I like the numeric approach. However, something seems off, and I think it’s that you’re conflating the cost of saving a human life with the value of a human life.
Your question is interesting, though. If Omega gives you the choice of N dollars or giving 10,000 chickens a perfect chicken life,at what N do you pick the money?
I guess part of the issue is quality of life. I’d pay more to get chickens who are/otherwise would lead painful and unpleasant lives onto Planet Chicken than I would to have Omega create them out of thin air. On the human side of it, there’s more to life than avoiding malaria and elephantiasis.
Ten million dollars is an obvious upper limit, in that I prefer a human living a life of hardship to a chicken living life at its best. I suppose I’d go for about $5 a head to “save” a chicken from never having existed, and maybe somewhere between $20 and $100 to save one from a horrific life. These are nothing more than nice, round numbers, which to some extent include emotional considerations like wanting to look nice rather than greedy. I’m majoring in genetics, and part of the prac work includes bioethics classes so after I’ve spent more time studying specific cases (and in later years possibly being involved in animal experimentation) I’ll probably get a better grasp of the value of animal life and welfare. I think we can all agree that a human life is worth somewhere between 10 and several billion chickens though.
I like the numeric approach. However, something seems off, and I think it’s that you’re conflating the cost of saving a human life with the value of a human life.
Your question is interesting, though. If Omega gives you the choice of N dollars or giving 10,000 chickens a perfect chicken life,at what N do you pick the money?
I guess part of the issue is quality of life. I’d pay more to get chickens who are/otherwise would lead painful and unpleasant lives onto Planet Chicken than I would to have Omega create them out of thin air. On the human side of it, there’s more to life than avoiding malaria and elephantiasis.
Ten million dollars is an obvious upper limit, in that I prefer a human living a life of hardship to a chicken living life at its best. I suppose I’d go for about $5 a head to “save” a chicken from never having existed, and maybe somewhere between $20 and $100 to save one from a horrific life. These are nothing more than nice, round numbers, which to some extent include emotional considerations like wanting to look nice rather than greedy. I’m majoring in genetics, and part of the prac work includes bioethics classes so after I’ve spent more time studying specific cases (and in later years possibly being involved in animal experimentation) I’ll probably get a better grasp of the value of animal life and welfare. I think we can all agree that a human life is worth somewhere between 10 and several billion chickens though.