It's easier for two people to cope with one bad experience each than for one guy to cope with two bad experiences.
Each individual has a tolerance of what they can comfortably cope with. If 3^^^3 people were all experiencing a pain that is below that tolerance, nobody would be prevented from happiness. However in the other situation, the tortured individual clearly would be.
Empathic "strangers" help others, in many contexts, often at personal risk.
That's what separates humans from singularitarian quantum computing devices.