> That is a funny question. It is like asking: what is the evolutionary advantage of a broken leg?
i'm unconvinced... a broken leg isn't a normal biological function, while (afaik) pain is an entirely internal process that is a 'response' mechanism.
> Sometimes things go wrong and the result is pain. There is no purpose to it; it just happened. Not everything has an evolutionary purpose.
the ostensible purpose of 'some' pain is to cause you to stop or avoid doing something damaging, or being aware of a need to seek remedy. for those few people who don't feel any physical pain (congenital analgesia)... life is actually more dangerous.
when it comes to incapacitating levels of pain, things seem to get murky. there is some arguable benefit to adopting a protective posture (covering a wound, adopting a fetal position, etc) to mitigate further harm... but it seems these same behaviors can also increase risk of harm as well, especially when it comes to pain causing reduced situational awareness and other reasoning impairments.
i'm unconvinced... a broken leg isn't a normal biological function, while (afaik) pain is an entirely internal process that is a 'response' mechanism.
> Sometimes things go wrong and the result is pain. There is no purpose to it; it just happened. Not everything has an evolutionary purpose.
the ostensible purpose of 'some' pain is to cause you to stop or avoid doing something damaging, or being aware of a need to seek remedy. for those few people who don't feel any physical pain (congenital analgesia)... life is actually more dangerous.
when it comes to incapacitating levels of pain, things seem to get murky. there is some arguable benefit to adopting a protective posture (covering a wound, adopting a fetal position, etc) to mitigate further harm... but it seems these same behaviors can also increase risk of harm as well, especially when it comes to pain causing reduced situational awareness and other reasoning impairments.