I don't think you fully appreciate the truly primitive nature of this creationist notion of the survival value of consciousness which persists after death, expressed back in post 279. It's inspiring me to ponder all kinds of things.
Consider two competing tribes. One thinks it's living in a world where ghosts are ever-present, always guiding their actions. The other tribe (I'm thinking of classical Greece) has shaken off much of this worldview -- they have only a few gods (Zeus, Aphrodite, etc.), and their dead are neatly tucked away in Hades. The pagan Greek outlook, while not at all what we would go for, is a vast intellectual improvement over the really primitive "ghosts-everywhere" worldview. The Greeks have their ghosts mostly under control, which gives them room to think. They are only occasionally thwarted by the gods. The savages, on the other hand, who always look to ghostly influence, are non-rational almost all the time.