I'm consistently bewildered by the amount we concern ourselves with thoughts of our eventual death, as we live.
We will not care when we are dead, nor be capable of doing so, but as we live the thought follows us. In many ways how we contemplate death shapes who we become. Fear of death inspires indulgence in superstition and suspension of reason, in favor of comfort. Whereas acceptance of death often leaves one with an uncomfortable awareness of eventual inexistence. It also however sheads light on what gives life value.

Unless false (albeit emotionally reassuring) concepts like the existence of eternal souls or guiding deities are abandoned, true comprehension of life's value as well as what gives it said value, will never be achieved.
If it is believed that eternity is granted in some metaphysical form to complex enough biological consciousnesses, suddenly the problems of the world fade away. For most people, eternity has a name, and a moral compass. One that will be acted upon after death. Those suffering will be compensated, those wronged righted; and those with power to change things, that instead live lives of self interest, punished. Rather than realizing that this one life is all anyone gets, and letting that govern how we treat others, make choices, and measure the importance of the quality of lives lived.
The mindset that arises from a belief in eternity is all encompassing, and influences how all a person experiences in life is perceived.
These psychological tendencies are seemingly inherit to humanity, by means of common group mentality. Whichever system of belief we are raised into, we, in large, believe. All manifestations of the same fundamental desire for grandiose purpose, and escape from honest contemplation of death.
To accept death is to face the harshest truth. In doing so we are granted perspective unatainable otherwise

The "no one knows" response to the concept of death's finality is, to put it simply, a symptom of a psychological defense mechanism. One that seeks to ignore the hard earned understanding that the mind is, what the brain does, in favor of protecting the individual from having to contemplate their eventual nonexistence.
To suggest that when our hearts stop beating, and our brain cells die off, the question of what happens to our consciousness suddenly becomes unknown or unknowable, is to admit that you would rather be comfortable than intellectually honest. That you would rather believe anything, than contemplate nothing.

If the threat of eternal punishment in tandem with the potential prospect of eternal reward is the only thing that keeps you from committing acts of cruelty, and motivates you to be kind to others, then you cannot honestly claim to be a good person.
The existential carrot and stick of belief systems like this are an obvious control tool, not a solid base for an ethical framework.

The only way our species will ever arrive at a point where the majority of people understand the value of being alive, and of improving the lives of those living, will be through a collective understanding and acceptance of the finality of death.