Why do so few humans kill themselves?
While interesting, this article seems to ignore the possibility that most people simply have a very strong desire to live. It assumes that if someone is suffering, and death would end that suffering, then suicide makes sense, and something weird must be going on to make people keep going.<p>But this really doesn&#x27;t make sense. The entire concept of suffering exists merely to keep us alive. We experience pain and despair and sadness not because it&#x27;s some inherent part of being conscious, but because those sensations help us to avoid things which are detrimental to survival. When push comes to shove, the drive to survive is what&#x27;s fundamental, and that will (usually) override the desire to avoid suffering.<p>As intelligent, conscious beings, we have the capability to understand when survival is no longer possible, making suffering a waste. Thus we can, sometimes, override our desire to live in the face of terminal illness. But what&#x27;s weird is not the fact that we don&#x27;t constantly kill ourselves at the first sign of trouble, what&#x27;s weird is the fact that we <i>do</i> sometimes kill ourselves when things look completely hopeless. You might as well <i>try</i> to stay alive, after all.