What part of our psyche stops us living in constant existential terror knowing that our lives are finite and why?

Question

I’ve often wondered why the realisation of a finite existence has never been strong enough for humanity to pour all its scientific endeavors into extending it.

In: Biology

Answer 1

1: You’re kind of making an assumption. Many people live their lives in the exact existential terror you describe. This is called Thanatophobia or mortality anxiety.

2: In those lucky enough not to, it’s presumably the same mechanism by which emotions in general pass; why you’re not still angry now about something that happened to you years ago, a combination of being desensitised since you’re always aware of it, and like an old pain, you get used to it, and good old fashioned denial.