Not in, since I already own it, but in here to bump and to +1 you :D

Thanks and +1 for your generosity, ISC! Count me in. :)

I found out the following poem ("I Shall Not Live In Vain" by Emily Dickinson) in my late childhood and it helped shape my philosophy of life. I think it sums nicely my thoughts about the question you raised:

If I can stop one Heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain
If I can ease one Life the Aching
Or cool one Pain
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again
I shall not live in Vain.

No Vulcan poetry? I'm disappointed! :P

We, Vulcan, are a highly logical species, so no poetry as humans know (our mathematical poetry is indeed beautiful, but Earthlings don't seem to apreciate it...) ;)

Monthly BUMPs, perhaps? :D

Maybe it sounds even better in the original Vulcan ;)

It´s a very hard question (and so it´s a good decision to make it the central question in Tide of Numenera) cause nobody really wants to talk about it:
Every boss of a big global player would say: Nearly nothing, if it´s one in China---and very much if it´s my own.
The poor worker in china will posibly never waste any thoughts about the Boss´s live.

Even a very social person or even a fighter for totally equal human rights will not think his/ her own live would be less worthy than another one:
That´s why I think every life OBJECTIVLY matters the same and no one should be wasted!

I'm sure my wife, my kids, even my mum might say otherwise, but I really struggle to insist my life matters all that much in the grand scheme of things....

What does one life matter?

I could write pages, volumes, libraries about how a person may profoundly change the world, for better or worse, whether by innate genius or talent, sheer force of will and personality or the merest chance - how they may be a general who subjugates or liberates a continent, a politician who builds their people an earthly paradise or a living hell, a scientist responsible for curing a terrible disease or poisoning the world with a pollutant whose effects remain unforeseen until it is too late, an artist who uplifts or debases the human spirit, an implaccable campaigner who refuses to stop gathering evidence and refuses to stop shouting about it until the world joins them in whatever cause their conscience compels them to devote a lifetime to, or someone whose name the world will never know but whose chance remark or fleeting presence inspires one of the above - but if I did so then, profoundly important though all those people are, I would be missing the point.

The point is that life itself - not what certain members of our one species do with it, but the mere fact of its existence - is the greatest wonder conceivable. Even in its simplest monocellular form, it is a miracle whose beauty could never be matched by anything except another example of life. Whether you attribute its glory to the benificence and wisdom of a god, to the marvels of science or to both, it is something so indescribably wondrous that if there is even the slightest chance that a living thing may perceive and understand the tiniest fraction of its own majesty, or else be perceived by someone or something else with the capacity do so, then that one life, most assuredly, matters.

Thank you so much ISC +1

Every life matters - every smile, laugh, tear, shrug, wink matters. The story of one person, is the story of humanity and our journey to better understand this rollercoaster called life.

It's looking more like 2015 at this point

I'm like to have forgotten by the time the release date rolls around, but I'm in nevertheless.

What does one life matter? This is a question I could give a very long answer on, an entire essay even. Basically, not one simple answer will suffice. The world is too big for simple answers to be given about such a heavy question. Every life matters, however, that much is true. Even the life of a blade of grass or a bacteria in a cow's bowels. They don't matter as much, however, as larger living beings, as their role in the ecobalance of the world is insignificant even on a relatively small scale. The life of one human matters more than these. Does each human life matter? Yes, they do. Do they all matter the same? I cannot answer that for you, as this is where it becomes incredibly subjective once we enter into the realm of the sentient (or even sapient) creatures.

Every life matters, but how much is decided by the impact that life makes, be it an objective or a subjective impact.

One life matters

Mine to me, it's my only one

Yours to me, it's you I see
Inviting me to be with you
A two

Mine to you is for you to say
To say to me
Would be the best
The rest cannot reply
The way that I
Would, eye to eye

Let this be the first in a long, long story of Bumps and Bumpettes.

Tidal BUMP!