Indeed, though if working from existing 0-10 life satisfaction scores I don’t think it’s plausible that those who responded below 5⁄10 thought they’d be better off dead. (Maybe those responding below say 2⁄10 would.) Otherwise suicide rates would be far higher.
(But indeed some kind of calibration of death and worse-than-death states is needed more generally. E.g. it concerns me that almost all the bad in the world may be located in extreme pain that is hugely underweighted, and so almost all efforts to improve the world may be missing the point.)
OK, well reworking the numbers with a 2⁄10 neutral point (and Imperial’s latest figures as noted below):
Death is now a fall from 5.17 to 2 points, i.e. by 3.17 points, though presumably out of 8 not 10 as we’ve compressed our scale. So 4.5 years = 4.5 x 3.17/8 = 1.78 WALYs lost. So 1.9 to 24 million deaths = 3.4 to 43 WALYs lost.
Presumably the WALYs lost by the financial crisis is also out of 8 not 10, i.e. 0.2/8 per person = 194 million WALYs. Which is 4.5 to 57 times worse than the deaths.
Indeed, though if working from existing 0-10 life satisfaction scores I don’t think it’s plausible that those who responded below 5⁄10 thought they’d be better off dead. (Maybe those responding below say 2⁄10 would.) Otherwise suicide rates would be far higher.
(But indeed some kind of calibration of death and worse-than-death states is needed more generally. E.g. it concerns me that almost all the bad in the world may be located in extreme pain that is hugely underweighted, and so almost all efforts to improve the world may be missing the point.)
Suicide is a very poor indicator of the dead/neutral point, for a host of reasons.
A few small, preliminary surveys I’ve seen place it around 2⁄10, though it ranges from about 0.5 to 6 depending on whom and how you ask.
(I share your concerns in parentheses, and am doing some work along these lines—it’s been sidelined in part due to covid projects.)
OK, well reworking the numbers with a 2⁄10 neutral point (and Imperial’s latest figures as noted below):
Death is now a fall from 5.17 to 2 points, i.e. by 3.17 points, though presumably out of 8 not 10 as we’ve compressed our scale. So 4.5 years = 4.5 x 3.17/8 = 1.78 WALYs lost. So 1.9 to 24 million deaths = 3.4 to 43 WALYs lost.
Presumably the WALYs lost by the financial crisis is also out of 8 not 10, i.e. 0.2/8 per person = 194 million WALYs. Which is 4.5 to 57 times worse than the deaths.