Subject: Re: query: Becker on suicide PEN-L Digest - 22 May 2007 to 23 May 2007 (#2007-146)
It is so sad to see a discourse on the moral calculation regarding the cost of life inaccurately framed with the personally traumatic premise as the loss of a spouse. Becker at http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2006/08/response_on_cou.html "The quote from Benjamin Franklin about his reluctance to sacrifice any freedom for additional security is interesting. But I do not know of any evidence that Franklin opposed the harsh treatment given to Tories during the revolutionary war. Does any one?" Further on, Becker discusses the necessity of profiling to minimize self-annihilation: "I like the idea of paying those profiled for the inconvenience and time involved. Probably a manageable system could be worked out, and the pay might involve money, other forms of compensation, or both." So does this mean that the media representation of suicide booths in movies like "Sleeper" or the TV cartoon "Futurama" plus other sci-fi themes of self-euthanizing (sic) behavior or even the legal incentives for living wills or "do not resuscitate" orders are game-theoretically optimal? Becker tends to trivialize the price and costs for signalling actions and hence their mediated value in http://economics.uchicago.edu/download/Suicide_An_Economic_Approach_4.pdf Ann "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin
