Quote:
Quote by: Isherwood  As humans become more plentiful, does the value of the individual diminish?
When there were fewer of us, individual contributions to society were of greater significance and more noticeable. An individual could make a difference in their community, in the world.
Now that humans are so numerous and only show signs of increasing in numbers in the future, are we at risk of making humans worthless? Can the increase in violent crimes be attributed to more people placing less value on human life? Is war becoming more acceptable because the value of the individual soldier has decreased? |
I think that as our numbers increase, we lose a certain
kind of value, but not our "human" value.
For instance, if humans were an endangered species, each person would have a very high value because each is so very important to the survival of humanity as a whole.
Additionally, if a certain ethnicity of humans developed an immunity to a threatening disease in the form of antibodies, and if it were possible to use those antibodies to combat an epidemic of that disease, those people would have that additional value.
So, people or things can have multiple levels or types of value, and just because one value subsides or increases doesn't necessarily mean other types of value will follow.
So, even if our value of uniqueness, impact, or importance to the world decreases, our value as being human, or having those traits that make us human (a soul, as theists would say, or perhaps free will, intelligence, the human spirit, etc...) are still retained.
Basically, no, we don't lose our human value, but maybe our value in other areas decreases.