Discussion The value of life (poll) - and why I hate school buses.

[derpyderpins]

It's often a harsh subject, but there are times when we have to put a value on the life of a person. As a lawyer, what springs to mind first is in a wrongful death lawsuit. If someone wrongfully caused the death of your loved one, what amount should we make them pay you to compensate? It sucks, but we need a number. I suppose we could just kill the person as an eye-for-an-eye kind of thing, but that's really no relief to the person who lost someone.

Different places use different theories. Below, I've attempted to explain a few different ways to approach this.

Spoiler: Caveat

To be clear, I've mixed economic and philosophical theories here. Value can be seen in multiple ways. Monetary is the easiest to understand, but a lot of people will agree that if you help someone else, even if no money results from it, you have provided value. One could also say 'well, the amount you helped will benefit that person who will go on to be more productive thanks to the mood boost and we can measure that in terms of $ to add it.' It can get complicated. I've tried to just give very basic explanations, so don't get hung up on exacts.

Here are several concepts for valuing life:

• Life is Sacred/Infinite Value
  • Explanation: Every human life is so special that no amount of money can ever measure it, no matter who the person is.
  • Rationale: Religious or otherwise innate belief.
  • Implication: With no limit and no number, we get to "if it saves even one life" rationale.
• Worth Based on Love (Others' Appreciation)
  • Explanation: Your value is how much people around you—like family, friends, or even strangers—would give to keep you alive.
  • Rationale: This aims to value based on individual impact in a way that rewards individuality and human subjectivity.
  • Implication: In ways, it's a popularity contest. Famous rockstar with fans everywhere who adore them? Likely beats someone with one close friend.
• Society's Share (Societal Valuation Theory)
  • Explanation: This says your value comes from being part of society. There are different ways to calculate, including:
    • Equal Share: Everyone gets the same worth—like splitting all the world's money evenly among every person. (about $13k / person worldwide, somewhere from $30k-$80k if you look at individual first world countries).
    • Risk Trade-Off: Your value is what society spends to keep people safe, based on things like higher pay for risky jobs or costs of safety rules.
  • Rationale: Rejection of the idea that one person is worth more than another, without taking it to the extreme of "life is sacred."
  • Implication: it's pretty low, right? That sucks . . . but it's hard to argue.
• Economic and Social Contribution
  • Explanation: Your worth is based on what you give to the world—money you earn, good things you do, plus what you might do in the future (like a kid growing up) and what it'd cost to replace you (like training someone new).
  • Rationale: People who add a lot—like workers, parents, or innovators—seem more "valuable" because they help society keep going or growing.
  • Implication: There are winners and losers. I asked AI to use the $13,800 / person average to guess at a bell curve. This is the world:
    • Very Low Value (2.28%): $0 to $92
    • Low Value (13.59%): $92 to $527
    • Below-Average Value (34.13%): $527 to $3,000
    • Above-Average Value (34.13%): $3,000 to $17,200
    • High Value (13.59%): $17,200 to $97,000
    • Very High Value (2.28%): $97,000 and above
• Joy of Living (Hedonic Value)
  • Explanation: This measures your life's value by how happy or meaningful it is—both for you and the people you touch. A life full of joy counts for more than one full of pain.
  • Rationale: Personal utility is the best way. What is your experience? Takes the subjective out.
  • Implication: Winners and losers, just on a utility rather than monetary basis. Very hard to convert to $.
• Self-Valuation Theory
  • Explanation: Your value depends on how much you care for your own life.
  • Rationale: It feels fair—if you don't value your own life, why should anyone else?
  • Implication: similar to Hedonic, but allows for the subjective.
• No Value at All
  • Explanation: Life has no worth—people are like spare parts, easily swapped out with no real loss.
  • Rationale: If we focus only on the big picture, one person doesn't matter much; someone else can always step in.
  • Implication: Everyone's value is zero—no one's special, and losing a life doesn't change anything important.

The poll I've set up asks you which you agree with the most. I'm very interested to see the results and read comments.

Spoiler: School Bus

I assume it will be popular, but I want to crap on the "life is sacred" theory before I end this post.

"If it saves even one life" is dumb. It was said a lot during Covid. Don't adopt it as something you usually say, please.

So, I'm commuting this morning, needing to be into the office early for a deposition, and I get stopped behind a school bus. Now, I don't know if this is the rule everywhere, but in my state the schoolbus stops all traffic behind it and all trafic on the opposite side of the road. I assume this is because once upon a time a kid jumped out in front of a car not at a crosswalk and got darwin'd. And I'm sitting there thinking, how much does this decision cost? I can count 15 cars behind the bus, but there were probably more, 5 in front of me travelling opposite the bus, and who knows how many behind me. Let's call it 50 cars. We sat there for (at least) two full minutes while the little shits slowly walked across the road to slowly climb into the bus. (Yes, I'm bitching about two minutes.) And I think, how many schools are there, with how many buses, and how many stops do they make, on how many days, and how many lives do we save?

Lets say, lowballing, 100 schools, 5 busses per school, 5 stops per day (times two for morning/afternoon), 20 cars stopped on average for one full minute on 180 school days.

That's 18 million minutes of people's time used up. Actually, in fairness, the people behind the bus would still be stopped, so let's cut in half. 9 million minutes. 150,000 hours. At US federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour, that's ~1 million dollars/year. "If we save even one life." Well, whatever theory you chose above best have $1,000,000 as the value if it only saves one life a year.

Sorry if this was insensitive, but that's my Ted talk. I'll tell you my life is not worth $1,000,000.

 

[NumbItAll]

I don't know but I enjoyed the school bus rant even though I don't really have a strong opinion on it. I personally don't like school zones because I feel like it's distracting for me to always make sure I'm not surpassing the 15 mph limit whereas if I just drove normally there would be no issues.

 

[Namelesa]

I would say I agree with most bits of "economic and social contribution." but also how what you provide that isn't do with money. I see the worth of a life is what that life can positively provide to others in this world.

 

[derpyderpins]

I would say I agree with most bits of "economic and social contribution." but also how what you provide that isn't do with money. I see the worth of a life is what that life can positively provide to others in this world.

I think that's very balanced. It merges monetary and general utility. You can add value by providing economically, but also by emotionally supporting others.

I like that it doesn't shy away from money. "The root of all evil today . . . but it's no surprise they're giving none away." Money is the most crisp and clear way to measure value we have because we are constantly trading it for things, putting values on them. But it definitely doesn't capture everything, and there's plenty of good to be done outside the world of money.

 

[LaVieEnRose]

I subscribe to the theory that makes you (as in you you) feel best about yourself.