Atheists have no reason to fear death, because then there is nothing.
Religious people only have to fear death if they are living in a way they know is wrong.
So, best bet is to live consistent with the majority of lasting world religions, and either there is nothing or there is blissful afterlife. Plus, the present life will be better, too. Win, win!
Well, I'm not afraid of being dead. I sure do like being alive though, and would prefer that to continue!
Since death is inevitable due to the eventual heat death of the universe, then from an operations research perspective it makes much more sense to focus effort on getting rid of the fear of death than trying to end death itself.
I don’t think that’s true from a global optimization perspective. If you’re trying to maximize contented moments, it makes sense to spend time thinking about how to extend life (assuming you’re talking about the number of happy moments for people who are currently alive), even if those moments still must eventually cease. Because trillions of years of happy moments is a lot more than 80-100 years of happy moments. Only if you’re trying to minimize unhappy moments does removing fear of death become a better goal.
However, from a local optimization perspective, since there is little anyone can individually do about their medium term probability of death, I agree that figuring out how to cope with and minimize that fear is probably the best strategy.
To me - as an atheist - not believing in an afterlife makes death a lot scarier. Once you're dead it's over.
This is somewhat trite, IMHO.
I don't fear the state of being dead, I fear getting there (death is unlikely to be fun) and I deeply fear not existing any more, and my time coming to an end. I like being.
It seems effort is more efficiently spent in changing perspective in ourselves and those around us, rather than trying to fight off inevitable old age and death.
By happy I do not mean the transitory kind of happiness we get from eating ice cream or watching a good movie, though that sort of happiness is important. What I mean is the stronger and longer lasting happiness we get from the confidence of being able to work through difficult circumstances instead of casting off the difficult circumstances.
This is because difficulty is inevitable in life, and we will feel happier looking toward the future if we know we can deal with difficulty instead of needing to avoid difficulty. So, knowing we can help people dealing with a difficult affliction like dementia means we can form relationships with less concern whether it will all turn out badly. Otherwise, we will instead tend to insulate ourselves from the perceived hardship, which will cut down our ability to form strong relationships, and strong relationships appear to be essential for human happiness.
(You wouldn’t want to entirely escape it —- a little fear is good to keep you from doing stupid thing.)
Another lady of my acquaintance said "Old age is not for the timid". There's plenty to fear about getting old.