How Much is the Human Brain Worth?
The human brain is perhaps the most complex and magnificent organ in the known universe.
With its intricate neural networks and astounding capabilities, many have pondered just how much this mass of tissue and neurons that makes us who we are is actually worth.
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer to your question: There is no definitive monetary value that can be placed on the human brain. Its worth stems from its uniqueness and complexity.
In this article, we’ll explore various ways to estimate the value of the human brain, from a neurosurgeon’s perspective to a computer engineer’s.
We’ll also look at philosophical and ethical considerations around pricing something as precious as human consciousness. Let’s dive in!
Evaluating the Brain’s Worth From a Medical Perspective
The High Cost of Brain Surgery and Neurological Treatment
Neurosurgery and other neurological treatments often come with an exceptionally high price tag.
Brain surgery can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000, depending on the procedure, not including additional hospital and specialist fees.
Cigna reports the average cost of a craniotomy (brain tumor removal) is $148,000 while installing a shunt to treat hydrocephalus costs around $50,000.
These vast expenses highlight the immense value placed on preserving brain health and function.
Calculating Based on Risk to Neurosurgeons
The high salary commanded by neurosurgeons also reflects the brain’s worth. Neurosurgery is one of the most challenging and high-risk specialties.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average neurosurgeon earns $387,800 per year.
This places them amongst the highest-paid physicians, likely due to the complexity of procedures and elevated risk compared to other specialties.
The significant income neurosurgeons generate indicates our society places immense value on the expertise needed to successfully operate on the brain.
Accounting for the Brain’s Role in Overall Health
Finally, the brain’s indispensable role in regulating all bodily functions makes it priceless from a health perspective. Every vital process, ranging from breathing to movement, speaking, and organ function, relies on the brain.
fMRI scans exceed $2,000 per hour according to some estimates – exemplifying how we spare no expense probing its mysteries. Losing brain function through injury, stroke, or disease compromises every aspect of health.
This underscores an invaluable truth: Without our complex and still inimitable brains, human life as we know it would not exist.
Estimating Based on Processing Power and Storage
Comparing to Supercomputers
The human brain is often compared to a supercomputer in terms of its processing power. The brain’s neurons compute at an average speed of about 200 calculations per second.
With around 100 billion neurons, the brain’s total processing power adds up to about 20 petaflops (quadrillion operations per second).
That’s comparable to cutting-edge supercomputers like Frontier, which operates at 1.1 exaflops (a million trillion operations per second).
One estimate suggests that replicating the processing power of the entire human brain would cost about $2.6 trillion if done with conventional supercomputer hardware.
Of course, the brain’s architecture is vastly more energy efficient, operating on just 20 watts.
But in terms of raw computing capability, the brain is in the same league as the world’s most powerful machines.
Accounting for Synaptic Connections
In addition to processing power, the human brain’s massive storage capacity also contributes to its value.
The brain contains around 100 trillion synaptic connections between neurons. That’s equivalent to a petabyte of storage, according to one estimate.
Storing that much data using cloud storage from Amazon or Google would cost over $1 million per year.
The brain uses incredibly dense and efficient neural networks to store memories and skills. Artificial neural networks try to emulate these connections in software but still fall far short of the brain’s storage density.
Considering these massive computing requirements and immense storage needs, it’s no wonder estimates of the brain’s value reach into the trillions.
The Philosophical and Ethical Dilemma of Pricing Human Consciousness
The Brain as the Seat of Identity and Personhood
The human brain is often described as the seat of identity, housing our memories, personality, and sense of self. It gives rise to consciousness, allowing us to experience sensations, have subjective experiences, and be self-aware.
For this reason, many consider the brain to be invaluable or priceless, as it contains the essence of who we are as individuals.
Pricing and commodifying the human brain, therefore, presents an ethical dilemma. If we put a dollar value on the brain, are we also placing a price tag on personhood?
Some ethicists argue that consciousness cannot be quantified or exchanged as economic goods.
The brain generates thoughts, feelings, and experiences that are intrinsic aspects of being human. Reducing our mental capacities to a market price risks objectifying human life in dangerous ways.
However, others argue that we already quantify consciousness indirectly. Salaries compensate people for mental effort and creativity.
Medical procedures rely on cost-benefit analyses of treatments impacting brain function. So, in practice, society weighs the economic value of human cognition routinely.
Pricing Something Invaluable?
Estimating the economic value of the human brain depends heavily on philosophical assumptions.
Some economists have attempted to calculate the brain’s worth based on labor outputs. For instance, taking the total US economic output and dividing it by population gives over $100,000 per brain.
However, labor output fluctuates, and populations create value cooperatively, not individually.
An alternate approach looks at treatment costs that restore brain function.
But paying to revive an injured brain relies on subjective judgments of quality of life and functionality. It also reduces identity to economic utility defined externally rather than internal experience.
Some neuroethicists argue we should start by pricing the component cells of the brain. A brain contains roughly 86 billion neurons. Placing each neuron’s value at just a penny gives about $860 million per brain.
But again, this misses the emergent complexity of consciousness arising from interconnected cells.
In the end, no existing formulations capture the essence of personhood housed in each living human brain.
Brains allow us to think, feel, experience beauty, empathize with others, and ponder our existence. Perhaps any effort to impose an economic valuation unavoidably diminishes what makes us human.
While we may manage material wealth, we cannot truly own the capacity for awareness itself. Our minds remain wild and priceless, both supremely valuable and beyond any ledger’s accounting.
Conclusion
Although we can make estimates based on neuroscience, computing power, and philosophy, there remains no real way to put a dollar value on the human brain.
Its true worth lies in enabling human consciousness – our very experience of the world.
While framing the brain in terms of its material properties is intriguing, ultimately, this remarkable organ allows us to think, feel, perceive, and reason.
Our brains make us who we are, and there is no price tag significant enough to quantify something so profound.
