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On the subject of Chinese criminals being executed for
stealing state fossils, and the feeling that all the lists and stolen fossils in
the world are not worth a single human life, it is worth remembering that
calculations of the financial value of a life are, and have to be, made
regularly. They're just not reported very often since it's difficult for a
public figure to do so and sound good. I for example, may be worth up to
about £100,000 to my National Health Service; certainly not much more, and
rightly so.
Any time public money, or any money, is spent, a
decision has been made not to spend it on something else. Of course, a
life in the third world could easily be saved for £1000 - so next time you
go to see, say, $18,000,000 worth of fossil dinosaur, you will be entitled to
ask yourself "Is it just the Chinese, or have WE made a decision to
sacrifice the equivalent of a small town for this?"
Why do we study dinos instead of saving lives? Because
we place a high value on our knowledge of them. The points of delivery of
this knowledge are through museums, TV programs, and publications - particularly
scientific papers. That is one good reason why trusted world experts, when
asked to summarise the total knowledge of a particular topic, have a duty to
expose all the philosophically tenable views well supported by knowedgeable
groups, and not just their own theory and a token alternative.
JJ
"Now who's being naive,
Kay?"
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