Why does humanity cling so desperately to any shred of human life???

Question

With anti-abortionism, fear of aging, keeping people alive as vegetables for years on end... and ultimately this overwhelmingly intense and illogical fear of death.
Everywhere on earth, in every species except for humans, life and death is a matter confronted daily. Each day is a quest to find food to maintain one's own survival, and often times that results in the necessity to claim another life. Simultaneously, one worries about their own life, and fears bigger predators. For all of the animal kingdom, this is a normal part of existence. So why is it such a big issue for humans?

And why do humans ultimately fear death at all? It seems that humans illogically fear anything that is unknown to them. It also seems that statistically, in cases where a person is fearing an unknowns simply because it is an unknown, there is most often nothing to fear at all. So then death, being the ultimate unknown, is simply feared. People so rarely consider the possibility that death is not unpleasant.

Maybe it's just another experience, and for all any of us know, maybe it's downright pleasant. So why must we fear death so, and spend so much of our time, lives, and energy trying to evade a force that is inescapable and that we have no evidence is even a bad thing?

I can't believe I forgot to mention overpopulation!!! With the obscene amount of people currently spreading over this world and replicating at increasing rates like a virus, wouldn't it seems that letting a couple of people go now and again (if not killing of a large fraction of the population) would be a really good idea?

Answer 1

All creatures have an innate survival instinct. And most animals, if you expose them to something that is unknown to them, something that they cannot readily identify with their enhanced senses, will exhibit a cautious, or fearful, or sometimes even hostile attitude.
Animals who take mates will also fight to defend their mates, or their young, in order to prevent them from being killed. Some animals even seem to express a sense of remorse when their mate or offspring die.
You ask why humans are different. Answer: We aren't. It's just that we are the only animal (if indeed we are nothing more than animals) that is aware of the impending end of life, or at least the only animal that we know of that is aware of death.
Just because the cycle of life and death is a natural part of the animal kingdom doesn't mean that animals simply accept their deaths. Most animals will fight to survive just as fervently as humans do. It's just that we have used our intelligence to develop methods of preserving life that go beyond our natural abilities.
The fear of the unknown is not unique to humans. It is a natural part of the animal kingdom and is a vital part of the survival instincts of any animal. As humans, we just happen to see the unknown of death coming from a greater "distance" than do animals.

Answer 2

It's the order of things, especially human. When we are kids, at least in the traditional sense, in most cases we had an authoritative father. When he passes out of our life, who else fills that void? Depends on who you are personality wise, as some are natural born leaders and natural born followers. The thing is, even for the leaders, they need a higher force to look up to, because as humans we all suffer from human issues that need affirmation.

Answer 3

Humanity = human life = human nature

Answer 4

Religious institutions have taught us to fear death so we will give them control over us in exchange for having our ticket to Heaven validated. If they took any death lightly, that would give us a clue that they're lying about death being a terrible thing.

Answer 5

I'm sorry, the guy above me died 7 times ? Bullshit.

People fear death because we are the only species thus far apparently capable of thought. We fear the end of our existence more than any other animal, becuase we understand that there will BE an end to our existence. Its that simple.

Answer 6

'cos it's easier than clinging to shredded wheat

Answer 7

yes, it's simply human to fear the unknown. we fear the end of something.

like a relationship, many times you don't want to leave it because you're scared of what comes after...

we don't know if life will be worse or better after death. and we're scared of the permanence of it. like after someone dies, that's it...you never see them again. and similarly, we're don't like to part with people, things.

Answer 8

I've died and come back 7 times...it's no biggee for me these days. I know that anybody who is born, ultimately dies. It's nature, simple as that. I've gone through a coma with 2 flatlines (by the way, never saw heaven or hell...it was just nothing), I've been in fatal car accidents, crashed my bike, relearned how to walk...Basically, any type of pain, suffering and death this life can throw at me, I've conquered, so, in the glory of this question, I am not, in any circumstance scared of death. In fact, not that I'm "emo", I welcome death because this world is for sure coming to a closure, and I'd rather die doing something I wanted to do, or in my sleep; far better way to die than a demo slaying your head off. That is of course if you believe in that ****, and I don't. Nuclear war will end it...bet you $10,000 like it will matter at that point!

Answer 9

Humans are illogical and they'll still fear the unknown. I doubt most think death itself is unpleasant, but they're scared about what happens afterwards.

Answer 10

Death is the ultimate blind date, it is little wonder people get all worked up about it. They want to be sure to make a good impression.

The reason that other animals do not fear death is because they do not understand their own mortality. It is unlikely that any other animal fully understands what death is in the first place, let alone that they are going to die, let alone that they could die at any moment.

As you mention, much of the human fear of death comes from fear of the unknown. It is only natural to have some apprehension for new experiences and death is in many ways the "ultimate" new experience. It is guaranteed to happen, but it is unusual to know exactly when or how. You can only do it once, and after you try it there is no going back.

Death is what those people who tell you not to experiment with illegal drugs are really talking about.

As far as the abortion, and the anti-euthanasia, and the whole "sanctity of life" bag, we have religion to thank for that. Religious people fear death more than anyone else on earth, though they are completely obsessed with it. The big three religions are all cults of death. Wouldn't you be a little bit worried that it was possible that after you died you would be sent to hell for all eternity? What a difficult existence religious people must have. Ironically, religion was probably developed as a response to early human's realization of their own mortality.

Death is the ultimate blind date, make sure to wear your Sunday best!

Answer 11

I don't see why death is any different to going to sleep at night. Maybe, because when someone else dies, we miss them. So, when we die, we have an illogical feeling of missing ourselves?