>> Robert Lowell once said that if humans had access to a button that would kill us instantly and painlessly, we would all press it sooner or later. > I think

>> Robert Lowell once said that if humans had access to a button that would kill us instantly and painlessly, we would all press it sooner or later. > I think this explains suicide better: For most, it’s an irrational act done in the spur of the moment. Or it's rational, but we have some "irrational" mechanisms to prevent it that are best defeated by an impulsive act [1]. I don't actually believe that, but it's hard to argue against it under certain common sets of assumptions. [1] e.g. from a rationalist/materialist perspective: suicide is to avoid/escape pain, and it also removes the pain of guilt for doing it and the pain of missing out on all future pleasures, etc. However, evolution has formed us to reproduce, no matter how painful the struggle is and how subjectively irrational it is to endure it.