If fearing death is, indeed, a uniquely human trait, if fearing death is one of the consequences of being conscious, and if fearing death helps to keep human beings alive, this suggests that consciousness—core consciousness—contributes more to the biological fitness of human beings than to that of any other animal. It could even mean that human consciousness, at this basic core level, has in fact come under new pressure from natural selection.
— Humphrey, Nicholas. Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2011.
