The Theory of the Fear of Death (Death from Time)

[Epoce]

I guess this goes here. I don't really know. I've never had a reason to be intelligent before.


Now, this concept has been touched by I believe a Vsauce episode of some sort, but this is kind of a specified expandation of the theory I guess?

Spoiler

The concept of time is one hella scary thing.


Humans label this.. absence of time.. nothing. Because we couldn't measure how long a day was. Or how long a month, year, or decade was. So we can't accurately describe what happened in a period of "time". But think about this: Humans are the only creature on earth that have any "close-to-accurate" timescale.


In science terms "Time is a dimension and measure in which events can be ordered from the past through the present into the future, and also the measure of durations of events and the intervals between them."


In short, time is what we think of as a week. A month. Year. Decade. Century.


But the scariest part? Humans are the only species known to have this concept. Animals use a different concept.


Instead of understanding the passage of time, dogs instead rely on internal biological indicators to remember "when", daily events happen.


But they don't remember. Their internal biological clock is pre-set. Kinda like a manufactured clock. They are programmed, in short, to know when we come home, or when dinner is ready.


They don't know what TIME dinner will be ready, or what TIME we will be home. They just know WHEN it will happen.


It's confusing, right? Well.. no.


Humans refer to a calendar to represent a month. In that month, on average, 30 days pass. However to any other species on earth, that month.. never existed. Basicly.. dogs and other animals rely on a series of events. "Well.. this happened today.. it will happen again." and so on and so forth until they can accurately guesstimate when something will happen. But... with the concept of time.. comes the fear of it running out.


Since humans are the only animal on earth to understand, and even begin to grasp the concept of time (which we very loosely... loosely grasp) we are the only animals with this illogical fear, that time will run out.


Does your dog get worried when it wakes up late for a vet appointment? Well.. no because it doesn't know what the hell a vet is. But let's give a dog a reasonable amount of sense to know that a vet is a doctor.


Because of this absence of time concept, dogs wouldn't get worried. They never knew when the appointment was to begin with.


Humans, on the other hand... do. So when you wake up late.. you rush, scramble and make a mad dash.. to get to where you're going. Which leads to my next point: death.


Animals don't fear death (again they don't know what it is, but let's give them that concept) because they don't know when it'll happen. Humans have a rough guess on how many years they'll live, if nothing happens in between those years.


We're the only animals.. who are afraid of dying.





Basically it says how humans are the only things afraid of death.


And before you get all "AMG you did not write dis" I did. Most of you believe me to be this stupid person, but I have intelligent moments here and there. While I have to credit some outside sources for some of the information, and Vsauce for the idea, the body itself was written by me. The theory, and ideas, were created in this head.


Have fun beating me down.

 

[subjectTOM]

I love this theory you've developed, and it's definitely true that humans fear time's passage and in essence, death. These are my thoughts immediately after reading through your ideas:

Spoiler

I would argue that what humans fear more than time running out is what happens after an individuals time has "run out". The idea of death, and no longer being here is upsetting, but through philosophy and religion, we have created an altogether more terrifying concept... a life after death, or lack thereof. My point being that if animals understood the concept of death, I feel they would not fear it. The dread we humans experience is derived from two main factors. 1. Thoughts of what we will leave behind, questions like will we be remembered, etc. and 2. the fact that we do not know and cannot know what happens to a person once they die. Is there nothing, are they reincarnated into other forms, is there a heaven and hell? We as a species are scared of the unknown more than anything, and this is why we fear death. Animals would lack the capacity to even ask these questions, and therefore would not be afraid of dying.

 

[Epoce]

This is questionable. While all religions differ and vary from place to place, it's a general rule of thumb that most of them are taught to not fear the afterlife. While I agree that the unknown scares us the most, I believe the unknown scares EVERYTHING the most. Not just humans.


I can't argue that animals are afraid of the unknown, I can tell you that my dog is scared of thunder because it is loud.


But.. that was my excuse when I was a kid. And it wasn't because it was loud. It was because I didn't know the power of lightning. When I was a kid, my parents would tell me stories, and I'd explode them out of proportion. While animals can't truly understand us, I do believe they have some sense of the fear of us. Our fear of the unknown.

