Well, we know how Robert Sapolski reacts to this. In his new book Determined he makes his case that there is no such thing as free will. Have you read this book yet? It's fascinating stuff, even though I still feel a pull toward the dualist ideology.

What you were saying here about death is right in line with what I went through this past year when my father died. Now both my parents are gone, and with them, a whole major chapter of my life has closed...or so it feels like. The memories are nice but are not the same. I now have no grandparents or parents left on either side of my family or my wife's family. Some distant aunts, uncles and cousins scattered around the country, but I have no way to reach any of them. I only have a brother and that's it. I'm just 51, but I think about death more often lately than ever before. Getting old sucks.