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Everyone's life has the same value. Old people, poor people, black people, people with diabetes, people who have had transplants, people who have had cancer, f

Everyone's life has the same value. Old people, poor people, black people, people with diabetes, people who have had transplants, people who have had cancer, fat people, all have the same value as a 25-year-old who has had 1%-er medical care, diet, and home life since birth.

eric_b 7y ago
Sorry to break your fairytale world view, but this is naive and stupid. If you really believe this I suggest strongly that you learn more about the real world and those who live in it.
- dang 7y ago
  Could you please stop breaking the site guidelines? You've been doing this a ton. Not cool, regardless of how wrong other people are or you feel they are. I don't know which side you're arguing for, but in addition to egregiously flouting HN's rules, you're discrediting it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
JPKab 7y ago
As if anyone is arguing this. Your comments mark you as one of the people politicizing this. As if small business owners who have seen the data change and question why liquor stores can be open and they can't are all right wingers. By the way, your comment is naive and foolish. Grown-ups in hospitals make the decision on a regular basis that yes, a 25 year olds life is more valuable than an elderly persons. The right wingers deny science on climate change. Now I'm seeing left wingers deny science on covid19 antibodies. (They already do it with nuclear power) I've seen 5 antibody studies all say the same thing, and the left wingers just attack all of them reflexively. Sweden was right. We were wrong.
- jhayward 6y ago
  I'm having a hard time making out what your comment says in response to mine. > As if anyone is arguing this. The comment I replied to literally argues this in its single declarative sentence. > yes, a 25 year olds life is more valuable than an elderly persons You literally just argued it. > Your comments mark you as one of the people politicizing this. As if small business owners who have seen the data change and question why liquor stores can be open and they can't are all right wingers. If you don't think declaring old people to be sacrificial is political I don't think you are living in a world that understands what politics is. If you think a policy based on criteria that results in denial of care to most black people, who are at a disadvantage in the "years of health" calculation, while providing care to the majority of whites isn't political, what is? > The right wingers deny science on climate change. Now I'm seeing left wingers deny science on covid19 antibodies. (They already do it with nuclear power) > I've seen 5 antibody studies all say the same thing, and the left wingers just attack all of them reflexively. Sweden was right. We were wrong. This is definitely non-sequitor, and moves toward just ranting. It doesn't add to the conversation.
dr_dshiv 7y ago
Equal value for lives is a philosophical position that one can take. People even extend this to life equality for animals -- the Jains, I believe, even believe that the value of micro-organisms are equal to the lives of people. That's largely due, I believe, to belief in reincarnation. However, there are downsides to this philosophy. For instance, it means that any amount of resources should be spent equally to keep alive 75 year olds and 25 year olds. This approach can result in some seriously negative outcomes for public finances, which could be better spent on education, etc. Lives can't be traded, so we can't know the market value of lives. But I'd wager that most people over 75 would trade their life for a 25 year old life, if they could. That's only one way to demonstrate that most 75 year olds believe their life to be less valuable than a young person starting out. From a more selfless frame, most 75 year olds would also assert that a 25 year old should be prioritized over themselves

eric_b 7y ago

Sorry to break your fairytale world view, but this is naive and stupid. If you really believe this I suggest strongly that you learn more about the real world and those who live in it.

dang 7y ago
Could you please stop breaking the site guidelines? You've been doing this a ton. Not cool, regardless of how wrong other people are or you feel they are. I don't know which side you're arguing for, but in addition to egregiously flouting HN's rules, you're discrediting it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

JPKab 7y ago

As if anyone is arguing this. Your comments mark you as one of the people politicizing this. As if small business owners who have seen the data change and question why liquor stores can be open and they can't are all right wingers. By the way, your comment is naive and foolish. Grown-ups in hospitals make the decision on a regular basis that yes, a 25 year olds life is more valuable than an elderly persons. The right wingers deny science on climate change. Now I'm seeing left wingers deny science on covid19 antibodies. (They already do it with nuclear power) I've seen 5 antibody studies all say the same thing, and the left wingers just attack all of them reflexively. Sweden was right. We were wrong.

jhayward 6y ago
I'm having a hard time making out what your comment says in response to mine. > As if anyone is arguing this. The comment I replied to literally argues this in its single declarative sentence. > yes, a 25 year olds life is more valuable than an elderly persons You literally just argued it. > Your comments mark you as one of the people politicizing this. As if small business owners who have seen the data change and question why liquor stores can be open and they can't are all right wingers. If you don't think declaring old people to be sacrificial is political I don't think you are living in a world that understands what politics is. If you think a policy based on criteria that results in denial of care to most black people, who are at a disadvantage in the "years of health" calculation, while providing care to the majority of whites isn't political, what is? > The right wingers deny science on climate change. Now I'm seeing left wingers deny science on covid19 antibodies. (They already do it with nuclear power) > I've seen 5 antibody studies all say the same thing, and the left wingers just attack all of them reflexively. Sweden was right. We were wrong. This is definitely non-sequitor, and moves toward just ranting. It doesn't add to the conversation.

dr_dshiv 7y ago

Equal value for lives is a philosophical position that one can take. People even extend this to life equality for animals -- the Jains, I believe, even believe that the value of micro-organisms are equal to the lives of people. That's largely due, I believe, to belief in reincarnation. However, there are downsides to this philosophy. For instance, it means that any amount of resources should be spent equally to keep alive 75 year olds and 25 year olds. This approach can result in some seriously negative outcomes for public finances, which could be better spent on education, etc. Lives can't be traded, so we can't know the market value of lives. But I'd wager that most people over 75 would trade their life for a 25 year old life, if they could. That's only one way to demonstrate that most 75 year olds believe their life to be less valuable than a young person starting out. From a more selfless frame, most 75 year olds would also assert that a 25 year old should be prioritized over themselves