Charcharo said:
I still dont get why MOST people are THAT damned terrified. Especially from an animal that is for most people absolutely harmless.
*Note: People with arachnophobia I understand. It is extremely hard to overcome that even if you are rational.
Actually, it's believed by some that spiders are psychic and can project a degree of fear and use it to paralyze their prey. This is allegedly why most people have an innate fear/revulsion reaction to them, and in many cases will even seize up for a second even if the spider is tiny. Allegedly this happens to the prey of a lot of spiders as well, who for whatever reason don't react quite as "rationally" as they would for their species when confronted. I'm not saying this has been proven or anything, it's just something I've read before, and it's also probably why so much fantasy tends to give spiders mind-effecting powers or psionics and stuff as well as generally tying them to mysticism.
I tend to mostly think it comes due to an inherent distrust and revulsion of anything really alien, Spiders are just too different, and also recognized as being predators even if they are not generally threats to us. People tend to have similar reactions to say an Angler Fish, realty big spiders are pretty much the land based version.
I've heard theories about memetic responses being encoded for survival reasons, with people being afraid of certain species like Spiders due to having been preyed upon them heavily at one time. While I suppose in theory there might have been giant spiders at one point that went extinct, and that the nature of their bodies might not have left remains, but when you consider people don't have the same kind of responses to cats and dogs which preyed on us for a VERY long time (and still can under the right circumstances). Basically Fluffy The House Cat doesn't inspire an immediate attack of instinctive dread because of some lizard brain reminder of your ancestors being chomped on by huge tigers, nor does Fido The Puppy cause instinctive reactions based on how Wolf Packs competed with human very effectively up until the last few centuries (guns really changed that). Yes I know Lupine and Canine are different, but as they say every dog does go back to a wolf.
As far as that Spider goes, perhaps the elusive sighting is a sign that Lloth's return is imminent
That said I'm not an arachnophobe but I do tend to have an aversion to spiders when I see them even when I know they are harmless. Of course then again I suppose part of it is rational because I am not an expert, and I find it wrong that someone so small can potentially kill a person with the right poison. On some levels that big spider bothers me less than say a Brown Recluse or Black Widow, because it at least looks dangerous and I can accept it more on that level even if it's fairly harmless in reality. Brush against the wrong woodpile and have some really bad luck and it could be the end of your life though, especially if nobody is around to get help immediately. That's scarier than the spiders you see.