I would say that most people would go crazy in solitary confinement. They don't call it torture in most countries for nothing. It has nothing to do with individual personality, it's just how we're built as a species. We need other people to regulate our own moods. To some extent maybe the meaning of our lives comes from the values and the judgments we take from society.

Aside from that I can understand the drive to be solitary. Isolation can mean creativity and independence. But I think what bothers most people is the feeling that they can't access others if they need to. There are a lot of people in this world who for social, emotional or geographic regions just can't get their needs for company or conversation met met. And it's painful. I think most people want to know that there is someone out there.

Just the other day there was this newspaper article about the last survivor of an Amazonian tribe. All of his family and friends had died out. This man lives all alone in the jungle. He has nobody to talk to, can't access medical help or modern facilities unless he travels 100 miles. To me, that would be a form of torture. But for someone who feels like they are keeping alive the values of their culture, it may be very different.

In any case I think the point is some people strongly value being connected, some people less so. Depending on that you may feel one way or the other about loneliness. But we all need people at times.