From: ed@somewhere.in.the.uk   
      
   dsmsot1996 wrote:   
   > As "oldernow " has quite politely invited philosophy   
   > gurus here, I find it appropriate to bumble in along with my non-sense.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > Many wise people smarter than I am have tried to accurately pinpoint the   
   > source of the worth, this *value* of a human life, and have come up with   
   > utterly absurd and ridiculous theories. Intrinsic worth? Sure,buddy. The   
   > "soul"? Oh please. But I, with my abysmally inadequate knowledge, have   
   > finally arrived to a conclusion and I consider myself to be inarguably   
   > correct.   
   > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------   
   > The worth of a human life depends upon how much importance it holds in the   
   > minds of those interacting with it.   
   > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------   
   > Now, picture somebody like Elon Musk. He may be a big shot, worshipped by   
   > junior engineers as if he is the messiah of a small-town cult, the sort   
   > where they kidnap random people to sacrifice. But these people do not   
   > interact with the man. It is a purely parasocial show of adoration. The   
   > few people he actually converses with in his daily life, political   
   > bigwigs, social media celebrities,and so on, often look down upon him, and   
   > consider him to be a nutcase. Compare this to some random worker in a soup   
   > kitchen in the Bronx. This person talks to countless people in a day,   
   > feeds them, listens to their lives and worries and is considered to be a   
   > very kind and polite person. The environment of the worker has higher   
   > respect and value for this unnamed worker than the environment of Elon   
   > Musk, thus the worker's life has a higher worth.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > This draws paralells with our economical and financial system. An asset   
   > has a higher worth when people consider it to have a higher worth, hence   
   > why people covet naturally-formed, impurity-rich lattices of carbon, over   
   > the pure lab-grown kind. You are all free to come and argue or even debate   
   > with me on this.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
      
   You've highlighted something that appeals to my fundamental concepts,   
   dsmsot1996. Friendship is something I don't think I could do without;   
   and your version sounds very Christian, despite your comment about   
   "soul". Perhaps "socialistic" or "libertarian" might be preferable terms.   
      
   However, I have a reservation here. I love literature, scientific   
   inquiry, reading history, poetry. They do more than embellish or adorn   
   life; they inspire me with internal growth, something to champion and   
   promote.   
   Have you ever read Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics? He valued friendship   
   very highly, but he agreed with me about the highest good in life; in   
   pursuit of happiness the exercise of one's rational faculties is   
   paramount, and intellectual contemplation the highest good.   
      
   Ed   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)