Why does Man seek death-defying adventures?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/sports/dean-potter-final-yosemite-jump.html?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad

Dean Potter jumped. Graham Hunt followed. Potter’s longtime girlfriend snapped photographs. Then came confusion, hope and despair.

Wissai's note:

I am afraid of heights. I admire risk-takers, but consider these base jumpers and those climbing mountains with their bare hands and no safety belts and ropes are suicidal people who have a death wish. Every time they beat Death, they feel alive and achieve an addictive high which has to be repeated over and over until they have an accident and die. But all humans do that, in a far less dramatic and extreme manner, from talking too much to overeating to irritating/provoking others to speeding. 

Freud had a very penetrating insight about human drives: Man alone has both a life force and a death wish. All other animals only have an instinct for self-preservation. 

Man somehow cannot live without excitement. If he does not have it imposed on him, he must seek it through unprovoked wars, sports, gambling, and other risky behaviors. 

Man cannot handle boredom. He must test the boundaries and his physical limitations. In doing so he feels alive and godlike. Look at the acrobatic movements/martial arts moves humans can achieve. 

Man is an incomplete, self-conflicting, but marvelous animal. I am glad I was born a human and a male at that. While a human female is more resilient and lives longer than a male, a male is driven to seek adventures and physical limits. He feels he must do so in order to find out what he is made of. To him, self-knowledge and curiosity are more important than survival. To him, life is more than just survival and pro-creation. It must be fun. And fun is achieved in seeking challenges and living to tell the tales. 

In a small measure, I've been seeking disapproval, raised eyebrows, and consternation by mocking and laughing at social conventions. To me, social conventions are for morons and monkeys. I hate and despise mediocrities and hollow, phony fame and glory. A real man must somehow act like a god: strong, solitary, free and numb of petty hurts and worries. I look down on petty-minded men who constantly seek approval and admiration from others. A man you must really impress is yourself and nobody else. By the way, I admire very, very few living men. My heroes are true intellectual or moral giants. Almost all humans I know personally are scumbags, deep down, who put on masks to deceive others and even themselves.