How much do you value your life?

[mackthefork]

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Would you drive to the bank right now if they were willing to give you a million dollars?


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Yes

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Would you do it for $1,000?

Of course.

$100?

Almost certainly.

$10?

Probably not.


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Probably all true, I see the risks as no bigger than the negligable risks I am forced to take daily. I already admitted that I take unnecessary risks all the time.

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At what point does the risk of death, however small, become the deciding factor?


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When a risk is significantly higher than the small risks you are forced to take in order to increase happiness and life expectancy, like cutting your sandwiches into triangles or having a bath, making love etc.

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The point here is - a very remote risk of death is worth very little. If life had infinite dollar value, you would never take these risks, no matter how remote the risks were.


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We went over this we need some amount of money to survive so taking the risks makes sense, infinite is a poor choice of words though, but the value to the individual in question is almost so high it doesn't matter.

Regards Mack

[mackthefork]

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Hypothetically, suppose it's 1 in one 1,000,000 (it could be more, it could be less). This is analogous to playing the hypothetical game for a million dollar reward where 1 in 1,000,000 tickets results in your death.

You would _gladly_ play this "game", would you not?


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I would take this bet.

Mack

[MicroBob]

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If you're fully content with the $25,000 a year you make doing something that you already enjoy

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This is mostly what I'm getting at.

I'm pretty damn content even with the meager amount I make.


If I had a zillion dollars what would I be doing right now?
There's a pretty decent chance I would be doing what I'm doing now....which is watching the baseball playoffs on TV (albeit I would be watching them on a BIGGER TV).


The ideas that turning this down because the negatives regarding death are too high (re: 'going to hell') are not as much of a factor to me as the positives I get right now from life IN GENERAL would only be partly enhanced if my money suddenly increased 1,000-fold.

I would still enjoy playing on my rec-league soccer teams, I would still enjoy watching the baseball playoffs, I would still enjoy music.

You can't tell me that if I had a ton of money I would suddenly despise playing poker or that I would hate watching the ball-game on TV or that I would immediately start hating music.


FWIW - My Dad is something of a rags-to-riches story having grown-up in the backwoods if West Virgina...and having worked hard through college, etc was able to retire early to Florida.
While he would certainly be a different person if he had not been able to be financially successful, I suspect that he would MOSTLY be the same person that he is today...and would probably be doing the exact same thing that I would guess he is doing right now.
He is drinking a beer and watching the game on TV (either at home or at a bar with his buddies).

Obviously he earned his money gradually which is different than somehow suddenly having $5-million thrown at you all at once.


but I don't think it's THAT much of a stretch to say that I really have been enjoying life too much to mess with that...and that it generally goes against my moral principles (I am an athiest for what that's worth).


If it was $1-billion with a 1-in-1000 chance of dying I would not take that bet (assuming I am who I am today...34 years-old and in good health).
I wouldn't want to.
Those who are close to me wouldn't want me to either...nor would I want them to.


That isn't to say that I don't take risks everyday in life.
I could slip on a wet-floor in the shower and crack my head...but I'm still going to take a shower when I get up. And I'm not going to be all terrified and clinging to the sides just praying that I don't slip and kill myself.

I'm not paranoid in that way.
I embrace life...but do not live in a way that would indicate that I'm completely terrified of death either.

Yes, I drive a car...or get on an airplane.
These aren't 1-in-1000 odds of death though...
nor even 1-in-10,000 chances of death (if it was 1-in-10,000 chances then anyone who drives 20 miles to work everyday would have a 50/50 chance of being killed in a car-wreck within 30 years...which isn't correct).


I live life and enjoy it.
I do understand that I take risks everyday on the things I do for enjoyment OR survival.
This is not the same as taking a 1-in-100 or 1-in-1000 bet for a billion dollars that I mostly don't need.


The chances of me EARNING just $1-million and being quite content with that amount WITHOUT having to take such an unnecessary risk as this hypothetical bet are still reasonably strong.

[Abbaddabba]

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I do understand that I take risks everyday on the things I do for enjoyment OR survival.
This is not the same as taking a 1-in-100 or 1-in-1000 bet for a billion dollars that I mostly don't need.

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Driving to work every day is not a negligable risk if you consider how many miles you're potentially driving. In the probability forum, there's a thread with a link where you can arrive at the actual probability of death given the number of miles you drive each year. Over your life time, it can easily add up to more than a 1/1000 chance of death.

The same is true for eating unhealthy food. One individual burger won't shorten your life expectancy, but most people eat enough unhealthy food that it has a tangible impact on their life.

You may not be willing to take a 1/100 shot at death for a given value because you're already relatively content with what you have. You arent completely content though. If the certainty of survival was increased, you would be more inclined to take the bet, just as you would be more inclined if the payout was larger (albeit marginally, after a certain point).

There is a given probability and a given payout where you would (and DO) play the game in every day life. Driving really is the best example, because it's a very real risk that we all subject ourselves to - and they arent small risks that we need to take.

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We went over this we need some amount of money to survive so taking the risks makes sense, infinite is a poor choice of words though, but the value to the individual in question is almost so high it doesn't matter.


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What im trying to point out is that the non-essential risks that we take are pretty substantial. Obviously some risks MUST be taken. You need to eat, even if that comes at the risk of choking on your food. You don't NEED to drive to work though in order to live a reasonable life. Public transportation is probably a lot safer, and only slightly more inconvenient.

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When a risk is significantly higher than the small risks you are forced to take in order to increase happiness and life expectancy, like cutting your sandwiches into triangles or having a bath, making love etc.


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The driving example IS a risk above and beyond your normal routine. Not significantly more so. It's meant to explain that everyone has a point where they're willing to risk their life for monetary gain.

[SNOWBALL138]

I wouldn't take the bet even if it was an infinite amount of money. I really don't see how mathematics can be applied to this situation, because (.01)(-infinity)+(.99)($99999999999) is a negative expectation proposition.

To me, dying is infinitely negative. Maybe I use the word infinite a little loosely though, because if I hardly had any time to live at all I think you could imagine that this would be a much more attractive proposition. But, I'm 21 years old and don't have any terminal illnesses that I know of, so this isn't really the case.

[DWarrior]

Screw pot odds, I'd gamble.

Give me $40,000 per ticket.

[Pog0]

Do life insurance policies cover "gambled life for money and lost" as cause of death?

[mackthefork]

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the brain reference you make is weak... becasue if one went with only his brain he would take this bet in a heart beat. Everyone really. We are poker players. We have no value for money yet its the most important thing to us when we play.

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You not properly bankrolled for this limit.

Mack

[ChewyMint]

Now here's a better question...say there are 100 tickets in the bucket, each worth $250K, with the exception of one.

If you pull the first time, and get $250K, do you continue to pull? If so, how many times if you continue to win?

ChewyMint

[DWarrior]

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Now here's a better question...say there are 100 tickets in the bucket, each worth $250K, with the exception of one.

If you pull the first time, and get $250K, do you continue to pull? If so, how many times if you continue to win?

ChewyMint

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*looks down at the last ticket*

What the hell, I'm feelin' lucky.