There is no pleasure equal to the most extreme suffering or the most extreme situations that cause suffering, and therefore keeping suffering around for the sake of pleasure is not worth it. Suffering is both more intense and more widespread, and one being’s pleasure often depends on the suffering of many others. This pattern appears in both human systems and the wild, where enormous numbers of animals suffer and die to sustain comparatively fewer individuals. Most of them die in adolescence by becoming prey, accidents, or getting discarded by their mother.

 

Pleasure, happiness, and comfort are unnecessary if nobody exists. Wanting these things to exist “just because” is frivolous. On the other hand, being free of extreme and unwanted suffering is a serious need.