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Comment by semi-extrinsic | Hacker News Reader

There are two kinds of people: those afraid of their own death, and those who desperately avoid thinking about their own death

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Seems deeply cynical. Where is this coming from?

Death is the only certain part of life. Who can seriously fear it? It's the part that immediately precedes death that scares me.... if I were to get Alzheimers I would rather put a bullet in my head.

I agree there are things worse than death, such as Alzheimers.

But still, and this is just my own belief, I think anyone who has given the matter some thought and introspection, is afraid of the end of their own existence. There may come a time indeed when death is better than remaining alive, but that doesn't imply one has stopped fearing death.

I gave it some thought and introspection, and concluded there's no real "me" to have a finite existence to begin with. I'd rather not keel over tomorrow, given the choice, but I'd say I fall somewhere in the middle between "afraid" and "indifferent".

given there is no real "you" to begin with, who is it that falls somewhere in the middle between "afraid" and "indifferent"? :-)

I understand what you're referring to though, and assume that the very few that have actually fully realised this (and not just on an intellectual level) are not really bothered with death, and not due to lack of awareness of it.

It seems the only thing to fear is cessation of experience. Why bother?

"Be afraid of something" is a very loaded sentence that covers quite different things.

I'd want to draw a line between fear (as a very specific emotion) and aversion/dislike/anti-preference, as those are quite different things but both can be referred to as "being afraid of X". There are many unpleasant, unwanted things that I don't prefer at all and would actively work to avoid or prevent them, but I'm not afraid of them in the emotional sense. And there are a bunch of trivial things that I am afraid of (i.e. I experience that emotion when thinking about them) but that are actually good for me and I'm going to intentionally do them despite the fear.

There is a natural aversion to death, however, I'd argue that a great many people (though probably not a majority) don't experience any significant active emotion (including but not limited to fear) when contemplating their death, and that includes "anyone who has given the matter some thought and introspection", especially among people who have had lots of exposure to actual death. Experiencing fear and all the physiological effects of fear when being in clear immediate threat of death is a natural reflex, but that doesn't necessarily happen in rational contemplation about the end of ones existence. There is such a thing as acceptance.

For those who believe in an unpleasant afterlife there is much to fear. (Not saying it's rational.)

I recommend you read "The Denial of Death" by Ernest Becker. It is at length a book on death anxiety and how humans attempt to cope with the subject.

Thank you for the recommendation - so far, it’s intriguing. What’d you think of it?

You forgot the third: those that alternate between the two...

And the fourth the suicidal - even if they don't take action for one reason or another such as a sense of duty. Although that may technically be their suffering outweighing fear of death like people leaping from burning skyscrapers.

Seems odd that fear of death would make you suicidal. Especially considering all you have to do to die is wait.

Schrödinger's death?

Is there any kind of context to this statement? Does it come from somewhere? It certainly doesn't ring true to me.

There's a third group: those who already ARE dead, for all practical purposes.

That's a mighty sweeping statement, isn't it friend?

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