that ma#e up their story! even when the boo# is %losed 'nd so the %hara%ters of a boo# are not afraid of rea%hing the last page 8ong (ohn Silver is not afraid of you finishing your %opy of *Treasure Island* 'nd so it should be with us Imagine the boo# of your life! its %overs! its beginning and end! and your birth and your death 0ou %an only #now the moments in between! the moments that ma#e up your life It ma#es no sense for you to fear what is outside of those %overs! whether before your birth or after your death 'nd you needn)t worry how long the boo# is! or whether it)s a %omi% strip or an epi% The only thing that matters is that you ma#e it a good story Than# you 7'pplause9