[ME - A recognition of humanity’s fear of death. An explanation of why we die. A rejection of supernatural forms of immortality. Examples of non-supernatural forms of potential immortality. Maybe also mention the future possibility of cognitive uploading].

“The development of human society is an example of a metasystem transition, which creates a new system evolving through a mechanism which is no longer genetical but cultural (Turchin, 1977)... One of the implications of that transition concerns the interpretation of survival. In biological evolution survival means essentially survival of the genes, not so much survival of the individuals (Dawkins, 1976). With the exception of species extinction, we may say that genes are effectively immortal: it does not matter that an individual dies, as long as his or her genes persist in off-spring. The death of individual organisms can even contribute to genetic fitness, by focusing resources on reproduction rather than individual survival (see the evolutionary causes of death).

Individual death does not benefit cultural evolution, though. In socio-cultural evolution, the role of genes is played by cognitive systems ("memes"), embodied in individual brains or social organizations, or stored in books, computers and other knowledge media. However, most of the knowledge acquired by an individual still disappears at biological death. Only a tiny part of that knowledge is stored outside the brain or transmitted to other individuals. Further evolution would be much more efficient if all knowledge acquired through experience could be maintained, in order to make place only for more adequate knowledge.

This requires an effective immortality of the cognitive systems defining individual and collective minds: what would survive is not the material substrate (body or brain), but its cybernetic organization. This may be called "cybernetic immortality" (Turchin, 1991).” (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ETHICS.html)

“Another concept of immortality can be called creative immortality, or evolutionary immortality. This uniquely human motive underlies, probably, all major creative feats of human history. The idea is that mortal humans contribute, through their creative acts, to the ongoing universal and eternal process --- call it Evolution, or History, or God --- thus surviving their physical destruction. I call it Evolution, because contemporary science tells us that human history is but a small part of the universal cosmic process.” (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/CREATIMM.html)