3 ms·

> I'm not saying the F-35 is a good deal I can't imagine how many lives the F-35 would have to save (or combatants to kill, not sure how these equations are ca

by duaneb 11y ago

> I'm not saying the F-35 is a good deal I can't imagine how many lives the F-35 would have to save (or combatants to kill, not sure how these equations are calculated) for the money to be "a good deal". You can't put a price on human life. If we could, how much would the average life that was lost on september 11th be valued? In the billions?

icebraining 11y ago
If we could, how much would the average life that was lost on september 11th be valued? In the billions? The average was $3.1M per civilian victim and $4.2M per emergency responder, totalling $10.6 billion in compensation. http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9087/index1.html http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9087/index1.html
- duaneb 11y ago
  That's just the up-front cost. The resulting political shockwaves (resulting in, confusingly, two invasions) would cost the taxpayer around ~6 trillion.
hackuser 11y ago
> You can't put a price on human life Interestly, anyone engineering human safety, and anyone dealing with its consequences, including the courts and insurance industry, all have to. For example, designing a car, you can always make it safer and more expensive, but where do you draw the line? What are the ethical and legal requirements? What will customers pay for? There is a number out there for the value of a life and also one for serious injury (major loss of function), but I don't remember what they are. More importantly, there is far more than the pilot's life at stake. There are the other soldiers, sailors and pilots who die because they are now unprotected. There are the civilians who suffer because the mission fails. And there is the security and safety of the entire nation and its allies -- if Western air forces don't have effective fighter planes, it increases the threat to democracy and liberty around the world. It sounds dramatic, but those are the real stakes.
- duaneb 11y ago
  > Interestly, anyone engineering human safety, and anyone dealing with its consequences, including the courts and insurance industry, all have to. This is generally context sensitive and inaccurate. Engineers are attempting to limit liability, courts are attempting to compensate, and the insurance industry is attempting to limit compensation. These are not honest evaluations of human value, but rather honest evaluations of the market value of a human. The F-35 had better save millions of lives.

by duaneb 11y ago

icebraining 11y ago

If we could, how much would the average life that was lost on september 11th be valued? In the billions? The average was $3.1M per civilian victim and $4.2M per emergency responder, totalling $10.6 billion in compensation. http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9087/index1.html http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9087/index1.html

duaneb 11y ago
That's just the up-front cost. The resulting political shockwaves (resulting in, confusingly, two invasions) would cost the taxpayer around ~6 trillion.

hackuser 11y ago

> You can't put a price on human life Interestly, anyone engineering human safety, and anyone dealing with its consequences, including the courts and insurance industry, all have to. For example, designing a car, you can always make it safer and more expensive, but where do you draw the line? What are the ethical and legal requirements? What will customers pay for? There is a number out there for the value of a life and also one for serious injury (major loss of function), but I don't remember what they are. More importantly, there is far more than the pilot's life at stake. There are the other soldiers, sailors and pilots who die because they are now unprotected. There are the civilians who suffer because the mission fails. And there is the security and safety of the entire nation and its allies -- if Western air forces don't have effective fighter planes, it increases the threat to democracy and liberty around the world. It sounds dramatic, but those are the real stakes.

duaneb 11y ago
> Interestly, anyone engineering human safety, and anyone dealing with its consequences, including the courts and insurance industry, all have to. This is generally context sensitive and inaccurate. Engineers are attempting to limit liability, courts are attempting to compensate, and the insurance industry is attempting to limit compensation. These are not honest evaluations of human value, but rather honest evaluations of the market value of a human. The F-35 had better save millions of lives.