 

[subjectTOM]

Religions teach to fear the afterlife as much as to long for it, for every idea of heaven or paradise, there is the idea of hell or an underworld. The purpose for these ideas is to change the unknown into something we can understand. My point about fear of the unknown is not that it only scares humans, i know that loud noises or strange people can scare animals because they are not familiar. However, to understand the ideas required to think about what happens to the essence of consciousness itself after death requires a higher level of thinking that i don't think animals could possess. for example, thunder is something you can hear, it is something that exists in our perception; on the other hand, consciousness is a concept, something that can only be theorised. In short, dogs will be afraid of thunder because it is a loud noise; but if you try to explain something like Plato's cave to an animal it won't be afraid because it doesn't possess the intelligence to be afraid of it. reality vs concepts 
i feel it's important to explain at this point that i am a non religious individual, however i don't demonise those who are like some people do.

 

[Epoce]

It all depends on the animal. Crows.. for example.. are known to recognize the faces of those who were kind, and mean to them. That's a perception. However.. they're also known, to pass that information on to their offspring. A concept, of an image. And years later, after all the parents have died, the offspring still react accordingly to the faces.


Crows are also known to use abstract concepts to use tools. But, not only tools to get one object. Tools to get another tool, to get another tool, to get an object.


I'm also not a religious person. I also don't care what religion you are, as long as you don't try and shove it down my throat.

 

[Meredith]

I think that although humans are the only creatures that fear death, they are also the only creatures that, in a way, need that fear.


The human brain. The... Well, the emotion-control centre, if you will - it can be battered and bruised. Theoretically beaten bloody. You can become insane from stress, but you will survive.


Once your emotions are so messed that you can't even think straight, the fear of death can stop a suicide. Your brain doesn't shut down. The emotions keep coming. The fear of Death can save a life.


Fear does unexpected things like that. Good things, sometimes.


I would say that Humans fear things we do not understand. Once it was others from differant lifestyles, or woman who didn't obey their husbands. (Look at the Salem Witch Trials.)


Now it's death.


I don't beleive that humans have always feared death. Until fairly recently - (what, with the whole invention of modern medicine,) post-mortem photography was popular - people were not afraid of death; it was accepted that yeah, you'd die soon, and you needn't worry about it, really.. People would sit with their desceased family member to get a photo to remember them by. Dead bodies did not freak people out. And it sort of makes me wonder - does that mean we're all becoming philosophers? That would be nice.


Humans fear things that they do not understand. All animals do. That can be a good thing. It can also be a bad thing. It can keep us up at night, wondering, but we will not know. That scares us. And I suppose we won't know until a dead man talks.


But hey, we're working on it.

 

[The Dark Wizard]

I personally think if science can actually do everything that people are working towards, need not fear death any more.

 

[Castello]

Hmmm, well I am not particularly afraid of death, I see it more as a form of mercy. Death is beautiful, and that is why I reject the after life, because what I am really afraid of, is living. I really view death as eternal sleep, not a worry, care or anxiety to be shed, I like sleeping in life, so why not do it forever? I also think people forget how living forever is boring! Think of it this way, you've lived for a million years, now what are you going to do? You've probably experienced everything, you might not even be on earth anymore. Sure your family would be with you, but they are probably bored aswell!


I think I'll take my 60 to 100 years I will spend on this earth and try to make it a thousand's worth! Life is pointless if you can't loose it, or there is no time limit, people will just take their life for granted then, life will just be another thing everyone will have forever. Life would just be a glass of water in a first world country.


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Back to what I said about death being beautiful.


I think death is beautiful because it is an ending, like an ending to a story, it is crucial to ones life, it makes it complete. If a person has a fruitful life, has a family, has been happy, and he dies from cancer at 88, but he has his family there to support him to the very end. Then his death is beautiful.


Of course there is the opposite side of the spectrum, someone has a shitty life and gets hit by car. Well then death is a mercy in that case, he no longer has to worry about anything. In my opinion eternal darkness is heaven, and the afterlife is hell.


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But enough of my blabbering, just my personal opinion and philosophy. Perhaps my mind has fathomed that to deter me from the fear of death, though I may never know. The Human brain works that way I guess..