The value of a life - a social experiment.

[Eisenfaust]

none, because i equate it with a bastardised version of the prisoner's dilemma... in the absence of any qualifying information, it's safer to take the self-serving route

 

[Hamster at Dawn]

So regardless of how much money I give them, there's still a reasonable chance that they'll die anyway? Screw it, I'll just keep the money to myself - there's loads of people dying in the world anyway and I can't help them all.

 

[Yoh3333]

Well i am quite young, 16 of age so i don't know how much normal operations are worth.
But from the experience i have, i seem to be quite generous and tend to spend the money fast whenever i have them.
So yea, if i were to have that sum of money i would propably give 7.500 to charity, and 1.500 to the man himself. That is if i know myself correctly.

Edit: The reason for me choosing to do that is that it's only a small % of what i had been lucky enough to get. Call me weird but i believe in Karma, so giveing such a small % of the money to charity would be fine by me. I wouldn't want to give a random dude that much money so yea. 1.500 to him, 7.500 to charity

 

[Auron225]

On the spot, between nothing and £5,000. Before you call me cheap, I already know which charity I would happily donate at least 70% of it to. Ive no need to elaborate on that.

 

[badgersprite]

This doesn't make any sense. People die of terminal illnesses all the time. What does donating to one person do? Why are they more worthy than all the other children dying of cancer or AIDs in Africa as we speak?

No, I would give the proceeds of my winfall to research that actually helps everyone in looking for a cure/vaccine to AIDs or some such that could save far more than one life.

 

[RanD00M]

Not a dime. I don't know them and fucked if I should care for them. If he wouldn't go away I would just call the police.
Do I seem like a bastard? Maybe, maybe, but it's my fucking money and I will do what I want with it.

 

[Nenad]

I wish I had the strength to give all the money away, but I probably wouldn't, I can't know what I would do, it would had to really happen to me. I wish I'd give it all away. I was thinking about this scenario before, and I've come to the conclusion that getting a huge sum of money all at once would probably make my life so different from my normal life that I wouldn't want that new life, so I'd get rid of most of the money. So let's say the answer to your question is 85% (that's amount given).

And what if I kept all of it and started a charity organization?

Edit: Or if I did this:

This doesn't make any sense. People die of terminal illnesses all the time. What does donating to one person do? Why are they more worthy than all the other children dying of cancer or AIDs in Africa as we speak?

No, I would give the proceeds of my winfall to research that actually helps everyone in looking for a cure/vaccine to AIDs or some such that could save far more than one life.

[small]The rest of the post is also good and that's why I left it there.[/small]

 

[Kurokami]

Im doing this along with a second question ill ask at a later date once i gather feedback from this one. Im trying to determine the percieved monetary value of a person depending on the scenario.

Ill cut right to it and ask you the question. You just won 1'000'000 pounds. Lets assume you arnt that well off, you could considerably improve your life with this money. However there is a person. Lets call them X. Without money to pay for treatment they will die. You have never met person X. You have no idea if they are a hobo or a neurosurgon. You are asked to give as MUCH as possible to help them. You arnt told how much money they need, or if others will help fill in the shortfall. How much money do you give to save this persons life? You know if you give none. The person. Will. Die. What % of this money would you give to help one single life? By honest. Like really honest. Dont say "all of it" because likely hood is if this actually happened (you won the lottery) you COULD do this but wouldnt. People need money to survive.

You wouldnt give 100% of it away. How much of this would you keep to yourself and whats the maximum amount you would give to preson x. TO clarify theres no underhanded motive here. Its not a trick. You know its going to exactly what its for. You cant give too much money. Maybe they need far more than your million. You are just asked to help.

Imagine someone is literally at your door, tells you this and asks for cash because theyve seen you on tv. And for some reason you are certain they are not lying. On the spot. How much do you donate.

