# How many different ways can you put value on human life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 22, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216 "2024-06-22T22:55:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Texikid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/texikid/32/17036_2.png) [@Texikid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Texikid)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/1 "2024-06-22T22:55:05Z")
What are all the different ways you can value a human life?Lets use 137 pounds as an average. Examples: - (World population) / (Money in the world) - (Worth in meat) - (Net worth of a single person) - (Price of each element in a human) - (Average kidnapping ransom) ⬅(which probably deserves its own page) - etc ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/2 "2024-06-22T22:56:29Z")
- demanding speed bumps on every city street ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2024, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/3 "2024-06-22T23:04:50Z")
Amount you’d pay to avoid killing a person (in auto safety features. Or aircraft safety features. Or…) Amount a court would order you to pay in liability costs for accidentally killing someone (e.g., in an auto accident). ---
**Author:** ![Texikid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/texikid/32/17036_2.png) [@Texikid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Texikid)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/4 "2024-06-22T23:06:20Z")
Human meat tastes most closely to chicken according to The Guardian.So 137 pounds of chicken should give us a strange estimate.I can get 5.7 pounds of chicken from walmart for 12.93.So 137/5.7=12ishx12.93$=310.03$ (correct my math) ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2024, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/5 "2024-06-22T23:28:28Z")
The first Guardian article I found is [this one](https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-lay-scientist/2010/sep/05/human-meat-taste-cannibal), which says human meat probably tastes closest to pork, not chicken. That’s what I’ve always understood, and that’s what the term “long pig” refers to. Pork seems to be roughly the same price as chicken though, so it doesn’t really affect the cost. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2024, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/6 "2024-06-22T23:38:47Z")
Pricing gun - then you put them on the shelf. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2024, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/7 "2024-06-22T23:44:13Z")
Minimum wage = $7.25/hour A forty-hour work week for a year = 2080 hours Average work life = 46 years So a person earns at least $693,680 in a lifetime (US figures). ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/8 "2024-06-23T00:22:55Z")
> [@Texikid](#): > > Lets use 137 pounds as an average. In countries with slavery, there must be explicit prices for certain types of people i doubt it’s closely related to the weight of the people, though. ---
**Author:** ![Texikid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/texikid/32/17036_2.png) [@Texikid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Texikid)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/9 "2024-06-23T00:53:25Z")
I’m just talking about average weight of a person if your calculation involves weight. ---
**Author:** ![Texikid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/texikid/32/17036_2.png) [@Texikid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Texikid)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/10 "2024-06-23T00:58:10Z")
Oops.Sorry 'bout that.Good 'ol Firefox has it as a first result.It’s actually saying that unaccordingly to popular belief it does NOT taste like chicken.So…thank you for correcting me! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/11 "2024-06-23T01:37:49Z")
I think it’s pretty clear that about 90% of 'em have negative value. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/12 "2024-06-23T01:42:33Z")
I’ve read that the airline industry prices a human life at about $6 million. That is to say, if some new safety technology would save 100 passenger lives but cost over $600 million to implement, it wouldn’t be worth it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/13 "2024-06-23T01:45:20Z")
Not too many years ago, commercial auto insurance priced human life at about $2M. More for a high earning attractive young adult, less for an old retired person. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/14 "2024-06-23T01:55:32Z")
$16.28 an hour in Washington State. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/15 "2024-06-23T02:08:21Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I’ve read that the airline industry prices a human life at about $6 million. That is to say, if some new safety technology would save 100 passenger lives but cost over $600 million to implement, it wouldn’t be worth it. Probably not the airline industry since they don’t make those decisions. The airline industry regulators (e.g. FAA in the USA) might well use such a number. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/16 "2024-06-23T04:33:20Z")
Here’s how it was done for the victims of 9/11. > **[September 11th Victim Compensation Fund | The eight-part Feinberg plan](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11th_Victim_Compensation_Fund#The_eight-part_Feinberg_plan)** > > In his book titled What is Life Worth?, Feinberg described the eight-part plan which was applied to approaching the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (see Publications section below). > (i) Identify someone with sufficient and exceptionally broad experience in mass tort action mediation, litigation, and settlement, which Feinberg possessed through his previous personal experience as a political activist and his work in the Agent Orange compensation settlement. > (ii) To support and follow t... There was a 2020 movie about the process starring Michael Keaton. (I haven’t watched it yet.) > **[Worth (2020) ⭐ 6.8 | Biography, Drama, History](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8009744/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_3_nm_5_q_Worth)** > > 1h 58m | PG-13 ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/17 "2024-06-23T06:06:26Z")
Cost of production. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/18 "2024-06-23T08:43:47Z")
Value to whom? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-different-ways-can-you-put-value-on-human-life/1003216/19 "2024-06-23T21:34:53Z")
I’ll call my insurance guy in the morning… Let you know.