What does one life matter?

Hmm... Nothing. And Everything. Depends.

Woah :D this giveaway is alive again :D - didn't really expect it as in the last few pages we had an "ISC is missing vibe" - well welcome back @ISC

Regarding the original question of the giveaway "does one life matter" well a bit connected to this question there was a very interesting play in german theaters recently which in the end also became a movie on national television - "Terror" by Ferdinand Schirach and the premise of it was that a passenger airplane full of passengers was being taken by a terrorist and was about to being flown into a football stadium with 70000 passengers. A pilot of a fighter jet in the end shoots down the plane....... and ends up in court charged for the murder 160 people. The play focuses on the trial and well it's kinda about if the pilot was a hero or a criminal and if "killing" the 164 in the plane (which most likely also would have died if the plane crashed into the stadium) is justified by saving the other 70000 in the stadium. It's also kinda about if ending "one" (or well in this case the 160 lives) maybe only a bit earlier (meaning them dying in the exploding instead of the crashing plane) can be "moral" or not and if a wrong can be a right. The interesting thing about the play and the movie is the end in the audience "votes" if the pilot is guilty or not guilty and depending on it the play has a different outcome. While most (all?) of the votes ended up in a "not guilty" they were really close every time and while about 90000 audience members voted not guilty about 60000 voted guilty so this shows how difficult the question is in the end - well constructed from this and aimed at the original question "Does one life matter" - i can't really tell i have to admit i kinda have the feeling it might come down to an arbitarily question in the end depending on the circumstances

And yes i'm in for the game :)

What does one life matter?

Subjectively, that's kind of a non question since it all lies in the eye of the beholder. It matters not a single bit. It matters more than anything else. Equally valid answers depending on perspective on any given life. What do your loved ones' lives matter to you? What does your life matter to you? What do these lives matter to the billions of others inhabiting this speck of dirt? What does humanity, with all its achievements, matter in the grander picture of past and future forms of life arising, even here at home? What does all life ever to exist on Earth matter in the face of life throughout the universe? And so forth.

Objectively, it's a somewhat more difficult question to try and answer. Beyond the immediate effects of one's life and choices on others and the world in general, our life in particular is largely based on the legacy of those that came before us. Language, writing, the internet have given a greater slice of us than ever before quasi immortality (while these things are relevant, at any rate) through our record, our thoughts and influences. In this light it's hard to say with any specificity what one life matters in the absence of future context, beyond a scale likely to be understood in the first place. But what is easier to say is that given the nature of chaotic systems these often subtle things do add up. Should the technology ever be available, I certainly wouldn't wager the current world or its trajectory on the removal or alteration of even the most seemingly meaningless of past lives. And who can say what our humble contributions to entropy may amount to beyond the obvious, intuitive or seemingly apparent?

Heck.

They might even change the nature of a man. ;)

I thought you got Tired of Numenera.
Glad to see you back.
So How is the game have you played it yet?

I'd love to be in.

What does one life matter?

One life matters as much as the life affected others (through association or works) and how the life felt about itself.

No, not yet. I tried a bit the Beta, but not enough to give you a minimal review. I didn't get tired, I'm just... not motivated. You get to an age when you have doubts about the choices you made and the doors you left unopened, you know? Well, not really, I just ride the wave. But lately the wave is full of boring work.

Right now I'm more in the stealth thing, like Dishonored or Styx, dreaming of killing my users...

Did I say that out loud?

What? No, I didn't hear anything, I swear! O.o

When life is born, it was given the gift of time and a space on this planet.

For how long, for what it's worth, and how significant varies from one another.

What does one life matter?

Its mere existence matter, because living is a privilege that one may never have or have again.

Welcome back ISC, good to see you back here, and hope you stay after the giveaway is complete as well.

Here's my entry.

One life matters very much if you're playing with permadeath. If not, it still matters but to a varying degree represented by the following formula:

m = n - (r/n)

Where r represents the number of lives remaining, n represents the total number of lives, and m represents the matter factor. Matter factor is a positive number between 1 and n, which is logarithmicly scaled dependant on how long the game takes to beat on average (taken from howlongtobeat.com) and how many hours have been spent so far.

Thus, the weighted scale represents a much higher matter factor as the remaining lives diminish, and greater weight is put on it as well depending on how much time has been spent towards the completion of the given game.

One life matters only as much as its legacy and memory. A man does not die with his last breath or heartbeat. A man dies when there is nothing left to prove his existence. If he accomplished something that persists centuries after his body has turned to ash and posterity still remembers him for it, then yes. His life does matter.

"What does one life matter?"

It matters as much as you want it to matter. It could be nothing more than one single rain drop during a storm or the most beautiful thing in this universe or the source of all evil. YOU decide. The same way you decide what kind of music you like, what kind of PC games you like etc. In the end, nobody can say what one life matters, objectively. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

The time to end it all has come, so I'll start with the random winners:

Tomorrow morning will give the other two winners after reading all the answers.

Given that this giveaway was looooong, there's the possibility that some of the keys remain unclaimed. I'll give a week to the winners to claim the key, if not I'll give it to another person.

The anticipation in this giveaway beats all other game giveaways I have ever been in.

Congrats to the winners.
Cheers to the ISC
Thank you ISC for generous giveaway.