There seems to be a deeply encoded function in the human psyche that tells people that everything will eventually end. It is really bizarre. I noticed it in science fiction literature, even though most of those authors are 100% secular and many are atheists. No matter how advanced or widespread a civilization is, there is always an implication that it won't last forever. For example, I just finished a sci-fi book called Pushing Ice, and in, the human civilization spans the entire galaxy, with billions of colonized solar systems. We fast forward a couple of millions years, and the species had gone extinct. How? No clue is provided apart from a conversation between two characters where one tells the other "what, you think humans will last for millions of years? That's just egotism". No explanation. No plausible mechanism. nothing. It's like the author thinks some day children will be born, turn around and say "you're telling me we've been around for a million years? No thanks, see ya". This is an extremely common mentality. I can give hundreds of examples.
