Poll: The Value of a Human Life

[RedFeather1975]

You big specist meanie.

 

[KiloFox]

random person Vs Random animal, animal
person i know (i.e. friend) vs random animal, friend
random person vs MY animal, animal
friend vs my animal, which friend?

 

[Nimzabaat]

I had a little internal debate about this issue brought about by that girl who killed herself. It went a little like this;
Me: That's sad.
Brain: Why?
Me: Well she got bullied and killed herself. She must have been really sensitive.
Brain: Too sensitive to make it to adulthood?
Me: That's a little harsh.
Brain: Why?
Me: Um... human life is precious?
Brain: Really? About 154,000 people died that day, what makes that persons life more "precious" then the others?
Me: Um...
Brain: There's around 7 billion people. One out of 7 billion is not "precious", or even "important" or "necessary". Actually around 3.5 billion people are pretty shitty, and the other 3.5 billion are okay. So if someone found a way to kill off the 3.5 billion shitty ones, the whole race would be better off.
Me: Um......

TLDR: One out of 7 billion isn't valuable. One out of 7 million isn't valuable. Now one out of 50,000 (Battlestar Galactica style), then you should save the person.

PS: I am aware that I have very little empathy. It comes from being around people on a daily basis.

 

[MetalGenocide]

I don't see a "save both" option.

It's a matter of mass really.
Dogs weigh less and are generally decent at climbing.
So, you can grab the dog and the person. Being lighter, the dog will be pulled back to safety rather quickly, then you can focus on the person.

Spoiler: If he turns out to be a rapist or paedophile....

 

[C F]

I save the person.

If it was my best bro who also happens be Gandhi versus a rabid mutt, I would save the person.
If it was Bill from accounting versus a squirrel, I would save the person.
If it was a jaywalking prison inmate versus a cute little bunny, I would save the person.
If it was a serial killer/rapist versus a bag of newborn puppies, I would save the person.
If it was Osama bin Laden versus my cat whom sleeps with me at night, and it were up to me? I would still save the person.

If I had to purposefully asphyxiate a mewling kitten to save Adolf Hitler from a buzzing Nazi sawblade trap of his own design? Only now are we getting into iffy territory.

CAPTCHA: time will tell
Okay, that's very unnerving there, CAPTCHA.
Veeery unnerving.

 

[RedDeadFred]

As much as I love my dog, I don't think I'd be able to get over letting another human being die. I'm really not sure what I'd do though. It would depend a lot on what the stranger looked like and how they acted to my presence. If they were some gangster looking fellow yelling "pull me up mother fucker" I wouldn't even give them a second glance while pulling my dog to safety.

 

[RedDeadFred]

How can anyone not like animals. Just look into their eyes and see how confused they are by everything. They need some lovin badly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc1EIrDlDyQ

What about this animal:
Could you really LOVE this thing? He looks psychotic. The way he head-bobs.... *shudders*

 

[DrunkenMonkey]

Some people have trouble truly understanding that when people die, so do their dreams and ideas. In turn their whole worlds just vanish. They are aware of the fact, but can't quite accept it and see it for what it is. The better question is would you want to be saved if you were in that situation?

And the better question to that would be "How does the way I say I would act in any way change the way that another person would act?"

We can all say that we'll save the other person. And I freely admit that every person is better off if every other person to yourself saves a stranger over their own dog. But you personally, are better off saving your dog, which means that you can effectively take advantage of the system by subverting it. And that's the world we live in. So we'd be fool to act in a way against our own self-interest to help another without an outside force enforcing compliance.

I think everyone should watch Catch-22. I don't think I believed anything after that film.

Well they way I see it, is if the dog is the only family that person has fine. Because if the dog dies they will experience severe amounts of pain from it, and at that point it's not worth acting against your self interest. On the other hand if the dog is a family pet, you can't exactly say that its the end of the world for that person if his/her dog. I'm not saying
that every person should sacrifice their dog to save a stranger, I'm just explaining the gravity of not saving the stranger at the cost of your self interest. Because self interest in itself is a very circumstantial thing. You can sometimes act against it if you don't lose TOO much in the process. That's all.

 

[Zantos]

That's a seriously fucked piece of logic on your teachers behalf. Seriously, it isn't like paedophilia and/or murder are what all the young people are up to nowadays. By the same logic, what happens if you don't save the person, and it turns out they're a heart surgeon that's been doing pro bono work for the local orphanage to make sure little Timmy sees pats his eighth birthday? Now they won't be able to find someone to perform Timmy's heart transplant. You bastard, condemning Timmy to a slow, painful death.

