The "will" to live (Score 1)

I think you're mixing the will to live and the instinct to stay alive here. Most people who think they're better off dead and who doesn't kill themselves doesn't choose not to take their own life - they just can't bring themselves to do it.

This comes, of course, from evolution. Not killing oneself is a major survival trait, and in non-sentient beings there exists no suicidal thoughts. Humans, on the other hand, are sentient beings. This means that rational thought control our lives, instead of pure instinct. Still, some instinct still lingers. This instinct is what hinders most people with suicidal tendencies from killing themselves, and it is also what prevents most people from going around their neighbourhood, killing people they don't like - shooting one's own speices is not a good thing.

I realize this is a bit off-topic and that my prose sucks, but all these posts about "if she thougt she'd be better off dead, she'd be dead." really irritated me. The duality of a suicidal mind makes that state even more miserable. I still think it's good when people recover from this, though. There's evolution for you.

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