In all honesty? From the lack of information provided? The least amount possible. Clearly not many people care enough to relate his/her situation to me, and I'd rather know who and how I'm helping rather than chuck money at someone else's issues.

 

[Exterminas]

This experiment is faulty, because you do not ask people to pay to save a life. You ask them to pay for the promise of a treatment. There are three mayor bumps in that route to keep it from leading to a human life:

- treatment might fail
- story might be a lie
- It's a stranger

This lieaves aside performative issues (not asking serious research over gaming-forums)

So if you want to make a social experiment, meaning one that is focused on the behaviour of humans amongst each other, a more direct confrontation would be in order.

Otherwise Chaos Theory bends you over, since other route that are as complicated as your experiment, we most likely kill a dozen persons a day.

 

[The Funslinger]

I'd do the same thing I always do with a large windfall: give about 20% to charity, distribute about 30% to various people who deserve it (sorry, random dying person, most of that is already earmarked), invest about 30% in stocks and/or retirement funds, and either put the remaining 20% into savings and use the accrued interest as income (if there's enough left to make significant interest) or use it myself.

Of course that'd be working with about half the original amount, thanks to taxes...

You aren't taxed lottery winnings. It's technically a gamble, and therefor not a part of your earnings.

 

[Captain Pirate]

£15,000.
That's nothing out of what I've got, but it should be enough to save them from whatever it is, if it's possible to save them from.
No way am I giving more than that to a stranger, he's lucky he's getting that to be honest.

I mean, as a Christian I'm all for forgiveness, so if he's been an arsehole his whole life then I'd be up for forgiving him and all, if he's genuinely regretful of whatever the fuck he's done, but this question pisses me off in that I don't know if he's a regretless serial rapist, or a true saint.
Still, £15,000, take it or leave it. Should be more than enough.

 

[kittii-chan 300]

none. sorry but i dont know you and therefore dont care about you...

 

[TobiasMP]

Though i always give to charity when they are going door to door, not much though. But i wouldn't give a single penny to someone who asks for money for just a single stranger. The poor man will die, and i would give some money to aid in research for cures of deadly diseases. Because i believe it's better to support a way of helping many, than to sacrifice that to help one. (except when it is someone close to me)

 

[Jondare]

Probably around 5k or so, if only to get them off my property.

(Just to clarify: I'm off the same opinion as a lot of others in this thread, in that i can't see why i should save this particular persons life, instead of the hundreds of others who die everyday. BUT, at the same time, i just don't think i would be able to look myself in the mirror again if i didn't at least give SOMETHING.)

 

[ryai458]

None, people need money all the time but you don't see me going into poverty to support them.

 

[Vrach]

None. There are always people who can be saved with money. To anyone feeling morally superior because they said "all of it" or whatever sum, consider that any significant portion of a million pounds can likely be split into more parts than one and used to save that many lives. Yet, the same way I don't blame a person for paying 100.000$ for his surgery when he could likely save 10 lives with the same money, I wouldn't donate a dime to save a single person's life in this situation.

That all said, if I were in position of power and money (static amount of money is rarely of value, I'd get some business going to keep the money rolling in), I'd likely look into doing something like opening a hospital, perhaps offering free/discounted life saving surgeries and such.

 

[Stickwell]

I can honestly say half. It knots me in my stomach thinking about it.
I know that I wouldn't want to, and not other person for that matter.
I would do it because It would be RIGHT.

Half is just the right amount to were I can help him ( most likely ) and still set my self up pretty sweet like.

 

[Dogstile]

This is my exact response.

"Ahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaa no" *shuts door and hops into my giant hot tub*

Or, even better, i'll set the hounds on him! I'm rich now, what do I care, MWAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA

 

[lolmynamewastaken]

the ammount i'd give would depend upon the proof they can provide, if they can't give any then i'd just think they were dirty scavengers and tell them to fuck off, if they could SHOW ME that this person was going to die if i didn't help i would be willing to give up to 50% of it...