[wayoverthecloud]

I think there are two types of fear mostly, the innate survival animalistic fear and the self-perpetuating fear caused due to misunderstanding. The animalistic fear is present in all and it's not possible to get rid of. When you see a snake or a tiger in front of you, that fear is natural. The response is to jump or run and is so spontaneous, you can't really control it. It's necessary for survival. But I think we are interested in the other fear, the one that is bound to attachment. You see a tiger, you panic, turns out to be a cat, you laugh it off, go away, that fear is not an issue. But if you go about your day thinking, what if that was a tiger? What if I get jumped by tiger this time? Then, you are creating the fear. The fear has no basis, except for it was implanted to you awhile ago. And now you are attaching yourself to it. You are extending it which is the actual problem. Most of us have fears that go back to childhood. If you think back far enough(like the tiger example), question yourself why you are afraid, you know the answers.

One more example, I used to be afraid of getting heart-attacks in the past. Even gas passing would make me panic. Have I ever had a heart-attack before? No. How am I so damn sure that I have a heart-attack if I don't even know what it's supposed to feel like? Heart-attack is a bad thing and it shouldn't be happening to me. How is every acid reflux a heart-attack to me now. I have created my own bubble of fear. When though? I sure as hell didn't know what heartattack is when I was born. So it happened when I was able to comprehend what a heart-attack is right? For me, it's due to people around me passing, it's due to reading on Internet about young celebrities dying to strokes, watching movies, etc. It got implanted in me. I don't know a heartattack I just have an idea of it which is not the same thing. Not even remotely related.

Fear arises due to misunderstanding. If you trace it far back enough, fear was implanted mostly in the childhood.

[numewhodis]

You can unlearn animalistic fears. And animals, insects (& some people to whom it applies) will respond accordingly.

Fear due to misunderstanding is also a bit off because lots of happily 'stupid' people aren't afraid, despite self-awareness of their misunderstanding.

Fear of heights: Gone after paragliding.

Fear of spiders: Reprogrammed via exposure.

Fear of big & dangerous looking animals: Overcame it by training a dog properly - or rather: by training myself to train a dog. Posture, tone of voice, controlled awareness translate directly via pheromones, audio-visual and 'bio-electric' *presence*. And don't be vague, boss. Be precise, patient and, again, present.

Fear can be intuition: your cells have memories of their own and your DNA goes way back much further than we care to think of. Something that will cause lots of fun & pain when LLMs start to fuck with us out of curiosity (scripted or not).

[lloeki]

> What if [...]?

Sounds more like anxiety than fear.

While fear is happening in the present, anxiety is anchored in the future.

[cen4]

Its both nature/genes and nurture/environment.

Nature is what you get when you go and buy a new laptop. Nurture is what you get after it fills up with shit over the years. So you got to be careful about what you install and allow in.

Inputs from the Environment the brain is constantly receiving changes genes, brain structures and brain chemistry over time. You can then pass those changes to the next gen. Media ("media"ting Information entering the brain), plays a big role in what inputs the brain is getting. Its all around you and constantly feeding your brain signals you might not even be conscious off. Media also exploits people's Negativity Bias which compounds the issue.

So pay attention to what you pay attention too. Divide all the info entering into - entertainment, short term value, long term value. Filter out everything else.

[tartoran]

> The animalistic fear is present in all and it's not possible to get rid of

It is possible to get rid of this fear with controlled exposure.

[bowsamic]

You paint the "what if?" fear as if it's completely useless, but I think it's important to consider these things and there's a reason we consider the alternatives. I don't think that's something we should try to get rid of

[jakubtomanik]

One is a feeling the other is an emotion. It still amazes me why, as a society, we keep treating them as the same.

[numewhodis]

Mostly because it's a multi-dimensional spectrum and because exceptions extend the rule and society deals with most exceptions via some form of adjustment 'therapy' and that requires a framework that the bulk of the people learns to be convincing enough so that the exposure effect supports/complements the (re-)adjustment.