Psychology teaches that human beings have a weird mental quirk called loss aversion. We hurt more from loss than we feel good about gain. Give a man a fish and he'll be mildly happy. Take a fish away and he'll be very sad.
It makes me wonder if our fear of death is the ultimate example of loss aversion.
I first heard this idea from Penn Jillette, in connection with the atheist's view of the afterlife. He said, where were you in 1800? Nowhere. Was it scary? So why are you afraid of where you'll be in 2200? You'll be in the same place.
I like Penn Jillette's argument, but it deviates wildly from how we treat murder and suicide. Suicide is awful and murder is horrible. I have yet to hear from the defense in a homicide trial, "Look judge, I just took the victim back to where she was the day before she was born."
So it seems like life is extraordinarily valued only once you have it. It is cheap to give, and expensive to take away. If a misfired nerf gun accidentally sterilizes a man, we don't usually charge the shooter with two counts of manslaughter. Though on average that man would likely have had 2 children. But once those two children are born we value their lives tremendously, and if you end them you're in serious trouble.
So the question is, is this just a severe case of loss aversion? And if it is, what should we do about it?
