Fear Itself

Recorded live in-person on Oct 25 2022 at The Homestead in Plano, IL.

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Why are so many people attracted to scary movies when in real life we typically avoid frightening situations?

There are a multitude of reasons but recent studies have indicated that fans of the horror genre fared better in the pandemic in terms of preparedness and psychological resilience. Therefore, it could function as a kind of virtual reality tester and mechanism of exposure to worst-case scenarios.

In the final episode of “Dirty John,” the true story of a murderous conman, the daughter Terra credits her survival and ability to fight like hell from having previously binged AMC’s apocalyptic zombie-gore series "The Walking Dead."

There are many different types of fear but psychologist Karl Albrecht believes that they can be categorized and fit into a hierarchy or “Feararchy.” However, philosophers like Jiddu Krishnmurti asserted that these are still only the branches of one tree of fear and implored seekers to cut it down at the root.

And on an evolutionary level, our instincts associated with fear are predominantly codes for responding to a long-gone world. Most of the ancient imminent death threats like predators, storms and enemies have been replaced by longform health complexities like addiction, obesity and loneliness.

What will it take to download the smart-brain updates and how could that transform our lives and society?

(Music “Make Sense of Everything” by Bing Satellites and original episode artwork can be found on the podcast website)