How much would you kill for?

[Cognisant]

“Churchill: "Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?"
Socialite: "My goodness, Mr. Churchill... Well, I suppose... we would have to discuss terms, of course... "
Churchill: "Would you sleep with me for five pounds?"
Socialite: "Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!"
Churchill: "Madam, we've already established that. Now we are haggling about the price”
― Winston S. Churchill

I think it's fair to assume we would all kill for a hundred billion US dollars, you could save a lot of lives and help a lot of people with that much money indeed if you were to use it like that one could argue it would be immoral of you not to kill for it.

So disregarding factors that may raise or lower the price what's your the base cost for one life?

 

[Hadoblado]

The identity of the person being killed is important to some people. Should probably include it.

 

[Cognisant]

It's a factor that may raise or lower the price depending upon who it is, I'm after the base cost.

Granted if it's someone especially close to you like your one and only child the price may be impossibly high.

 

[Hadoblado]

Someone I know and like: wouldn't do it

Someone I think does more harm than good: $1,000,000? Depends on the harm. I'd be for capital punishment if there were a government body I could trust to dispense it.

Do I need to do it myself though? If that's the case I probably wouldn't do it for any price. Call it cowardly or w/e, I'm just not interested.

 

[Cognisant]

Someone I think does more harm than good: $1,000,000?

That's awfully judgemental, who are you to declare what's moral and immoral?
Who deserves to die and who deserves to live?

Personally my prices would be adjusted for personal satisfaction, killing a serial rapist would be more satisfying than killing someone who isn't, not because they're somehow tainted with evil but rather because I find their actions distasteful according to my personal values.

Do I need to do it myself though? If that's the case I probably wouldn't do it for any price. Call it cowardly or w/e, I'm just not interested.

An aversion to risk taking is a sign of intelligence, you need processing time to spare if you're going to spend it worrying about risks and consequences.

 

[redbaron]

I'd kill some people for free, others I couldn't be paid enough to kill.

 

[Puffy]

I think it's fair to assume we would all kill for a hundred billion US dollars, you could save a lot of lives and help a lot of people with that much money indeed if you were to use it like that one could argue it would be immoral of you not to kill for it.

I'm unsure that's fair to assume. I'd probably need to give the question some more thought, but given my current context I don't think there's any amount of money someone could give me to kill someone.

I.e. if I was starving and homeless who am I to say now what I'd do. But I'm in a trade that enables me a comfortable and flexible living style. Beyond that I think money is overrated and doesn't secure happiness. If there's a future for myself that requires a lot of money, like setting up an organisation, then I'll either achieve it or not at the pace of my own personal development. I'm fine with that.

I'd argue the guilt and shame of having murdered someone for money would cause me more personal suffering.

 

[onesteptwostep]

It probably depends on the method of killing and whether or not I'll have it on my conscious. If it's like knifing someone I'd probably nope out of there. If it's like shooting someone like a quarter mile away and not seeing the corpse hmm maybe.

Realistically I'd probably do it for a grand.

And technically speaking injecting a hundred billion dollars into the economy like that would do a lot more damage than one death though imo.

 

[Black Rose]

Killing for money goes against my moral code.

 

[Rixus]

No one has asked whether you would be arrested for it or not? If not, £100k for the average person on the street. Maybe do it for £10k if I was hard up for cash at the time. If I had to dispose of the body and evade the police, I'd probably expect at least £250k, maybe a good £500k just for the additional risk, planning and effort involved.

I'd accept double the pay cheque to provide proof of horrendous suffering on the victim's part at time of death.

If it was a serial rapist/paedophile etc, for free. Or I'd take the job for a moderate annual salary.

If it was someone more likely to kill me - say, you know, you wanted to send me up against Frank Castle or something, then fuck that. Maybe at least £10 million that could be distributed to my loved one's in the extremely likely event of my failure.

If it was my ex-wife, I'll pay you £10k if you'd let me do it.

 

[Niclmaki]

“Churchill: "Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?"
Socialite: "My goodness, Mr. Churchill... Well, I suppose... we would have to discuss terms, of course... "
Churchill: "Would you sleep with me for five pounds?"
Socialite: "Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!"
Churchill: "Madam, we've already established that. Now we are haggling about the price”
― Winston S. Churchill

I think it's fair to assume we would all kill for a hundred billion US dollars, you could save a lot of lives and help a lot of people with that much money indeed if you were to use it like that one could argue it would be immoral of you not to kill for it.

