Do we place too much value on life?

[yossarian22]

I guess part of my questioning is whether we will someday overpopulate the Earth. It seems like we are outsmarting nature. Animals keep their population under control through methods like those I've already mentioned, but to them it's instinct. If one species starts to get out of control, nature has a way of regaining control over them. However, with our higher brain functions, we seem to be getting around that process, possibly to our and the planet's ultimate demise.

Unlikely. Technology is increasing our food yields at a pace which outpaces population growth. The problem has always been logistics. By the time we hit the limit, we will probably be off the planet.

It is very fragile if you look at it, everything dpends on each other. One little tweak and the world is in bits.

It is anything but fragile.
People have it in their heads that things in nature are static. Nature is anything but static. The only way to break nature would be to vaporize the entire planet.

 

[Somkid]

Life is priceless so, how to you put a value on it? Perhaps some people truly know the price of everything and the value of nothing...

 

[Magic Man]

Life is priceless so, how to you put a value on it? Perhaps some people truly know the price of everything and the value of nothing...

By giving it more or less importance than other things.

 

[Somkid]

By giving it more or less importance than other things.

If you don't have life it is difficult to give anything more or less importance than other things. Life is precious and fragile. I have seen life drain from people and I have seen birth, I have seen the horrors that human beings do to each other and helped clean up the mess believe me when I tell you life is precious.

 

[Magic Man]

If you don't have life it is difficult to give anything more or less importance than other things. Life is precious and fragile. I have seen life drain from people and I have seen birth, I have seen the horrors that human beings do to each other and helped clean up the mess believe me when I tell you life is precious.

I'm not saying it's not precious. There isn't much question about that. Is human life worth sacrificing everything else, though? Will we be better off when there are 12 billion people in the world than if we had a different view that allowed for population control?

A lot of discussions on RF have a tendency to get down to basics, and look at questions and problems without the baggage of judgements based on preconcieved notions and emotion. Human life is one of the most precious things we know of, but, thinking about it objectively, do we sacrifice too much to keep as much of it around as we possibly can?

If something doesn't change, we will outgrow this planet. We can only expand so far before we just plain run out of room. That's assuming we don't damage the planet enough to kill us off before that happens. It's possible that by that point, we'll be able to live on other planets, but that's not guaranteed. There's a reason we're on Earth, and it's because it's perfectly suited to life forms such as ours. It's not exactly easy to create that somewhere else.

As precious as life is, is our value of it inflated to the point of being detrimental to our future, or is our value of it justified?

 

[crystalonyx]

All life is important, but no life is sacred, something some religions get wrong. Keeping people alive just for the sake of being alive is sometimes wrong. Not caring the well-being of other life forms is wrong, as far as the overall health of the planet goes.

 

[kdrier]

Yes. 100%. Think about the population now a days. Quality of life is more important than life itself. I wouldn't mind killing off some of the population, as sadistic as that may sound. Too many weird genetics going around these days. I believe "god" will help solve the problems all in due time. We are too concerned about life that we have tons people living a life of hell and misery. Population control is necessary, if we can't have the balls to do it ourselves than I'm sure nature will take it's course and cut our meat for us.

do we sacrifice too much to keep as much of it around as we possibly can?

Yes

 

[Wandered Off]

I wouldn't mind killing off some of the population, as sadistic as that may sound. Too many weird genetics going around these days.

If we decide that your genes are weird so you and your family have to go, you'll cooperate and help them understand, right?

 

[Magic Man]

If we decide that your genes are weird so you and your family have to go, you'll cooperate and help them understand, right?

Actually, this kind of goes back to another thread I started about life not being fair. I don't want to die, and maybe I'd cooperate and maybe I wouldn't. It's not fair that some people get to live, and others die, but no matter what we do we can't make it completely fair. I would find it unfair that I had to die, but c'est la vie.

 

[Wandered Off]

I would find it unfair that I had to die, but c'est la vie.

Or c'est la mort.....

 

[Magic Man]

Or c'est la mort.....

You are correct. I almost added that in, but decided against it.

 

[ravenstrike]

Life is really our greatest gift, isn't it? I mean, without it, everything else becomes obsolete.
Free will, right and wrong, they all spawn from life.
I would beg your forbearance, but I do wright form an atheist view, so forgive me if i seem to (in this post) step on your toes, but it cannot be helped
We have one life, only one, and it is not to be wasted
The universe will live on, indifferent to our brief existence, but we should value it, cherish it,and give it meaning.

 

[ravenstrike]

Why, then is it that when a couple kids put a cat in a microwave, it's all over the news, but when you tie a man to the back of the car and drag him bleeding and screaming through the streets, it gets a one page article, and is subsequently forgotten? Our values are messed up. It's a cat. Deal with it. It's a guy. Why doesn't anyone care?

 

[Don Penguinoini]

For me, the life of a cat and man are equal, but the attention the two get is deathly unfair.

 

[ravenstrike]

Really? equal?
if there was a man and cat, and you could save one, and the other would die, which?

 

[Don Penguinoini]

How can i answer that?

 

[Magic Man]

Why, then is it that when a couple kids put a cat in a microwave, it's all over the news, but when you tie a man to the back of the car and drag him bleeding and screaming through the streets, it gets a one page article, and is subsequently forgotten? Our values are messed up. It's a cat. Deal with it. It's a guy. Why doesn't anyone care?

It's only because we are more desensitized to human death. If it's an extraordinary case, we hear about it, but other than that, the media doesn't think it's interesting enough for us. Stories like that about the cat are less common, and so are thought to be more interesting to people in general.

 

[ravenstrike]

That makes sense, but being desensitized to something is awfully close to "placing too little value" on life.

 

[Don Penguinoini]

Its what rakes in the P's

 

[Magic Man]

That makes sense, but being desensitized to something is awfully close to "placing too little value" on life.

Maybe. It depends on how much value you think should be placed on life.