It Costs A Lot More Than It's Worth, And Yet There Is No Substitute

Gin must really be something.  Haven't tried it myself, but Stephin Merritt's song is spot-on in every other respect.  So that got me thinking about what other things are unjustifiable and irreplaceable too.  Besides Love and a Bottle Of Gin, what else requires so much time or money or tedious effort, or has so many odious consequences, that it hardly makes sense why anyone bothers?  And yet, you know, nothing else in the world comes close.

• children
• marriage
• home
• sex
• sleep
• travel
• exercise
• democracy
• consensus
• salt, before 1945
• God, after 1859
  
• communication skills
• freedom of speech and press
• randomized, double-blind trials
• space exploration
• thinking

In each case, even considering the cons outcount the pros, who would wish a world without it?