Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

What are your thoughts on the value of life in general, and the value of human life in particular?

On the one extreme, we have people who believe that all life is as sacred as any deity. On the other, we have people who believe that life is utterly worthless, and that we are all no more than organic machines.

What do you believe, and why?

- Kef

I've always equated the value of a human life to the current price to hire a hitman...

I kid, of course.

I believe, essentially, it's worthless. We're just a few pesky organisms on some little blue planet in a galaxy amongst billions and billions of galaxies. After our lifetimes, for how many generations do you think you'll be thought of on a regular basis? I say probably one for myself, maybe two. After that, only your distant relatives will remember you, although they probably won't relate to anything you've ever done with your life. Then, you won't be remembered at all. We'll be things of the past, maybe brought up once or twice when someone's tracing their genealogy. I suppose the only fix for this is to do something important, like make a record of your families' history, or keep a diary, or make a time capsule (or some kind of challenge, buried in the ground). But even if you run for president, you'll still won't be remembered for you, you'll just be a name on a family tree or in a text book. Miraculously, even if you are remembered, you'll still be just a guy in a hole on a planet amongst trillions upon trillions of planets.

I think the best thing is just to make the most of what you've got, and try to make your short, short life enjoyable for you. Not to sound cliche, but live your life to the fullest.


Edit: Or just have yourself cryopreserved, and come back to life in the future, when they invent the cure for death.

I relate the value of a human life to the things they did with that life.

For example, if someone does their best to make positive contributions to society (or, at least, tries to), then I feel that their life is worth more than the life of, say, a multiple murderer/rapist.

_________________
If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

I don't think you can price life.
Unless life is knowledge.

Code J, I'm surprised: that's more or less exactly what I believe. At least, I think it is.

I think, really, that I'm in two minds about the matter. My objective mind tells me that indeed we're "organic machines", as I put it in the initial post. My subjective mind tells me that that doesn't matter. Our lives do not matter to the universe, but they do matter to us, and that's what's important.

My problem is that sometimes I don't know which mind to believe. Not that there's any "right" answer, of course (well, aside from what religions might say).



What do you think of the intrinsic value of life, though? Or are you saying that life has no intrinsic value?

- Kef

It's kind of touchy..
I need to clarify the "value" I described. The value related to what one does with their life is the value that I believe that humans give human life. If I weren't religious, it'd stop there. However, I AM Christian, so there's more to it.

I also believe that there's a value to our lives in the eyes of God. To God, we're all equal.

I'm not sure how much sense that makes. It's not really something I've thought too much about.

_________________
If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

I have to disagree on part of that. The way I see it: Human life is a miracle. Your life is a miracle. It's a miracle God created us, you're you and I am me! It is very, very important and above all human life is most important. I believe we should live life too the fullest, but I also believe that it is important because I believe God loves us more than any other species. I just remember life is a miracle created by God and that everything is a miracle created by God and I see that life is a priceless jewel in the finest museum.

On your edit: Cheater!

_________________

That doesn't really answer the question, though. How does that give life meaning and worth? What's the point of life if we're just going to live and die?

Because in the end we go to heaven or hell, so technically in my religion we really don't die in the sense that we just go blank and our consciousness is gone forever. I say life is important because God made it. Most life is a masterpiece. The majestic lion or the amazing eagle. Humans aren't perfect like the carefree animals, but for some reason God covets us more and therefore that increases our worth.

_________________

I look at it like this: every human life on this planet, every single individual - no matter how messed up, deranged, or degraded - is a person for whom Christ died.

_________________

I agree with Didy on that.

_________________

While life may be pointless sometimes, as insignificant as we seem, life is all we got; it is what we make of it.

I think that, no matter what you believe, no matter how worthless you think you are, that you should live your life to the fullest, take your life as far as you can.

_________________

Life is one of those strange things that make you think "Why the heck am I alive right now?"
Of all the things you could be, you choose to be alive. You could be dead, but no, you're alive. Live it up, cause if you choose to be dead when life comes knocking, you're gonna die, and noone wants to die unless they want to live. [size=0]90% of you cannot make heads nor tails of what I just said.[/size]

_________________

I think everything is subjective. Nothing has any objective value. Why do people think life is valueable? Because they're alive! It's self-interest.
Life, among other things don't need any purpose or value to exists.

I say, enjoy the ride. You only got one ticket, and there are no refunds. If you don't like it and want to get off, that's up to you, but I'm gonna hang on and see what comes up around the corner. It will end one day, but why rush it?

The reason I think life is valuable is because it was something God made and if God makes something it is beyond worth. Life was his masterpiece so I believe it is most valuable on this planet and the entire universe.

_________________

That's circular reasoning. You love God because he created life, and you love life because it was created by God.

(Also, you're sig is still a bit big. You'll need to resize that picture to a 60px height or take out a line of text for it to be within the limits)

I side with the people who say that all lives are equally valuable and Christ died for them all. I do believe that life has a purpose. I could be a tree, a dog, a mushroom, or a tiny bacteria, but I ended up a human, and I'm not willing to accept that I just got really really lucky.
[emphasis mine]
I don't remember him saying that.

_________________

Well I do love God for that reason (and a slew of others).

_________________

True, not in this thread, but Wes has said similar things in other threads. I just pieced the two together.

How is that circular reasoning? At best, it can be considered circular sentimentality, but not circular reasoning.

_________________

Well, if you take it literally, it is circular logic. Any case of "X because of Y; Y because of X" is circular logic; that's the definition of it.

- Kef

Is there anything wrong with circular reasoning?

_________________

Depends on what you mean. Does it automatically make the premise and conclusion false? No. But it does demonstrate flawed thinking, and certainly doesn't make for convincing arguments, either. Which is why, when employing any reasoning that resembles circular argument, one had best bring in as much outside evidence as possible.

_________________

Why does it constitute flawed thinking?

_________________

Because it sets up a chicken and egg type situation where there's no real end or conclusion, so it can't prove anything. I have a book on logic here, and the example it uses is this:

1) Car Company makes the best cars in the country because they pay their workers well.
2) Car Company can afford to pay their workers well because they make the best cars.

Well, what's the original cause? If you say 2 is true because 1 is true, 1 can't be true unless 2 is true and 2 can't be true unless 1 is true, etc, etc, etc, it can never stop.

But it didn't look to me like you were trying to prove anything.. As long as you're not trying to prove anything, circular reasoning doesn't hurt anyone. It could be part of an emotional support (because emotions aren't going to be logical), or maybe as something that inspires you to look for a better argument and helps point the way.

_________________
ATTN: LOWER BOARD USERS HAVE MOVED TO ANOTHER FORUM. COME JOIN THE FUN!

Have you seen this drawing?

That drawing is a perfect illustration of why a circular argument isn't valid. Remember that the form of a circular argument is "X because of Y; Y because of X". In this case: the hand on the left exists because the hand on the right drew it (X because of Y). The hand on the right exists because the hand on the left drew it (Y because of X).

The image does not "make sense", because circular logic does not make sense.

For more information, Wikipedia has an article about circular reasoning.

- Kef

Okay.

_________________

What about those who lived pre-29 CE?