The value of human life?

[Boneasse]

G'day my fellow escapists.

Recently I've seen a couple of threads on the site where a number of people say that they would have no problem taking a human life, if need be. And that got me wondering; What is the value of human life?

Are certain people worth more than others? If we follow the logic of certain actions taken by many people confronted with taking the lives of those who are innocent, it follows a specific order. I present this order from left to right, with left being the most important "life" and right being the less important:

Baby - Child - Preteen - Teenager - Young adult - Adult - Elderly - Old - Very old.​

Certain stages in growing up may be missing, but you get the general idea. Does this mean that a baby's life is worth so much more than that of a very old person? And how do we measure it?

Are certain lives of talented people, who can have great effect on the future of the world worth more than that of someone who will grow up to be a bum? We won't know until later in life, but then, when they are adults, is the life of a cancer-scientist worth more than that of a homeless person?

And also, are women worth more than men? We see in movies, documentaries and the news that it is sometimes portrayed as if women hold greater value than men, when they are killed/die. Their deaths are more "shocking" if you get my drift. Maybe that's because men are more often the perpetrators of such actions?

I know this thread poses a lot of questions, and I'm not asking you to answer them all. I just know that I don't hold the answers, and I'll leave the debate up to you.

Spoiler: TL;DR?

Do all lives hold equal value, or are lives of the young and innocent worth more than that of the adult and old?

 

[Pandaman1911]

I have a very... loose view of human life, including my own. Someone dies? "Eh, there's seven billion more of you."

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Well, it depends. Objectively, an older individual is usually worth more to a community, as they usually have a job or contribute to the community in some way. And even if they don't, they have the potential to have one, or can at the very least be employed as manual labor or military. A child isn't capable of any of this, and is usually a financial burden on either their parents, guardians, or the state. Plus its often years before a child will realize their potential, whereas an adult can do whatever they want (within reason).

That said...most would argue that the life of a child is more valuable, if simply for potential. Especially in the case of the elderly, who would probably argue that, though they have contributed their whole lives and typically still pay taxes and donate to the community, are at the end of their line potential-wise, while a child has their whole life ahead of them.

 

[bdcjacko]

$1.78 from a chemical supply shop, at least that is what they say on all the nature shows when they comment we are just made up of "star dust" or something.

 

[Wrds]

I think its just a primal initiative to place the value of a woman's life above that of a man's. Men want to protect, being able to do so is a sign of power. Women are the bearers of children ect.

Being the idealist that I am, I feel that all life is precious and worth saving. Still I do agree with your ordering of value, so to speak. I hate to admit it but its easy to fall into the sentiment that one life could have more meaning than another.

Be it your loved one over a stranger. Or a dignitary over a bodyguard.

Rather interesting...

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Personally I think the measure of human life is subjective. Clearly in a perfect world we'd all be of equal worth; but thanks to emotion causing feelings of inferiority/superiority we clearly aren't all of equal worth.

Without getting philosophical about it:

I percieve myself to be very important. If I didn't what reason would I have to live and try to better myself? I consider people less important the less necessary they are to my sanity and progression. Yes its a very self-centred view of the world; but it's not intended to be malicious or spiteful. If I knew a man might end my life then his life would lose value in my eyes.

Does that sound crazy?

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

the only logical answer (and logic would include thinking long-term, not just here-and-now) would be descending order from youngest to oldest. as mentioned above, it's about potential. also, women would be worth more than men from a biological perspective.

 

[JoJo]

I agree with your order that value decreases with age, I think children's lives are worth more than adults for many reasons, including innocence and potential, also that every child should have a loving parent who would care whether they lived or not (regardless of whether they actually do have the parent or not).

 

[Hoplon]

I have a very... loose view of human life, including my own. Someone dies? "Eh, there's seven billion more of you."

See that's the problem, there aren't.

It has been estimated that the brain of a three-year-old child has about 10^15 synapses (1 quadrillion, thous htis may be on the high side).

