[John H K]

One thing, though. It would add millions if not billions to the cost when the chances are at the worst 1/120 of something like this happening. Is that worth it? I don't think so.

The fundamental problem, and actually the crux of THOUSANDS of debates, is the fairly silly but almost universally-held belief that human life is priceless.

Of course, you mention that you believe that human life ISN'T priceless, and you're immediately subjected to a torrent of flames.

But even a cursory examination of how society spends its money, makes decisions, reveals there's a price on human life...I've seen various studies that actually attempt to calculate it....but problems come in when people try to pretend there ISN'T a price.

How does this relate to the Space Shuttle program? If we really believed human life was priceless, we'd put 7 people in the thing and never launch it and play movies of space outside the windows.

Obviously, that's one (unrealistic) extreme. But to accomodate the various fixes recommended in this thread (All flights being able to reach the ISS, having a shuttle always ready to make a rescue flight, etc.) SERIOUSLY degrade the ability of the Shuttle to do useful things, and also likely cost vastly more money. There's a balance point you try to reach but there's no obvious guidlines to find where it is.

[Let's Roll]

"Obviously, that's one (unrealistic) extreme. But to accomodate the various fixes recommended in this thread (All flights being able to reach the ISS, having a shuttle always ready to make a rescue flight, etc.) SERIOUSLY degrade the ability of the Shuttle to do useful things, and also likely cost vastly more money. There's a balance point you try to reach but there's no obvious guidlines to find where it is."

AND if you did take all those precautions, it would be the one you didn't think of or take that bit you.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Excellent post.

I've also noticed over the last few days some posters argue that we should spend whatever money it takes to rescue the 7 astronauts(because their lives are priceless), but then turn around and demand that not a single cent go to fight AIDS in Africa.

[DaGman]

"But even a cursory examination of how society spends its money, makes decisions, reveals there's a price on human life...I've seen various studies that actually attempt to calculate it....but problems come in when people try to pretend there ISN'T a price."

Calculating the price of a human life is an everyday occurence in business. Businesses are capable of making products that are 100% safe. However, making a 100% safe product is not always profitable. Therefore, businesses will calculate the probability that a product will fail at various levels of quality. Then, businesses will forecast their likely average payout for a lawsuit and then maximize their profit based on calculations that include the above. So, putting a price on a life is a way of life in business.

An example of this is a friend I have that had a section of his colon removed because of cancer. The staples used to sew him back up failed. Of course, everyone went out of their way to make it right for him, including the doctor and the hospital. He also found out that the manufacturer of the staples had calculated a failure rate of 1 out of every 100,000 staples. The company decided that this level of quality was an acceptable risk so and they knew how much profit they could expect after figuring in legal costs related to the staples.

As a side note, if an assumption is wrong about product failure rates, or if they get hit with an unexpectedly high jury award, they then scream tort reform.