The value of a life - a social experiment.

[hypermage]

None. Why should a single death be any more of a tragedy than the death of a million? For that matter, why should a single death be any less of a statistic than the death of a million? The original question is essentially asking me to reduce human life to a monetary value, which I'm unwilling to do out of both cynicism and, paradoxically, morals.

 

[soulblade06]

Not to be a jerk, but I think that a better move would be to just take the money I could give to him and donate to something like doctors without borders or maybe a breast cancer foundation. I mean, sure, I might give him 1k or so and hope that he has health care to help with the rest (that is, if he's in America or some country where healthcare is optional), but I would really rather know that my money is helping a large group of people than guess how much money is needed to help one person.

 

[sevreon]

I know its selfish, but I wouldn't give them anything. I highly doubt that the stranger would give a shit about me or give me anything if I needed it. If it was someone I knew or cared about then I would give it all. But not to a stranger.
Humans physically can't care about every person in the world, we don't have that much empathy. See lookie here http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html

EDIT: I've changed my mind. I think I would want to spend time with the person to see if they could change my mind. Thats what I would want someone to do with me, so thats how I would treat other people. But if I wasn't allowed to get to know them and they had to be a stranger then my answer would still be no.

 

[Jordi]

It's such a shame that like 99% of the scenario's people come up with to answer some philosophical question are so flawed that there are like 10000 ways of answering them without even touching on that real question.

In this case, the question is not "how much would you give to save a life", but "how much are you willing to gamble for a life". It is clearly stated that no matter what you do, the person may still die. Since I don't know anything about this person, his disease or how any amount of money will affect his chances or quality of life, I don't see any reason to give anything.

Edit: Maybe if he's the only one asking for it, I give $1 dollar, so that he is no longer definitely going to die.

 

[kortin]

I must be a bad person, but i doubt I'd give them any. A million pounds is a lot of money. I'd probably end up ignoring them. After all, I don't know them, why should I worry about their life? (yes I understand other people can feel that way about mine, frankly, I don't care. Its their life, they can care about others or not if they want.)

 

[Heronblade]

Insufficient data. Without knowing more about the individual in question and the exact nature of the situation, no money is going out at that moment. The man could be for instance a hobo who drank himself to death and requires a quarter million in reconstructive work to extend his life for one more week. It could be an individual the world is frankly better off without, Qaddafi, Bin Laden, various serial murderers, etc.

 

[Ambi]

Who's to say this is the best way I could be helping people with that money? How much does physical proximity factor into someone's worth? What if I know there are people in this world dying of preventable diseases and starvation and I can save even more lives at a cheaper cost? Would I have the heart to turn someone away when they're pleading for their life, and would I give money to save people if it wasn't for the pleading? I'm not right now, I must be selfish.

I could negotiate and agree to set up a business or fund raising project and donate the rest to something that will guarantee the money will be used to save other lives. Or I could just be lazy and give them the money and everyone would think I was so nice and compassionate.

Try to find out the exact cost of the most expensive treatment for every life-threatening ailment.
Then pay the biggest number there.

If it is more than a million, bribe my way into getting this fucker a medical card.

Then check up in like a week and make sure whoever it is isn't using my money to buy hookers and snort a fucking truckload of cocaine.

This sounds sensible.

 

[Halceon]

Depends a lot on arbitrary variables, but no more than half and no less than 1k. However, I'll still firmly believe that with whatever amount of money I contribute to this one person's survival, a considerably larger number of people could be saved from equally certain death by more mundane things.

Because really, if I care for the well being of strangers, I WILL care for actual lives saved, not the signaling of my own charitability.

 

[Ekit]

5%.

Since there is no guarantee that X will survive even if I give away all my money I'm going to pick a percentage that is both alot of money and probably covers the costs.

I would donate some of my money to charity too, that way I can be more certain of what difference my donation is making.

 

[Divine Miss Bee]

i would give some, probably at most 10%, 100k. but i have debts, siblings to put through college, my own degree to finish, and i need to get an apartment back home so i can move out of this place i live that makes me want to gouge out my own eyeballs.

 

[the D0rk One]

=)) this is hilarious.

if the dying was a neurosurgeon I'm guessing he can afford to save his own life just a wild guess here... unless he lives in romania or some other backwards cloaca where they don't value brain surgery over plumbing...

if he's a hobo... well... here I am, counting my million pounds, not caring about the hobo's imminent death...

I dunno... but somehow the laws of nature seem to take care of dilemmas such as this... I mean how come Stephen Hawking is still alive...?

Then again... maybe that hobo IS the next Hawking... maybe if he could afford to save his life he could also afford to study and come up with the next quantum physics breakthrough...

If only I or some other millionaire could see the genius beneath the feces and dirt...

To be quite honest, I don't think this person is worth it. Hell, sometimes I wonder if even those we perceive as our "close/loved ones" are worth it

Then again, how much does this treatment cost? I do have a million of the world's strongest currency...

Still not caring though ) that extra worthless item still seems more valuable than somebody's life

 

[Catchy Slogan]

Wait. If someone knocked on my door and asked for money, but didn't tell what it's for, or how much they need, I'd tell them to fuck off because they obviously don't want it very much. And then to say they might die if I don't do it. Try to guilt trip me would you?

I'd probs give some to charity, but most of it would probs go on my family, buy my mother a house, and some towards games.

 

[Lord Doomhammer]

I hate to sound like a jerk, but lets be honest... no medical operation is really going to be more than like 300,000 dollars. even then, 300k is a lot of money. So speaking honestly I'd say I'd give about 500K.

 

[Srrrh]

This guy's a total stranger and is just one person so...maybe give him some to get him off my doorstep, but not much.

Seriously, if I was going to give away my money (and I'm not entirely sure I would, or if I would, how much) then it would either be to people I know, or to a charity who's going to save more than one life.

 

[Amarok]

None. Feel free to think of me as a "jerk" or whatever, but I have no particular desire to go around saving the lives of random strangers by relinquishing my fortune, just as very few other millionaires on the planet do.

Besides if I was going to give money to save/improve lives it wouldn't be to those living in the first world, and it wouldn't be to just one life.

 

[Womplord]

I wouldn't give any. I'd rather live well than to give away my money to someone who needs it more (even though a million dollars isn't gonna last forever - it's enough to buy an okay house, where I live and thats it). Besides it's not my problem, if it's so important then it should come out of taxpayer money than straight out of my pocket.

 

[Ranorak]

If he refuses to answer my questions as to how much he needs, or is this enough, he gets nothing.

I want to know more and if he doesn't give me more reasons and numbers, it's his loss.

 

[cWg | Konka]

Some random dude never gave me any money so why the fuck shoould I give random others? fuck them, there are 6+ billion more to replace him anyway

 

[Kwaren]

I would rather donate to a charity. It would help more people for the same price.