the use of energy by other beings to maintain it?
2007-03-02 03:30:04 · 10 answers · asked by Haz the Preacher 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Marx would say that you are close. He would say that the worth of a human life is what it takes for to PRODUCE it from average materials. So we're not just talking about food and electricity here, but also time for training and development and so on. Some humans have abilities or characteristics such that it would require a ridiculous amout of effort to try and reproduce them from an average person... others are sub-standard and would probably be easily surpassed by an average person.
If you only look at maintenance costs, then you are missing huge parts of the picture. You would say that a fat or sickly man is worth more than a small, thin one simply because it requires much more to maintain the former than the latter. But it almost goes without saying that without a lot more information than this, it would be almost impossible to tell if one really was better for any particular purpose than another. Our big-eating person might well be a genius with unparalleled insight that could help billions. Our efficient person could be effectively brain dead, little better than a lump of flesh.
There is also something to be said for instinct. It is instinctive for a person to value species-life, tribe-life, and especially family- and self-life much higher than normal costs might suggest. Rather than calling this a bad trait, I would argue that a person who values the lives of other species more than his own is arguing against his own continued existance in the universe. So I would look with more than a little suspicion on someone who did not rate a human life higher then whatever calculations you might make, and his own significantly so!
So perhaps it would be accurate to say that how you value human life says more about you than the life you are valuing. What is it that YOU find important? Food? Talent? Species-survival?
Peace.
2007-03-02 06:09:46 · answer #1 · answered by Doctor Why 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hahahaha...in what ways does other say how life works out...in "use of energy by other beings to maintain it"? Hahaha...I've seen movies about government or machine controlling the whole community because of certain disaster or afraid of another weird out war. Wanting to have a perfect world and a safe one, instead it always end up someone always controlling someone else.
Hahaha, I think that's really funny. Human are human we fight what we want to live by or for. Not by energy of sort, we search and learn to do more with their help or not. We're selfish and it's okay. I myself I don't understand why human try to control a human life especially when they have a brain of their, haha!
2007-03-02 11:56:11 · answer #2 · answered by gc1j 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. Our society as a whole works together to provide certain things like food, shelter, support, employment, and mobility.
Example:
In order for you to eat a steak, someone had to put the energy forth to raise the cow in which you are eating. And thier life and stability is dependent on the energy put forth from you to raise the money to buy the steak so you can eat. And while you were raising the money to buy the steak, that is so thouroughly being enjoyed by your mouth, you were putting out energy to help someone else accomplish what they need to maintain their life.
I hope this answered your question.
2007-03-02 11:42:54 · answer #3 · answered by AVATARD 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
At its most basic level, yes, if your figuring worth as functionality and overhead. But i would say simply "the amount of energy required to maintain it."
Do you work for the IRS or State Farm?
2007-03-02 13:11:58 · answer #4 · answered by DeanPonders 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
that is not the worth of human life but rather the cost to maintain it.that is similar to saying, a car is only worth what it costs in fuel and oil. there is a difference in worth and cost knowledge will teach you the definitions and wisdom will teach you the difference.
2007-03-02 12:42:30 · answer #5 · answered by george h 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
no. That is just plain truth. How can you say the worth of human life is anything else?
2007-03-02 12:05:16 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
certainly, if that's how you choose to go about it, that's your business
personally: in my day-to-day, i run across folks who i wouldn't give you a plug nickel for...and others (much rarer) who are worth, in my opinion, the friggin' world
what and who one values, and how one goes about determining value, is a subjective thing
you seem -- by the nature of the question -- to want an economic value ascribed to the individual
again: to each his own...i, however, prefer a more esoteric scale
for example (and this is just one factor): does the person in question make me laugh?
there's far too little genuine laughter in the world...i think the person who pulls a little of it out is valuable
would YOU want your value in the world determined by something as cold as how much you draw from the system?
and: which is more important…an objective accounting based on someone else’s criteria, or your own assessment of yourself?
2007-03-02 11:45:44 · answer #7 · answered by henry_quirk 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You've watched "The Matrix" haven't you?!
Who's to say this isn't the case anyway? If it is, I sure hope I wake up someday soon!
2007-03-02 11:36:54 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not naive...
It is simply not true...
2007-03-02 11:39:04 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sure. It is what it is.
2007-03-02 11:35:10 · answer #10 · answered by jimbobob 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