Many souls have sought the path to immortality. Generally, we are already immortal.

It is the ego that dies, and dies pathetically. Why so pathetically? Well, it believes it is alive, and believes it can extend itself into all futures. With regards to the type of ego here, it is the one attached to the mechanical body. The one that keeps the body moving, going, thinking; albeit shallowly. It gets programmed, it gets pushed from here to there by outside forces and ideas. It seems to have a will of its own.

As soon as you die, it dissipates and all you have left is your actual thought processes. Additionally, these are the thought processes that were heavily influenced by the level of control the ego had, or hadn't. 

Now what if the control was minimal and someone could control it from the top level - down?