Sarcasm is an adjusted stress reaction.

My first thought when they said "suffering is information," was that people were killing themselves in order to avoid giving any more information to the invaders, a much more compelling and uplifting reason.

I agree. Because the dialogue with the CERN guy was something like:

"We're saving the world."
"How is blowing yourself up saving the world?"
"Because this is not the world!"

They were killing themselves to mess up the simulation.