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Author Topic: What Value is Life?  (Read 3516 times)

Duuvian

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #45 on: June 12, 2010, 01:02:11 am »

I agree with Jackrabbit on this one. Nice post by the way, Jack.
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FINISHED original composition:
https://app.box.com/s/jq526ppvri67astrc23bwvgrkxaicedj

Sort of finished and awaiting remix due to loss of most recent song file before addition of drums:
https://www.box.com/s/s3oba05kh8mfi3sorjm0 <-zguit

ed boy

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #46 on: June 12, 2010, 06:49:25 am »

A rather large problem with threads like this stems from the word "value".

The original poster has formed a concept in their mind, and wishes to communicate this concept (which is the question). Sine this cannot be done directly, the poster must use words to approximate the meaning of their concept, and the people who read the post must then try to derive to concept from the words.

There are some words, however, which are more precise than others. The range of meanings which can be applied to different words varies, not only from person to person, but within a single person's mind. Indeed, in my experience, the majority of arguments and disagreements come down to different definitions of words that people have.

The words that were used to ask the question were "What value is life?". On the whole, these are bad words to be using - they are very ambiguous, and thus potential correct answers will vary greatly. Nobody can really answer this question, as their individual definitions of the words involved will vary.

We can attempt to narrow down the range of meanings, and therefore the range of answers, by using more precise words. Indeed, if the original poster said "How much, in real monetary terms, could the average human produce over the course of their remaining life, minus the costs, in real monetary terms, or sustaining them for that period?", then answers could be given more satisfactorily. However, since all we have to go on is "what value is life", then the more we try to refine the question to remove ambiguity, the less chance we have of containing the original poster's meaning in the refined question.

In short, the question is to vague and imprecise to be able to asnwer with any confidence. This can be recitfied by the original poster refining the quesiton into more precise terminology.
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NFossil

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #47 on: June 12, 2010, 06:51:09 am »

Breeding. Fitness.
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Il Palazzo

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #48 on: June 12, 2010, 06:58:25 am »

Harvard's Michael Sandel does a lecture on this subject:
http://academicearth.org/lectures/how-much-is-life-worth
Worth watching.
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ChairmanPoo

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #49 on: June 12, 2010, 07:01:34 am »

The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.
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Everyone sucks at everything. Until they don't. Not sucking is a product of time invested.

Jackrabbit

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #50 on: June 12, 2010, 07:03:57 am »

The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.

Hot water, good dentistry and soft toilet paper.
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ToonyMan

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #51 on: June 12, 2010, 10:13:54 am »

Um, it was vague so we can get discussion instead of one narrow psychedelic thing?  You don't need to make 5 paragraphs about that, you could just say, "The OP is too vague." and nothing would be loss.
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AtomicPaperclip

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #52 on: June 12, 2010, 11:35:30 am »

I guess it varies by person.

To me a world filled with airplanes and televisions and cellular phones is fairly dystopian.

Sure, I use them, because I'm in this world. But I think humans can enjoy a certain connection with nature (or god if you prefer to look at it that way), that most first world citizens forget or do not know.

I think that civilization progresses because people ask questions like "Why does my baby have to be born this way?" or "Why did my brother have to die?"

But to me personally, the natural cycle of life and death is not something that needs to be avoided.

I spoke with a man from Kenya who won kind of a lottery for a scholarship to whatever American school he wanted. He was very homesick and said "Here, everything is so easy but so complicated. In Kenya, everything is so difficult but so simple."

You might enjoy the easy but complicated, but I prefer hard manual labor without all the menial hoops of our society.
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Dear Toady: Keep up the good work man, we appreciate you and the game beyond words.

ToonyMan

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #53 on: June 12, 2010, 12:01:40 pm »

You'd make a perfect Dwarf.
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andrea

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #54 on: June 12, 2010, 12:50:32 pm »

easy but complicated... so true.

Nikov

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #55 on: June 12, 2010, 01:19:16 pm »

Everything to the person in question.

The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.

Hot water, good dentistry and soft toilet paper.

Strong wine and a soft bed, cool silk and a warm woman.
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I should probably have my head checked, because I find myself in complete agreement with Nikov.

Armok

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #56 on: June 12, 2010, 01:39:10 pm »

Everything to the person in question.

The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.

Hot water, good dentistry and soft toilet paper.

Strong wine and a soft bed, cool silk and a warm woman.
A billion carefully arranged transistors, the world at my fingertips, and a brain capable of marvelling at the wonders of existence.
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So says Armok, God of blood.
Sszsszssoo...
Sszsszssaaayysss...
III...

Nikov

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #57 on: June 12, 2010, 01:51:27 pm »

Everything to the person in question.

The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.

Hot water, good dentistry and soft toilet paper.

Strong wine and a soft bed, cool silk and a warm woman.
A billion carefully arranged transistors, the world at my fingertips, and a brain capable of marvelling at the wonders of existence.

Porn, forums, YouTube.

I like mine better.
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I should probably have my head checked, because I find myself in complete agreement with Nikov.

Il Palazzo

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #58 on: June 12, 2010, 02:23:03 pm »

The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.
To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.

I had to, since noone else did.
Still, the qestion of the thread doesn't fit any of those answers.
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sonerohi

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Re: What Value is Life?
« Reply #59 on: June 12, 2010, 02:36:03 pm »

Everything to the person in question.

The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.

Hot water, good dentistry and soft toilet paper.

Strong wine and a soft bed, cool silk and a warm woman.
A billion carefully arranged transistors, the world at my fingertips, and a brain capable of marvelling at the wonders of existence.

Porn, forums, YouTube.

I like mine better.

GoBots, geodude, mountain dew code red.
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I picked up the stone and carved my name into the wind.
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