Evolutionary Basis of Death Awareness?

Your question is silly. We know that we will die because we are not stupid. Animals are stupid. We... humans... are not stupid. Animals... which are not humans... are stupid.

It's pretty simple.

I can't accomodate with the comment that animals wouldn't be aware of their death.
You got any scientific proof for such a statement?

I'm moreover pretty sure that any kind of evolution derives from coincidence and customization to changing surroundings and situations.

I must be missing something here. The question appears to consist of only two dots yet people are giving some serious answers. OK. I believe in the two dot theory.

The two dot theory has some plusses, but it lacks both comprehensiveness and consistency.

SCoates speaks the truth. The // theory has long since taken over amongst serious academics. The .. theory never recovered from the studies into African elephants conducted by prof. Cliff L. Drinkwine back in the early 70's.

Asian elephants. It was a study of asian elephants which migrated to africa. A minor point, I see how you could get confused.

I don't understand why people just assume that animals are "stupid" and we are not. I'm not convinced that half the humans I know aren't "stupid," and my cat seems to know where it's at better than I do.

um, I assume one of the questions had something to do with animals.

I firmly believe one of my cats was aware it was dying. I'd be happy to elaborate if anyone was int he mood for a long complicated, yet somehwat hearwarming story.

I wouldn't mind that Tiaha but seeing as how the actual question has been deleted from this thread perhaps you should start a new post.

I believe tcis was just bored when he started this thread.

I don't think the question is at all silly, tcis. But I would not argue that we are the only animal to know he will die; I just don't see any evidence that other species have this ability. Elephants and other higher forms of mammals do seem to grieve, but that's not evidence for anticipation. But to answer the question about the survival value of our knowledge of our death: I suspect--and I can only provide plausibility, not proof--that our ability to think abstractly about future death permitted/motivated us to make plans and strategies that reduced our chances of being killed by predators and other dangers.

Just because we do or have something does not mean that we benefit from it.

Which is to say, the Asian elephants had the urge to migrate to Africa, but when they got there they found that they were very thirsty and there was no sweet iced coffee anywhere.

Well, I agree with JLNobody on a couple of points. Firstly it's not a silly question, I don't think there is such a thing as a silly question when someone genuinely wants to know the answer.

Secondly, I believe that it is our ability to think abstractly which permits us to comtemplate the end of self. I would link this to thehamster's point that (as I am pretty sure) the evolutionary theory states that change happens in response to surroundings and situations, random genetic abberations occur which are found to be more suited to the changeing world. These changes are thus more successful (both in terms of survival and reproduction). Thus as the world changed, we changed. Some animals got bigger, some got faster, we got smarter.

Now it is unfair to say that animals are unaware of death, the contemplation of the death of self, however, requires that one look towards the future and have the ability to recognize chains of consequences (in other words you need a much longer attention span than your average animal ).

Animals are aware of their illnesses. I doubt, that they are aware they are dying.

As far as humans are concerned, are the young as aware as the elderly, that they're dying?

Most young people don't think they'll ever die, whereas the elderly are waiting to die. Some individuals are aware, that death is approaching. How? Perhaps by life experiences.

As far as evolution is concerned, the ability to detect that death is near, is totally independent of any evolutionary process. What would the advantage be, for a species to "know" that it was dying"?

But my point was that the ability to know of the possibilility of (future) death has survival value because it motivates efforts to defend oneself against future dangers. Other animals instinctively watch for and defend against present dangers. When a lion approaches zebras at a watering hole he would have less success if they posted scouts to watch for him. Instead, they instinctively watch for signs of his presence. No long term planning involved there. And the ability and motivation to do long-term planning is, I argue, a tremendous advantage in the struggle for survival.

Sorry for scaring you off with my first response. I do think it boils down to that though. We understood we would die incidentally as our intelligence logically evolved. Likewise technology is a byproduct of evolution. As our intelligence increases we understand more and are able to do things that do not follow natural selection. For example, an ugly nerd can become rich. If animals progress far enough in intelligence they will understand that they will die. Perhaps some do.

We have the advantage in being aware of our own mortality as we can create value with our lives. As we lay on our death beds we can happilly reflect and realize it was all worth it - or not.

What we do on the deathbed (aside from imparting our accrued wisdom, which is largely irrelevant in a literate society) has no evolutionary consequences.

Question: Do animals avoid danger because they are afraid of dying or because they are afraid of pain?