Not volunteer for it alone, but try it as a part of a bigger package. Kind of like a more realistic version of a horror movie/game.

Do you think i am entirely wrong, and suffering is worse than death?

Do you think it is better to die, instead of enduring suffering and then getting to live some more?

My gut feeling is that you do very little work with your hands, because your pain-o-meter seems to have drifted in a very unrealistic direction.

I agree. I'd do a heck of a lot more unsafe shit if I knew I could survive it without permanent damage. It's the permanent damage that keeps me from doing flagrantly unsafe stuff, not the pain. You wind up causing yourself pain in all sorts of avoidable but not terribly unsafe ways.

It's is amazing the pain and suffering a human can endure through shear force of will. In Ranger School in the US Army the primary thing you learn more then anything else is you mind can tell your body to shut up deal.

> Do you think i am entirely wrong, and suffering is worse than death?

Yes. Read reports of torture victims. They frequently request death over continued pain.

Torture violates several points of the hypothetical:

- torture causes permanent physical damage

- torture causes mental trauma

- the torture victim does not know when the torture will stop

> Do you think i am entirely wrong, and suffering is worse than death?

In some cases, certainly.

I'd also say that it being voluntary, and knowing that there is an end (and can be brought to an end by you), makes for a very different experience.

I think you severely underestimate how much painful torture is.

If you knew there would be no permanent damage would you do it for $10, $100, $1,000, some amount that assures you never have to work again, etc?

There's many cultures that have coming of age rituals that would be considered torture in the western world. People do those things because they're "part of a larger package" so to speak.

There being "many cultures" that do this, I'd like to hear some examples. The only ones I can come up with are fictional

Random cut and pastes:

THAIPUSAM, MALAYSIA

In a demonstration of devotion and offer of penance to the Hindu God Lord Murugan, devotees perform incredible (and sometimes gruesome!) feats. They pierce their body and face with skewers, drag chariots with hooks attached to their skin and carry uncomfortable metal frames called ‘kavadis’ through the streets and up the 272 steps to the shrine at the top of the cave. During the festival some participants enter trance-like states when their soul is believed to be cleansed of sins.

PHUKET VEGETARIAN FESTIVAL, THAILAND

By the name of this festival you may assume it to be a gentle affair where new-age vegetarian hippies share tofu recipes over yoga mats in Thailand. However, the Phuket Vegetarian festival is one of the craziest, most spectacular events in South East Asia. You’ll witness incredible acts of self-torture such as walking on hot coals, climbing bladed ladders and the piercing of cheeks with swords, shards of glass – even beach umbrellas.

Filipino fanatics re-enact crucifixion for Good Friday

In a bloody display of religious devotion Roman Catholic fanatics in the Philippines have had themselves nailed to the cross as the Christian world marks the day Jesus was crucified.

Read the link for quotes from people talking about the repeated nerve pain, blood, etc.:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-06/philippino-fanatics-cr...

These are the most extreme example I know of, but it's a lot of pain for a manhood ritual

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maw%C3%A9_people