So disregarding factors that may raise or lower the price what's your the base cost for one life?

I don’t really like doing ANYTHING purely for the money. You’d have to give me another reason.

I do believe every man has a price though. I have a hard time imagining what my price would be.

“If you really have integrity, it means your price is very high” - Tom Lehrer (Selling Out)

 

[crippli]

If it was my ex-wife, I'll pay you £10k if you'd let me do it.

Deal. Go ahead. Do you have my account number?

 

[QuickTwist]

I wouldn't kill anyone for any kind of money because I think killing is wrong. A monetary value system goes against my principles. Sadly I have to compromise my values to even live in this world because I do not have either the know how or capability to live without it.

As far as getting paid an exorbitant amount of money to kill someone goes, I don't feel I am responsible enough to even know how to handle that kind of money/circumstance. I say circumstance because there is a lot that goes with having that kind of money besides just the number value. Plus, as Jordan Peterson talks about, sometimes someone getting that kind of money is actually a hinderance to people rather than a boon. Also, once people know you have money, they are going to try and get things from you and that is not at all something I would look forward to.

Example of guy getting a lot of money

 

[Rixus]

Well, I wouldn't kill a real person.

But one of those fake people who walk around, the synthetic humans. Almost perfect replicas. Those I would.

No one else seems to see them. But they're everywhere. And I know they're there.
I know because the voices tell me. And they tell me to kill.

Kill. Kill. Kill.

 

[Cognisant]

No one has asked whether you would be arrested for it or not?

Assume all you need to do is press a button and someone somewhere in the world will die.

The actual act of killing isn't really what I'm talking about, nor is money as the motivator, instead I'm simply making the pessimistic point that everyone has a price (of some sort) even if that price is unreasonably high, and I'm curious what the average base value of a human life is at least among the residents of this forum.

Money is just a convenient metric.

Puppies could be another, how many puppies do I have to threaten before you'll press the button?

 

[QuickTwist]

Assume all you need to do is press a button and someone somewhere in the world will die.

The actual act of killing isn't really what I'm talking about, nor is money as the motivator, instead I'm simply making the pessimistic point that everyone has a price (of some sort) even if that price is unreasonably high, and I'm curious what the average base value of a human life is at least among the residents of this forum.

Money is just a convenient metric.

Puppies could be another, how many puppies do I have to threaten before you'll press the button?

Should have gone with the classic "what would you sell your soul for?"

 

[Black Rose]

Assume all you need to do is press a button and someone somewhere in the world will die.

No

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

Unless I would be willing to do the killing for free - for non-monetary reasons like self-defence etc - there is no amount of money that I would kill for.

 

[Rixus]

Should have gone with the classic "what would you sell your soul for?"

Why would you sell your soul at all?

The mere acceptance that it could be bought means acceptance of eternal life - both good and bad. So if it were possible, heaven and hell would have to be possible and then it would be pointless because nothing in this life could equate to eternity. You wouldn't even sell it to save the life of someone you love because they could be going to heaven anyway, so if it were possible, might as well just join them. So unless your were talking about something monumentally world changing - like an end to war, famine and disease, why would you accept eternal suffering? Perhaps to go in place of that someone? But certainly it could never hold monetary value.

Otherwise, if you don't believe in it, it has no value to you as you don't believe it exists.

But human life has a tangible value for this question.

 

[QuickTwist]

Why would you sell your soul at all?

The mere acceptance that it could be bought means acceptance of eternal life - both good and bad. So if it were possible, heaven and hell would have to be possible and then it would be pointless because nothing in this life could equate to eternity. You wouldn't even sell it to save the life of someone you love because they could be going to heaven anyway, so if it were possible, might as well just join them. So unless your were talking about something monumentally world changing - like an end to war, famine and disease, why would you accept eternal suffering? Perhaps to go in place of that someone? But certainly it could never hold monetary value.

Otherwise, if you don't believe in it, it has no value to you as you don't believe it exists.

But human life has a tangible value for this question.

There are people in the world who believe they have sold their soul for fame and wealth...