Human beings are born with exactly two innate, biologically hardwired fears, which are the terror of suddenly falling and the panic induced by incredibly loud noises.

A closer look

Human beings are born with exactly two innate, biologically hardwired fears, which are the terror of suddenly falling and the panic induced by incredibly loud noises. Every single other phobia you currently possess, from a crippling dread of public speaking to an irrational hatred of harmless house spiders, was entirely learned and culturally programmed into your brain after you were born. Your ancient ancestors did not inherently fear the dark or crowded spaces, but they definitely recognized that plummeting out of a tall tree or hearing the deafening roar of a massive predator were completely unresolvable survival problems. This means your elaborate fear of failing your upcoming job interview or being rejected on a dating app is just a creative psychological nightmare you successfully taught yourself how to suffer from over the years. You arrived on this planet as a brave biological blank slate, only to spend decades meticulously learning how to be terrified of basically everything