How Much is a Human Life Worth?

Once when I like 10 years old, I was sitting in a school auditorium...I looked at all the people, and the (required) fire exits in the room. And I thought to myself that there weren't enough doors to save everyone in every situation. In order to do that, you'd have to make the whole building doors...but it wasn't worth it...so there must be some calculus to determine how much trouble / money a human life was worth.

I was right...and it's not an inhuman thing, it's important to know. And in this video, we talk about the monetary value of a human life. It's variable...depending on whether you're talking about selling the individual moments, or ending the life forever. But I don't think it should be...if we're willing to sell all the individual moments of our lives for $2M, why would we then value the act of not dying at far more than that? Maybe it's because we treasure our histories more than we treasure the moments yet to come, but that seems wrong to me.

SOURCES:

[peregrination]

"Death has been good enough to everyone who has ever lived." I need to use this in a conversation someday.

[rolleroftherock]

You're freaking amazing Hank. I just got out of a psych unit after having a breakdown (basically) and this is the first video Ive watched so far after getting out. Im crying right now because I have the ability to watch videos here and listen to anything someone wants to say and some people don't have that right or opportunity. Thanks for being a great person Hank. Thank you for your message.

[vikingguypete]

Water, 35 litres. Carbon, 20kg. Ammonia, 4 litres. Lime, 1.5kg. Phosperus, 800g. Salt, 250 g. Niter, 100g. Sulphur, 80g. Fluorine, 7.5g. Iron, 5g. Silicon 3g and other trace elements

[nongiga]

it was calculated that for every 2, 900$ donate to the Against Malaria Foundation (that charity SPECIFICALLY) a life is saved, which is by far lower than any other statistic Hank mentioned, and this person you save has a 70% chance to be a child... it kind of gives you hope, the fact life can be so cheap... it shows how easy it is to make a difference :)

[dollyalice]

My first video was "41 Jokes in 4 Minutes"! It was several years ago, but I still kept going back to watch it and showing it to people. Then this summer, I found LBD and it finally hit me that there had to be more to all of this awesome. Vlogbrothers was the reason I created a YouTube channel. You were my first subscribe. Thank you! :)

[jedimaster]

I'm planning on living forever. So far, so good.

[EdwardCullensWife]

I just saw your posters, and your awesomeness level officially shot through the roof. InuYasha is my favorite anime and manga EVER.

[Galejro]

How Much is a Human Life Worth? Ask an assassin >:)

[broadwaynerd]

Wow. I learn so much from you Hank! Thank you for making this channel fun AND educational.

[Malanaks]

Thanks for not running preroll ads btw. I don't mind clicking the little ones away but when you're spending a lot of time on youtube the prerolls add up to so much wasted time.

[syedmonzareen]

Personally, I think anprice of a life is pointless, since no amount of money can ever buy back a personality, or friendship or otherwise. However, in the event of a massive WWIII, or super-pandemic, the UN places the maximum amount of any single human's collateral damage (inoccent civilians in a war) at 7million dollars.

[Moonflame]

OMG Just finished the Fault in Our One of the BEST BOOKS EVER. You guys (Hank and John Green) are awesome in all of your videos too. Just wanted to say, you guys are amazing (and so is the the book the Fault in Our Stars)!

[awsomechinaperson]

I too am a Hufflepuff. My life is complete

[motermouthmomma]

John, Hank is right, you were awesome on the late late show. I do not have tv but, I made sure I watched it online on cbs when you mentioned it. You did better then most do.

[commodex]

How much is a human life worth?
1 human life = 1 human life

If you had to kill a stranger to save your 8 year old daughter
1 human sacrifice for 1 human life

If you had to blow up a tank crew to save your 8 year old daughter
4 humans sacrificed for 1 human life

If you had to gun down an incoming squadron of soldiers to save you and your 8 year old daughter
5 humans sacrificed for 1 human life

If you had to bomb a nearby military encampment to save your family
25 humans sacrificed for 1 human life

If you had to annihilate a city producing bombs in order to save your people,
how much is a human life worth?

[SouthpawHolmes]

I absolutely FREAKED OUT at the AVPM reference which nobody seems to understand except you yourself, John, and I. Go Nerdfighters.

[SomethingImpromptu]

The minimum wage doesn't tell you how much "the value of [someone's] economic input" is-- it tells you the minimal figure that the elite can get away with paying. To calculate their actual input, you'd need to use a co-operative model. The equal share of revenue that an average worker-owner would make over their working lifetime. Pay is completely dissociated from value and distorted in capitalist wage labor.

[Ookoolicious]

It's a hardware/construction supply chain here in the US. And true, Google and other companies are beginning to address the problem, but it still does and will remain until internet advertisers make you able to advertise at, like, the county and town level- at the moment, for example, I get online advertisements from New York State in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Now while it's true I -might- be in New York at some point and decide to go wherever, it's unlikely I'll spend 3+ hours just to go

[leannef]

I subscribed just because of this video and how awesome this guy is..
This is probably the most interesting thing I've seen on youtube in ages

[ThomasKwa]

Thank you! This video is one of the best on the value of a human life. To truly appreciate how much we value our lives, we must compare it using a numerical value.