Found the answer myself. Protects against fungal attacks. Also birds don't have the same receptors to capsaicin.

Is Tabasco delicious? I find the Sriracha from couple of years ago delicious (the current one is much worse), but Tabasco always tasted like a white vinegar mixed with capsaicin.

Sriracha is now completely random from bottle to bottle. It goes from Tabasco to Carolina Reaper with no visual indicator. Turns out fucking over your loyal farmers and having to constantly scrounge has negative consequences…

That's because evolution is a results-driven process. All that matters is making viable offspring. Doesn't matter how it gets done.

Oh, we’re not resistant, we’re just crazy enough to like the pain. Birds are resistant and don’t feel it at all, they can eat chilis like fruits.

There's a book called The Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan, which is about this. Looking from the plants eye view of things, they have manipulated us into growing them in a huge variety of environments. The book focuses on tulips, cannabis, apples, and potatoes, iirc. Fascinating book.

Two quick examples from the book:

Pot gets us high, now we grow it in closets, warehouses, yards, basements, attics, etc.

Apples don't reproduce true from seed, so Johnny Appleseed brought readily available cider to the Americas. (You need a cutting of an apple tree to grow that type of apple.)

I’m actually surprised that I’ve never found cotton candy coated with tajin, now that you mention it.

Humans: I will now cultivate you, export you, protect you and make sure you're growing well so I can keep smoking you despite a 50% chance of dying from it.

Tobacco clearly has the last laugh in this story.

Huy Fong branded Sriracha. It’s the worst option because they fucked over their pepper suppliers so the quality is terrible now. Get any other kind of Sriracha and it’ll be better.

Hot cock sauce

Sriracha sauce, it’s really good