Fear is one of our oldest instincts. It kept our ancestors alive, adrenaline that allows us to run and think faster. It was simple and physical, and it still is, but there has been a change. People feel fear when their phone rings, when they have to send an email or speak in front of 30 people even if there’s no physical threat present.
Our fears have evolved and changed. We flinch at being seen, being acknowledged, some more than others. Some people are terrified of judgement, rejection. Our fears have moved houses to something inwards, in our brains, minds, phones.
Machines, just like us, have learned to fear. A self-driving car “fears” collision, a language model avoids harmful speech, an algorithm takes a step back from uncertain data. Their fear is not emotional, it’s a coded instinct to disengage or avoid. We program their hesitations.
Trading algorithms pull out of volatile markets when uncertainty spikes. They’re not emotional but they mirror the human tendency to retreat when risk feels too high. It’s an automated version of our own flight response.
We can imagine our own creature, a system built to detect instability in digital environments with a simple purpose: pull back when data becomes chaotic in order to prevent system failure. At first, its reactions could be predictable, basic: ignoring corrupting files, pause during overloads. But maybe, over time its pattern recognition evolves, predicting instability before it happens, hesitating when faced with unfamiliar information. It stops just reacting to problems, it can start to anticipate them.
This behaviour could be described as “cautious.” But the hesitation is programmed, it mimics the human tendency to avoid uncertainty, even if there’s no real threat present.
Fear comes forth out of self-preservation, whether biological or digital; it acts as a safety mechanism, it tells us what feels safe to explore and prevents physical, emotional or structural damage. However, if our own creature avoids all uncertainty, it will stop learning. Similarly, when we avoid discomfort (like sending a difficult email or turning down a presentation), we limit our own development.
We need fear, but we also need to learn how to let go of fear.