ABSTRACT
The ancient Egyptians did not have good evidence that elaborate and hugely expensive processes of mummification would grant immortality—but it did help them to manage the fear of death; mediaeval Christians did not have good evidence for the belief that they would be bodily resurrected on an imminent Day of Judgement—but it did help them to manage the fear of death; Eugen Steinach, the pioneer of endocrinology, and his followers did not have good evidence for thinking that a vasectomy would reverse ageing, but it did help them to manage the fear of death. Many beliefs about immortality are therefore instances of what psychologists call motivated reasoning, or what lay people call wishful thinking. Death would still be inevitable, and the fear of it would therefore continue to haunt people's minds. A thousand years ago, the United States of America was centuries away from being founded, and what is now the United Kingdom was still separate, warring nations.
