There's a big question, arguably more important than survival itself. I've always had this saying "I want to live, failing that I'd rather die than survive" (though as a kid it was in much simpler words lol). What I'm hoping to do here is gather everybody's input on the topic and hopefully find a way to apply it to my life, then help others apply it to theirs.
This is what I notice about neurotypicals: Pretty often, they look stupid to me. They do weird and irrational things - they lie about their emotional state (i.e. "I'm fine (no I'm really pissed off)"), don't mind working minimum wage jobs for years, then when they get their wage they spend it all on their bills and children. That seems to be the definition of civilised normality. Regardless, they're happy. I don't think they really are stupid, it's just that they appear so to me, because these things have no meaning to me. But even if they were stupid, they're still happy.
Then you get me (and you?) - I have big ambitions (that I've barely ever achieved), above average intelligence, I thrive in violence and am never under threat, I can be super-confident because even though I don't know what to say to people - people tend to smile when I talk to them, and like me. I have a habit of getting what I want - I got fired from my job two months ago (which I held for 1 month), yet I constantly have surplus money in my bank. Last year I was an engineering student, and while a student I lived on my own in a 3-bedroom house, spent £1.5k on a computer, and bought pot by the ounce - and I still done well at college and had something to eat at every break. It's almost like I'm immune to the sufferings that other people complain about, like not being able to pay their rent, feeling lonely, being robbed, etc.
You'd think I'll be a lot happier than most people, right? But this is one of the major lessons I've learned from my 20 years of survival - pleasure is not happiness. It's an aspect, but it appears there's so much more to being truly happy that just slips right past me. I live in constant search of pleasure because it takes my mind off the fact that I'm never happy, and I get angry when I can't have it (understandably so, I'd hope).
What I've described pretty much fits the profile of a psychopath, I know, but I'm not that - I know because I have foresight (I'm afraid of prison, for example), feel pain, and become guilty when I hurt someone who didn't deserve it.
I was diagnosed with aspergers when I was a kid and it seems to be related to that - I don't know how many of you are nodding your heads right now and saying "sounds like my life". Though I speak to another psychiatrist next Tuesday and I may also get a diagnosis of Reactive-Attachment Disorder (on the bright side, I'll be RAD, man!) - which would at least explain a lot about my lack of emotional feedback from social activity.
The sign of hope (I think) is that when I was a kid, I wanted to be in a band - I even formed a few bands, my first one being in P5 and we were called "The Nutters" (lol). Obviously being in single-digit age ranges we didn't do much in the way of actual performance.
I wanted to be in a band not because it was "easy money", or entertainment, but because all my favourite bands seemed so happy and fulfilled - they live a social lifestyle, a small group of close friends travelling the world and yes, entertaining people. I listen to a lot of music and my favourite types go from death metal to punk to RAC, then from reggae to drum 'n' bass to darkstep. But my favourite bands are different - my favourite right now is a Norwegian pop-punk group made of 3 girls and a guy who's probably gay. I established contact and spoke to this band before they broke the barrier and became semi-famous. I was amazed and had butterflies when they actually spoke to me. Then they forgot about me 
The reason I love them is because they seem to exhibit pure happiness and be totally satisfied with their lives - nothing really to do with the music but you can hear it in their (older) songs anyway.
TL;DR - Pleasure is not happiness. Discuss what happiness is and how to achieve it. It's got to be a lot more complex than simply "bonding with people".