People are able to push through a whole lot of suffering when they have meaning. When all pleasure is taken away (e.g. concentration camps), only the people who have something to live for are able to survive. (ref. "Man's search for meaning" by Viktor Frankl)
Too bad he doesn't mention evolution, because it plays an important role in preferring individuals who find meaning in something.
He does mention the evolutionary advantages of finding meaning briefly, at first, and then comes back to it toward the end of the essay. (He does a poor job of breaking his essays up into obvious sections, though; sorry for the lack of links to back me up).
Too bad he doesn't mention evolution, because it plays an important role in preferring individuals who find meaning in something.