The article explains that when people make decisions about the future, they consider not only how likely they are to live, but also how much they value each year of life. If someone is afraid of dying early, they may place less importance on future events. This can lead to inconsistent decisions over time. The researchers used computer simulations to show that this type of thinking, called hyperbolic discounting, is common when people are risk-averse about their lifespan. This means that people may value things differently depending on how far in the future they are.