Blunt Thoughts on Calculating the Revealed Value of Human Life

Bloodless, heartless calculations of the value of your life are constantly taking place behind the curtains that society politely draws over some of the uglier realities of the human condition. Interactions with insurance companies might be the most visible signs of these calculations, but this is the tip of the iceberg. Humans assign value instinctively; to value is to be human. We don't just value objects, we value our lives, we value the lives of others. Based on an analysis of our actions, i.e. revealed preferences, one can estimate monetary equivalents to those life valuations and how they shift with time and circumstances. These estimates are produced constantly, and widely used in policy and industry circles, whether or not we might agree with them. For all that it makes many people uncomfortable, this is an interesting topic, and one that can help in understanding why it is that the powers that be behave as they do in circumstances involving aging, medical research, medical regulation, centralized control of medical services, entitlements, and so forth. It is, I suspect, considerably easier to harness technological progress in order to reduce the cost of intervening to save a life or improve a life than it is to change human nature such that life and quality of life is valued more highly. We do not live in a perfect world, but we can at least work to make it better! Valuing life over the life cycle The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs