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Topic: The value of a human life (Read 1027 times) |
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David Lucifer
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Enlighten me.
  
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The value of a human life
« on: 2005-04-24 16:26:54 » |
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Source: http://www.livejournal.com/users/david_lucifer/7654.html
Yesterday's edition of Tom the Dancing Bug comic criticizes the Bush administration by ridiculing the notion of attaching a monetary value to human life in order to do cost/benefit analysis on federal policy.
My contention is that it is necessary to quantifiy the value of human life in order to make rational decisions concerning how much money to spend on safety. I concede that it may seem cold and heartless at first glance but what is the alternative? Are random, inconsistent and capricious policy decisions any more humanitarian or fair? I don't think so.
It would be nice if the world could be made perfectly safe for everyone but that isn't a realistic option at this point so tradeoffs are unavoidable and they should be made rationally. What do you think?
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DrSebby
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...Oh, you smell of lambs!
     
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RE: virus: The value of a human life
« Reply #1 on: 2005-04-25 00:08:33 » |
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....i have long tried to bring this notion to light within my local network
of aquaintences. it is highly unpopular and usually precedes long speeches
and the distinct "clang!" of mental cogs freezing up.
...it is surprisingly easy to lead people through a series of questions and
"if this, then that.." logic whereby they are quickly confronted with the
contradictions in their 'values'...but they will usually bail out of the
arguement with an emotional ploy whereby they can shut down the dialogue.
...In a very real way, time DOES = money. since at some level money is
always generated by actual time and effort, it is not much of a stretch to
figure out that $10,000,000 for example, will cost maybe 10 individuals of
education and grooming, about 75% of their waking lives to generate. so
when i hear a CEO steals 10million dollars, i sort of equate it to
sentencing 10 people to life terms of slavery at the very least. if killing
someone effectively takes away everything someone has and all their gonna'
have...it's really just an expression of time and freedom. if someone
steals a million dollars, somewhere this means that tens of thousands of
people will have worked maybe an hour each for nothing. not to suggest that
work-time equates dead time, but some jobs out there arent far from it.
...if this generates any argument, pose the question to yourself, "would you
rather have 2 hrs of free-time or 5 hrs of working a job you dont really
care to do?"(the bulk of jobs are such i think).
DrSebby.
"Courage...and shuffle the cards".
----Original Message Follows----
From: "David Lucifer" <david@lucifer.com>
Reply-To: virus@lucifer.com
To: virus@lucifer.com
Subject: virus: The value of a human life
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2005 14:26:55 -0600
Source: http://www.livejournal.com/users/david_lucifer/7654.html
Yesterday's edition of Tom the Dancing Bug comic criticizes the Bush
administration by ridiculing the notion of attaching a monetary value to
human life in order to do cost/benefit analysis on federal policy.
http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/td/2005/td050423.gif
My contention is that it is necessary to quantifiy the value of human life
in order to make rational decisions concerning how much money to spend on
safety. I concede that it may seem cold and heartless at first glance but
what is the alternative? Are random, inconsistent and capricious policy
decisions any more humanitarian or fair? I don't think so.
It would be nice if the world could be made perfectly safe for everyone but
that isn't a realistic option at this point so tradeoffs are unavoidable and
they should be made rationally. What do you think?
----
This message was posted by David Lucifer to the Virus 2005 board on Church
of Virus BBS.
<http://www.churchofvirus.org/bbs/index.php?board=65;action=display;threadid=32328>
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"courage and shuffle the cards..."
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MoEnzyme
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infidel lab animal
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RE: virus: The value of a human life
« Reply #2 on: 2005-04-27 01:27:03 » |
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> [Original Message]
> From: David Lucifer <david@lucifer.com>
> To: <virus@lucifer.com>
> Date: 04/24/2005 1:26:55 PM
> Subject: virus: The value of a human life
>
>
> Source: http://www.livejournal.com/users/david_lucifer/7654.html
>
> Yesterday's edition of Tom the Dancing Bug comic criticizes the Bush
administration by ridiculing the notion of attaching a monetary value to
human life in order to do cost/benefit analysis on federal policy.
>
> http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/td/2005/td050423.gif
>
> My contention is that it is necessary to quantifiy the value of human
life in order to make rational decisions concerning how much money to spend
on safety. I concede that it may seem cold and heartless at first glance
but what is the alternative? Are random, inconsistent and capricious policy
decisions any more humanitarian or fair? I don't think so.
>
> It would be nice if the world could be made perfectly safe for everyone
but that isn't a realistic option at this point so tradeoffs are
unavoidable and they should be made rationally. What do you think?
I think that's how the world works. Actuaries have this figured out to a
tee, and economic decisions follow which place some monetary value on our
lives whether or not we become aware of them. Talking to someone in the
insurance business can bring us up to speed on how this works. Perhaps the
real question here is do we value reality as it and work with it, or is it
an evil to be resisted. I'm with Dr. Pangloss on this one.
"It is proved that things cannot be other than they are, for since
everything is made for a purpose, it follows that everything is made for
the best purpose." Dr. Pangloss
-Jake
>
>
> ----
> This message was posted by David Lucifer to the Virus 2005 board on
Church of Virus BBS.
>
<http://www.churchofvirus.org/bbs/index.php?board=65;action=display;threadid
=32328>
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> To unsubscribe from the Virus list go to
<http://www.lucifer.com/cgi-bin/virus-l>
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I will fight your gods for food,
Mo Enzyme
(consolidation of handles: Jake Sapiens; memelab; logicnazi; Loki; Every1Hz; and Shadow)
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Blunderov
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"We think in generalities, we live in details"
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RE: virus: The value of a human life
« Reply #3 on: 2005-04-27 15:28:10 » |
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Jake Sapiens
Sent: 27 April 2005 07:27 AM
I think that's how the world works. Actuaries have this figured out to
a
tee, and economic decisions follow which place some monetary value on
our
lives whether or not we become aware of them. Talking to someone in the
insurance business can bring us up to speed on how this works. Perhaps
the
real question here is do we value reality as it and work with it, or is
it
an evil to be resisted. I'm with Dr. Pangloss on this one.
"It is proved that things cannot be other than they are, for since
everything is made for a purpose, it follows that everything is made for
the best purpose." Dr. Pangloss
[Blunderov] I have no problem with the idea of ascribing a monetary
value to human life. In a monetary context it is legitimate to use a
monetary index, or so it seems to me.
Human life can be, and often is, valued in contexts which are not
quantifiable in any objective sense. Exactly how humorous was your
grandfather actually? Did he love your grandmother more than your
father? If so, exactly how much? And so on.
So, it seems to me, the comic-strip has exploited a sort of fallacy of
composition for the purpose of rhetoric. The 'quantifiable' in a
particular context has been misrepresented as applicable to other,
non-quantifiable, contexts as well.
I think much the same sort of thing goes on with the argument that, for
instance, torturing one person in order to save the lives of two others
is the "right" thing to do by virtue of plain arithmetic - that it is
the "lesser evil". The way I see it, there are no lesser evils. This is
not within the remit of the word IMO. It may be expedient to torture. It
may be the effective thing to do. It may even be the necessary thing to
do. Often, sadly, it will be the popular thing to do as witness the
death penalty. But its 'particular nature' namely that of evil, will
remain intact.
(Not everybody in the world, of course, would necessarily allow this to
trouble them any more than was completely convenient.)
Best Regards.
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