Is one human life worth more than another?
 

I think this is one of the questions of life, and after a while of thought on the subject I cannot come up with a conclusion.

What do you think?

Yes. My life and the lives of my family and friends are worth more than the lives of complete strangers. Especially strangers who don't hold critical roles in society.

The life(i assume you mean the continuation of) that has more left is worth more.

An 11 year old is worth more than a 60 yr old.

What if the 11 year old was in a vegetative state or had an undetected disorder that would kill him in 10 years? And the 60 year old was, like, Einstein?

edit for clarity

To whom? "Worth" requires an indirect object, some entity to that is it worth to.

Are all lives worth the same to me? No, like glatt said, the importance of lives moves outward from my immediate family, to friends, then local community, world. I would always choose the death of 1,000 strangers over the death of my daughter or son.

Are all lives worth the same to society as law? Sometimes. The law tries to view every life as equal, and treats punishment and restitution accordingly.

Are all lives worth the same to society as economy? Clearly not. The life of each person has economic weight derived from many things, including ability, risk, returned value to society, and yes, luck.

Are all lives worth the same to society as social support (medicine, welfare, etc.)? Ah. This is the great political question of our time. I'll pass.

There's no good universal answer to this question - it's too broad. You have to give a context, "for whom".

If you take the view that human life is sacred, that it is infinitely valuable, then all lives are equal.

infinity time 60 years of life left equals infinity
infinity times 1 year of life left equals infinity

So you can't hold the view that human life is sacred and then say "women and children first." Well, I suppose one could hold that view, but they would be wrong.

are you saying that this kind of question can't possibly be answered seriously?

cuz that's kind of what I was saying

It might be easy to gauge the worth of yourself and your loved ones.

But to measure the value of stranger's life, you must put yourself in their place.

That sounds good, right?

Okay, now put yourself in the place of a permanently braindead person being kept alive by machines. As that person, how much would you be able to figure your own life is worth?

Okay, now put yourself in the place of a miserable, self-loathing, drug addict, whose every day actions inidcate that they have given up on life. As that person, how much would you be able to figure your own life is worth?

This isn't working!

Okay, now put yourself in the place of a basically decent person, who commits many good acts and kind deeds, but whose own low self-esteem won't let them see their true value to society. Maybe this person has a chemical imbalance and is suicidal. As that person, how much would you be able to figure your own life is worth?

This definitely isn't working.

This has to be determined by an indifferent outisde source in order to make any sense.

So, how much is a human life worth to an impartial observer... let's say one who has no stake in the affairs of humanity?

Is it more or less than the life of a grub worm? Is it more or less than the life of a tree?



From one extreme to the other, you're never going to like the answer to this question.

Mine's worth more than yours. End of discussion.

Mine's worth more than all y'alls. :lol:

Depends on who's buyin' and who's sellin' ;)

I can't find the direct quote, but monster once had a great line to the effect of, "All y'all can die in a fire if it means my baby has a 1 in 20 chance of being a little less hurt."

According to my dad my life is only worth $20. How much would your parent/spouse/sibling/children pay to get rid of you?