Location: People’s Hall
Festival: This event is part of ‘What are Words Worth?’ – Sedbergh Book Festival 2024
Admission: £5, children under 16 free
We say that life is priceless. Yet the cost of saving a life, creating a life or compensating for a life
taken is routinely calculated and put into practice. In a world in love with data, it is possible to run a
cost-benefit analysis on anything – including life itself. For philanthropists, judges, criminals,
healthcare providers and government ministers, it’s just part of the job. In ‘The Price of Life’, Jenny
Kleeman takes us on an adventure to meet some of the people who decide who gets to live, and who
doesn’t.
In a series of fascinating encounters – with people who have faked their own death or lost a loved
one to terrorism, with hitmen and with modern day slaves – she discovers more questions than answers. What does it mean for our humanity when we crunch the numbers to decide who gets the
expensive life-saving drugs, and who misses out? What do we learn about ourselves when philanthropic giving by the effective altruists in Silicon Valley is received by some, while others are left
to suffer? Are some lives really worth more than others? And what happens when we take human
emotions out of the equation? Does it make for a fairer decision-making process – or for moral
bankruptcy?
“It’s funny. It’s dark. It’s moving. It’s brilliant” – Oliver Franklin-Wallis.
Books featured in the festival are available from the official Festival Bookshop, Westwood Books.