You think anything that complex isn't functionally unique? I don't, The likely hood is that every homosapien that has ever lived has had a unique brain and had to possibility to see the world as no one else has or ever will again.

Must be why i hate a lot of people for giving up and not trying to find out for them selves.

 

[Exia91]

The value of human life? About 20?/25$ according to WoW subscriptions

OT:
One may believe that a young ones life is valued a lot more than that of adults or old people. Just turn on the news. When do you need hear (hypothetical ofcourse): "Bombing in , over 300 killed, 120 of which are children!"

Lifes are lifes. Lifes lost are lifes lost. It is a sad thing. But people do credit certain 'categories' with more value.

 

[tofulove]

the true value of a persons life cant be none as a mortal, perhaps baby 7billion and 3 will cure cancer, maybe he'll be a serial killer. basically, your value is your contribution or future contribution to society, for example, farmers as a hole are the most important group of people in society, individually there some of the least valued. on the other end, society can exist with out doctors, but as individuals doctors are highly valuable.

for example a 50 year old scientist whos one of the leading researchers for the cure for cancer is more valuable than a 1000 babies. if i had to choice between him or a thousand babies of unknown potential dieing, i pick the babies. maybe one of those babies might do some thing worth while to even the value, or to surpass it, but id wager none of the babies would be as good as him, nor there sum value put to gether would be as high as his,

 

[ShadowTSG]

"life is cheap, specially mine."
well, that as heero would say.
but for me, life is priceless.
if you disagree, give me your life and all will be fine.

 

[Jedoro]

Youth above the elderly, women above men; that's how I see it. But if you unjustly threaten or take the life of another, you have surrendered your right to live and should be killed on the spot, i.e. criminal acts.

 

[Killclaw Kilrathi]

That's an interesting question, OP. I suppose there isn't really a unified value system for measuring human life, or at least not an enforced one. Even your own scale there isn't universal because there are people who would add extra categories to it, such as pro-lifers who would want to add Fetus to the list.

I'm not sure if I buy into the whole "innocent" thing, I mean what crime are older people all committing that makes them no longer innocent? The problem is if it's something that forms part and parcel of everyday living then really the idea of innocence is absurd, because the younger people are going to commit the crime later anyway. It's like saying puberty is inherently evil so pre-teens are morally superior because they've never gone through it.

The logical way of valuing young life more I suppose is by considering life to not be the person itself, but a depletable resource that makes up the person which is spent over time. So a younger person has "more life left" than an older person. But I still don't know if this is a good thing or even really that practical, as not everyone ages the same way or lives to see themselves grow old.

And finally, while the idea of someone's profession adding more value to their life this still doen't strike me as exceptionally practical either. Not only do people tend to change jobs during their lives but the value of any job is very ambiguous. You may not think a factory worker is of the same value as a scientist, but they both fill a role in society and neither should really be devalued. Expendability aside, they are both cogs in the same machine, perhaps one is larger and more vital than the other but the machine would still be worse off if either were to fall out.

So really, I think the question you're asking has no real definitive answer. We don't have a system for valuing a life but we still do it anyway, often picking one of the above systems arbitrarily or as seems fit for the situation.

 

[DuctTapeJedi]

I don't think the value of human life is quantifiable.

 

[Mr. Omega]

Value is all in perception of the individual, and most people always hold themself over all others. Most "political" people don't care about actualy political decisions unless it affects THEM. The biggest thing that stops people from killing other people is the fear of THEM going to jail or the guilt THEY will live with. I don't care how old or young you are. MY life takes highest priority. You call me selfish, I call it honest.

 

[John the Gamer]

Life is worth crap. If I were to die right now, it'd have no impact on the universe whatsoever. The planet will keep rotating, the sun will keep shining etc. We live in order to live. That's it.

I still enjoy living though.

 

[[.redacted]]

The value of human life can be valued at:

(their potential input to society/myself + their current input to society/myself)
_____________________________________________________________
(risk of leaving them alive - potential loss should they be killed)

Obviously these would be difficult to give values to, but I'll manage.