James Annan wrote:
> Kooiti MASUDA wrote:
> > On Nov. 17, pm2:36, James Annan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> >> Kooiti MASUDA wrote:
> >>> I think it is reasonable that future uncertain profit should be
> >>> discounted. But I do not think it reasonable that future uncertain
> >>> loss or cost should be discounted in the same way.
> >
> >> Well, a loss can often be viewed as a smaller gain.
> >
> > Yes, in such cases where the word "loss" is really appropriate.
> > What I meant may be better represented by "damage" rather than "loss".
> > I view a damage something different from a smaller gain.
>
> I think the problem is perhaps not so much in loss v gain but rather in
> allocating monetary values to intangibles such as species loss and
> habitat change/loss. Such environmental changes are of course generally
> (or even by definition) losses, especially to those with the sort of
> mind-set that I challenged recently (ie who regard any environmental
> change axiomatically as a loss). It's not clear to me how to decide how
> much value we should attribute to the loss of the species of smallpox
> virus, for example, following its deliberate extinction in the wild.
> There has certainly been some debate on the ethics of this but it seems
> to be essentially contained within the academic sphere and treated as an
> interesting debating point, and does not seem to have had much serious
> consideration in terms of health and environmental policy. (I don't know
> much about smallpox and would welcome any correction if I'm mistaken on
> this.)
There was considerable debate about whether to retain samples for the
future or kill the thing off completely. The former course was taken,
but, as I recall samples were only retained at two place (one in the US
and one in Russia).
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