even though evolution doesn’t have a concept of a fate being “worse than death”—certainly not worse than the death of your extended family.
But as long as you’re alive, evolution can penalize you for losses of ‘utility’ (reproductive ability). For example:
Loss of a limb:
is excruciating
seems likely to decrease ability to reproduce and take care of offspring and relatives—especially in “the evolutionary environment”.
The only weird part of this story is the existence of suicide.*
*From a basic evolutionary perspective, it makes more sense in the piece History is Written by the Losers where it is revealed that the man who ‘invented history**’ in China chose to live rather than commit suicide after being sentenced to castration—an act which was inconceivable at the time. The context in which people would rather commit suicide than avoid other circumstances however, paints a picture of suicide as a social phenomenon. Arguably this might makes sense evolutionarily, but it’s a more complicated picture.
“because he was principled enough to contradict the emperor in the presence of his court, Sima Qian was sentenced to castration. This was a death sentence—any self-respecting man of his day would commit suicide before submitting to the procedure. Everyone expected Sima Qian to do so. But in the end Sima Qian decided to accept the punishment and live the rest of his life in shame, because if he did not he would never finish the history he had started.”
**The idea of writing things down as they happened so future generations would know.
“That a great thinker could profitably spend his time sorting through evidence, trying to tie together cause and effect, distinguishing truth from legend, then present what is found in a written historical narrative—it is an idea that seems to have never occurred to anyone on the entire subcontinent. Only in Greece and in China did this notion catch hold.”
But as long as you’re alive, evolution can penalize you for losses of ‘utility’ (reproductive ability). For example:
Loss of a limb:
is excruciating
seems likely to decrease ability to reproduce and take care of offspring and relatives—especially in “the evolutionary environment”.
The only weird part of this story is the existence of suicide.*
*From a basic evolutionary perspective, it makes more sense in the piece History is Written by the Losers where it is revealed that the man who ‘invented history**’ in China chose to live rather than commit suicide after being sentenced to castration—an act which was inconceivable at the time. The context in which people would rather commit suicide than avoid other circumstances however, paints a picture of suicide as a social phenomenon. Arguably this might makes sense evolutionarily, but it’s a more complicated picture.
“because he was principled enough to contradict the emperor in the presence of his court, Sima Qian was sentenced to castration. This was a death sentence—any self-respecting man of his day would commit suicide before submitting to the procedure. Everyone expected Sima Qian to do so. But in the end Sima Qian decided to accept the punishment and live the rest of his life in shame, because if he did not he would never finish the history he had started.”
**The idea of writing things down as they happened so future generations would know.
“That a great thinker could profitably spend his time sorting through evidence, trying to tie together cause and effect, distinguishing truth from legend, then present what is found in a written historical narrative—it is an idea that seems to have never occurred to anyone on the entire subcontinent. Only in Greece and in China did this notion catch hold.”