There are no ghosts, my love. Death is final. The soul is that ineffable combination of memory and personality which we carry through life...when lif… - Dan Simmons

My own guess is that it’s a myth fueled by the same hunger for superstitious verities that drives other religions.

And the sad fact is that all nanotech life out of our control—out of anyone's control. The essence of nanotech life's evolution is autonomy, self-will, and goals which have nothing to do with those of the harboring life form.
Humanity, you mean, said Lourdusamy.
Precisely.

Each of them was intimately aware of the procedure for electing a pope—not only of the antiquated mechanisms, of course, but of the politicking, pressuring, deal-making, bluffing, and outright blackmail that had often accompanied the process over the centuries.