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by scarejunba 2297 days ago
A reasonable deal to me sounds like they can do one of three things:

* Procure from someone else

* Procure from me at my price

* Sign an irrevocable deal that at any point I will give them any N95 and P100 masks I have they desire and in exchange they will give me any healthcare I desire at any point. My life is no less valuable than theirs so I think this is fair.
1 comments
otterley 2297 days ago
The correct formula isn't what your lives are worth in absolute terms, though. It must be risk-adjusted. Specifically, one must calculate what lives are worth, multiplied by the probability of the hypothetical victim's vs. the current possessor's death due to not having a mask.

But again, this isn't so much an economic question as much as it is a moral one.

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scarejunba 2297 days ago
Oh it most certainly is a moral one, which is why I'm asking that you commit to save my life when it needs saving. Unless you somehow imagine that letting me die is morally desirable? At which point, it'll take a lot more to convince me.

If my life needs dollars to save, so does yours. And if you will take your pound of flesh, so will I. But I'm making an offer in good faith in your hour of need. I will not take a pound of flesh. I will take no thing. And in exchange, all I ask is that you do the same for me. Your reluctance to accept this tells me all I need to know about your so-called morality.

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otterley 2297 days ago
Huh? Your implicit assumption seems to be that if you don’t have a mask, you are 100% likely to die. That is just not so, and borders on paranoia.
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scarejunba 2297 days ago
No, I do not believe it requires any such assumption. I am 100% likely to die, as is everyone. That's the nature of living. We all have an expiry date. When I'm wheeled in for whatever reason, car accident, fell in the bathroom, tomorrow, next month, ten years from now, exercise your morality and save me if I can be saved - no questions asked. That's all.

Listen, it's pretty obvious I never assumed I'd die in the near future without a mask, only that I might be put in a life threatening situation at some point - mask or no mask. I don't see how this is supposed to be such a hard choice to save my life. I'm rate-limited on HN, so this might be my last post, but if you find it so hard to say you'd help saving my life maybe you shouldn't be moralizing on how I should be saving others'.

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