 

[Moderated]

Do you know the entire story? Did you see the trial?
Or are you basing it on someone calling them a murderer?
You know who are murderers?
People who kill someone who is trying to blow up the orphanage by implanting bombs inside of puppies. Or kill someone to defend their family, or defend the president, or whatever.
Pedophilia is relative.
Legally, if you have naked pictures of someone of the exact same age of you, and you are under 18, you are a pedophile.

Everything's relative.

That's a seriously fucked piece of logic on your teachers behalf. Seriously, it isn't like paedophilia and/or murder are what all the young people are up to nowadays. By the same logic, what happens if you don't save the person, and it turns out they're a heart surgeon that's been doing pro bono work for the local orphanage to make sure little Timmy sees pats his eighth birthday? Now they won't be able to find someone to perform Timmy's heart transplant. You bastard, condemning Timmy to a slow, painful death.

I'm pretty sure the OP wasn't saying it could be, but what would you do if it was.

 

[zehydra]

Human lives do not have anything like intrinsic value.

 

[lacktheknack]

if Daystar and Vault101 were drowning...which one would you save, the dog or the paedophile?

Fixed it for you.

Ouch.

I kid of course, Daystar is only a Alledged paedophile.

OUCH.

OT: I'd save the person regardless. People can turn a new leaf.

 

[TheScientificIssole]

if Daystar and Vault101 were drowning...and there was a WEREWOLF PAEDOPHILE in the way!

Fixed it for you.

I kid of course, Daystar is only a Alledged WEREWOLF PAEDOPHILE!

OT: I would save the human. Unless the person is a convicted GHOST! or other particularly terrible DRACULA!

Double fixed. Halloween themed posts! GHOULS! BOO!
OT:Is the dog A SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE! or A FRANKENSTEIN? Do the human and dog switch MURDEROUS SOULS?
Wait, it doesn't matter, because its nearing Halloween, and the Halloween spirit makes my a SCROTUM of a HUMAN BEING!
Pointless murder it is then!

 

[Rogue Trooper]

I would most likely save the person

 

[Sandjube]

I'd jump down and hang with them too. I've been looking for some more friends.

 

[neoontime]

So this thread basically sums up the "I lost faith in humanity idea".
Human of course.

 

[rednose1]

Human life is a pretty wonderful thing. I'd always go with saving a person over an animal.

 

[NotALiberal]

You're not ending a life. No matter what you do, it's a net positive. The result of doing nothing is both die.

Whichever positive you value more is up to you. I personally value my pet over most random people. I value my family over most random people too. We had this thread a while ago, and no satisfying logical argument could be given to justify anthopocentricism (Which is probably because it's a load of bunk). If you value the life of a stranger over your dog, that's fine too. It's a position I'd have trouble coming to or agreeing with, but that's fine. It's a stated value, and those vary from person to person.

Do what you want. A random person could be good or bad, and my judgement isn't based on that. No matter how good or bad they may be, a stranger is worth less to me than my dog.

Let's just leave this quote here.

"Why, then, should not groups of superior men be able to justify their enslavement, exploitation, or even genocide of inferior human groups on factual and moral grounds akin to those we now rely on to justify our treatment of the animals we harness as beasts of burden, that we butcher for food and clothing, or that we destroy as disease-bearing pests or as dangerous predators?"

I love how the Escapist of all places (home of overly zealous Liberals ready to cry "RACISM/SEXISM/HOMOPHOBIA" at the slightest chance they get), values animal life over human life. /sarcasm/ Why should I treat Gays/Blacks/Womens "equally"? Oh.. is it because they're PEOPLE just like you and me....? I'm honestly confused here. The first can be overbearingly flamboyant, the second are smelly dirty niggers, and the third just WHINE all day about EVERYTHING. They are of no value to me. /sarcasm

This is the type of idiocy and selfishness that makes the world the shithole it is today.

 

[Alandoril]

Are people really claiming they would save an animal they loved over a HUMAN BEING that they didn't know?

REALLY?

 

[T4nkcommander]

A human life your be more valuable to you than any other kind of life.

Why?

Self-interest. Basically, you should act the way you would want others to act towards you. That includes preferring human life to other forms, basically because you ARE human, not anything else (I guess).

Then again, of course, I reserve the right to not pull up the human if I felt that I/the world would be better off without them, in which case I might as well use the time to save the basically blameless animal.

It bewilders me that most people miss this. Judging by the responses, a third of the people here would let any other member die to save an animal. Seeing as they are so flippant with human lives it makes me consider not bothering to save them.