As this is a chapter about death and the human search for immortality, I was tempted to begin it with some kitschy rhetorical statement about "the dream of eternal life that has always motivated human beings," the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, the Fountain of Youth, and so on. Nothing you don't already know; that's exactly why I"d rather begin with something different, that is, a concept not very well known to the masses: TMT, the Terror Management Theory.