Why are we afraid of that we don't know or don't understand?

Question:

Why are we afraid of that we don't know or don't understand?

I can understand an animal's fear of the unknown/unexpected; they don't have the intelligence to be able to look for clues as to whether something is benevolent or malevolent.

Humans on the other hand are graced with the largest brain per mass and we should be able to rationalise such events for ourselves and yet we are still plagued by real or perceived fears.

I'm not immune to the phenomenon myself being deathly afraid of balloons and heights.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: THERE IS NO FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN

No one is afraid of the unknown. We are afraid only of the known. In order to be afraid your brain must recognize the source of fear. You recognize that something is bad because you have experienced that it is and now you remember. Without having experienced something, without having a concept of something, how can you be afraid of it?

If I say that "barhd" is horrible, are you afraid? You have no idea what I mean by that word so you can't really be afraid of it. We are not really afraid of death or of what there is after death (for those who believe there is something); we are afraid of losing what we know very well: life. We know for a fact that death is the end of life. We don't know anything about death, but we do know life! Of course, we are also afraid of our fantasies. We believe in hell, we are afraid because we know what burning means and we imagine that a consciousness without body might exist after death.