This is like asking what’s wet about the water. I can’t imagine a frame of mind that could put “pain” in doubt without putting “bad” in similar doubt, thus making the question meaningless and confusing like some kind of koan. “What’s X-like about X?” To reduce confusion you should try a less vague formulation, like “why do people seek to avoid pain?”, where we can hope for a neurological answer or something.
ETA: Righting a Wrong Question seems to apply well here, simplifying your question to “Why do people think pain is bad?” which is much easier to answer.
Staring from the point you’ve suggested, I would say:
People don’t think pain is bad—not when it directs them to do something in their interest like let go of a hot stove, or be aware they have a broken bone. Moreover, on careful reflection, most people would want to get a pain signal when e.g. cancer is developing so they can treat it at the earliest possible time, and will be shielded from any procrastination.
Is it easy enough that you could answer it? I don’t know why people think pain is bad, either, except that we don’t like it—and I addressed that as an explanation in the article.
You mean the bit about masochists? We don’t need to explain why they think pain is bad in their specific circumstances, because they don’t think pain is bad in those specific circumstances. As for the rest of us (and the masochists when they’re outside the bedroom), we find pain painful because those who didn’t got themselves killed instead of contributing to our lineage.
This is like asking what’s wet about the water. I can’t imagine a frame of mind that could put “pain” in doubt without putting “bad” in similar doubt, thus making the question meaningless and confusing like some kind of koan. “What’s X-like about X?” To reduce confusion you should try a less vague formulation, like “why do people seek to avoid pain?”, where we can hope for a neurological answer or something.
ETA: Righting a Wrong Question seems to apply well here, simplifying your question to “Why do people think pain is bad?” which is much easier to answer.
Staring from the point you’ve suggested, I would say:
People don’t think pain is bad—not when it directs them to do something in their interest like let go of a hot stove, or be aware they have a broken bone. Moreover, on careful reflection, most people would want to get a pain signal when e.g. cancer is developing so they can treat it at the earliest possible time, and will be shielded from any procrastination.
Is it easy enough that you could answer it? I don’t know why people think pain is bad, either, except that we don’t like it—and I addressed that as an explanation in the article.
You mean the bit about masochists? We don’t need to explain why they think pain is bad in their specific circumstances, because they don’t think pain is bad in those specific circumstances. As for the rest of us (and the masochists when they’re outside the bedroom), we find pain painful because those who didn’t got themselves killed instead of contributing to our lineage.