3pigs
bp is taking some heat for putting a price tag on human life. perhaps using the three little pigs is not the best way to approach the topic. or maybe it is. humans are pretty hung up on human life being worth an infinite amount of money. and it is, if it's your life. but really, how much of your money would give away to save the life of someone you don't know? $1m? $1000? right. i bet if your doctor said there's a homeless dude in the er who needs a $1000 operation or he'll die, most of you would say tough luck for the homeless dude. so the cold hard facts are human life is not worth an infinite amount of money to society. so the question is, how much is a human life worth? it's taboo to even talk about. hence the fairy tale metaphor. it's a secret number that companies have to guess. uncertainty makes things more expensive than they need to be. we should establish and publish a standard value for accidentally taking a human life. if you work in a particularly dangerous job, like say on an oil rig, you could negotiate a higher value of life as part of your employment contract. this would seriously simplify financial decisions and streamline court cases. even if it crushes your delusion that god made you the most important person in the world. timmer for pope.