

Ask HN: What are you afraid of? - amohr

I'm working on a little project about the logic of fear.  I'd say that, on the whole, this  is a pretty logical group of people, so I'd be really interested to hear what you're afraid of.<p>It could be a full-on phobia or just a nagging, uncomfortable feeling that you get when something crosses your mind.<p>If you don't have it in your profile, a little blurb about what you do would also be appreciated, but not totally necessary.<p>Thanks.<p>Edit:  Also, what, if any steps have you taken to confront/overcome said fear.
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khafra
I really hate confrontations, to the point where it might be called fear.

For instance, a friend of my neighbor was considering buying my old 240sx.
It's got a JDM RB20 but doesn't start, so I let him take it to a mechanic to
diagnose it and complete our negotiation with more information.

After a few regular status updates, I haven't heard from him in a weeks. I
keep putting off calling him about it.

My other fear is of cessation of consciousness; sort of an extrapolated fear
of death. I really don't want to die; I don't quite like the idea of cryonics
even if I'm revivable; I don't even really like general anaesthesia. If the
brain processes that make me aware I'm me go away, where am I?

~~~
Femur
>My other fear is of cessation of consciousness; sort of an extrapolated fear
of death. I really don't want to die; I don't quite like the idea of cryonics
even if I'm revivable; I don't even really like general anaesthesia. If the
brain processes that make me aware I'm me go away, where am I?

Do you have a hierarchical view of degrees of consciousness? For instance, do
you consider general anesthesia worse than a nights sleep? Do you consider
brain-rot-death worse than a year-long coma?

I do have the same fear as you. I have a medical condition that has caused me
to lose consciousness around 20 times in my life and it has caused me terrible
fear. I don't like the idea of cryonics either but I do plan on having my
brain frozen because the alternative, in my view, is worse.

I don't like sketchy rope bridges across a chasm, but if I am being chased by
pirates, I will sure as heck cross it.

~~~
khafra
It's certainly hierarchical for me, too. I plan to sign up for cryonics, and
I'd even use a disintegrate-and-reassemble transporter if it were the only way
to avoid complete, irreversible death--but I certainly won't be joining
Starfleet just for the fun and adventure.

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ErrantX
Im scared of spiders. Less so now (simply through will power) but anything
beyond a house spider will give me chills (and I cant look at tarantulas on
screen). No other bugs though: which seems illogical to me.

I also get that clutching, tight-chested thing when I think about my death (in
the old-age future rather than in the now). Conversely when in an immediately
dangerous situation (either physically or mentally) I find it exhilarating:
the potential of "death" in those situations is exciting.

What kind of fear are you interested in though? The most interesting clash of
fear/logic for me is travel. People will jump in a car without a seconds
thought but conversely are uncomfortable in aeroplanes. Despite the latter
being leaps and bounds safer than road travel. Gut overrules the logic in Head
and decides being up at 20,000 feet is "NOT SAFE" :)

~~~
amohr
Well the idea is that fear is often times hyperbole - an unnecessary
exaggeration of a natural and healthy response to a legitimate threat. So if
you're mountain climbing or skydiving, a fear-adrenaline response mechanism is
natural. A fear of death defying stunts isn't really what I'm looking into.

What I'm more interested in is if you were unreasonably afraid of spiders, for
instance, and you read everything there was to read about spiders, and you saw
a spider that you knew for certain posed no threat, but your logical
understanding was overpowered by emotional fear. It's the difference between
finding a Brown Recluse in your tent versus a St. Andrew's Cross in your
shower.

And I've thought about the travel fear paradox quite a bit and it actually
makes quite a bit of sense. One thing I've noticed is that it's really
difficult to affect our fears with social adaptations, but logic is easily
overcome by recurring social or cultural situations.

~~~
ErrantX
In terms of the travel paradox and similar fears driven by society I _highly_
recommend a book called "Risk: The Science of Politics and Fear". I reviewed
it a few days ago here on HN. <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=673955>

The travel paradox does make sense because our "primal" brain knows whats
"less natural": in the face of that the intelligent brains statistics are
meaningless.

In terms of spiders: I'd say I am unreasonably scared of them. I mean I know
fairly large spiders here in the UK are perfectly safer. But I still leave the
room till they are gone.

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vaksel
spiders, centipedes and pretty much most bugs bigger than an ant, had trouble
killing them even with a paper towel. Hell used to get afraid looking at them
in pictures.

To overcome it, I built a "weapon" to kill them with. Pretty much took one of
those post office poster rolls, and attached some paper towels to it. This way
I could kill them at a distance.

Now, have no problem getting upclose and personal and killing them with a
paper towel. Can now watch them online without any problems(i.e. one of those
giant centipedes eating a rabbit)

I dunno if it's something I overcame on my own, or if its something I just
grew into. i.e. I used to be scared shitless of the Alien and the Predator
movies, and now I more or less consider the series as an action movie, instead
of a horror flick.

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Femur
Death. Walking up to a girl and asking her out. Failure. That the economy will
get worse. New social situations. Spiders.

I've recognized each fear and I know how to handle myself to confront those
fears. They don't dominate me, but they are still present.

I am an Oracle DBA.

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Mintz
I'm afraid of not having enough money in my savings account should I need to
use it. I'm a college student with a part time job, and I have some money in
savings, but if my car's transmission went out, I'm hosed. I have no idea how
I would fix my car and keep paying for rent/utilities/food without going into
debt.

I guess you could say I'm afraid of going into debt and not being able to get
out of it because of circumstances just out of my control.

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darkxanthos
I'm afraid of socializing. I'm in the process of social skydiving to over come
it and I'm blogging about it publicly to keep me honest and motivated.

This is the blog in case you want more info:
<http://socialskydivingwithjustin.posterous.com/>

~~~
amohr
That's really cool, I've talked to psych people and publicly logging your
progress when dealing with an anxiety problem is a really good way to keep you
on track. From my perspective, I love the insight into the process -
especially because it is such a uniquely individual experience for each
person.

~~~
darkxanthos
wow I never realized that. thanks!

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amohr
Too late to edit, but I realized I should be prepared to provide a comparably
personal answer to such a personal question, and I've done so on my blog, if
you're interested: <http://mohrslaws.blogspot.com/2009/07/fear.html>

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aaroneous
A lot of fellow arachnophobes on HN - interesante.

Mine: Spiders, settling, not achieving the goals I make for myself.

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gaius
Dying alone.

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baguasquirrel
No one's going to think my startup idea is useful after I put out the proto.

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DanielBMarkham
The number 13

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access_denied
What if I come into a situation where I have to choose between 'going with the
flow' or staying a decent person, and I know if I stay up for the good they
will kill me or worse torture me? Will I be strong enough? And if yes: what a
life.

These days you can easily get picked by the CIA for some stupid reason.
Actually I am a bit uneasy about US-customs for that reason.

