The Six Million Dollar Man

The Six Million Dollar Man ?

Psalm 8:4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him ? and the son of man that thou visitest him ?

Have you ever questioned your worth ? I’m sure that all of us have felt at times that we are worthless. We probably all wonder ocassionally if who we are, or what we do is of any real value ? This evening I want us to look at the subject of "The Six Million Dollar Man" or "The Value of Life"

How many remember the "Six Million Dollar Man" series from the 70’s. It was of course the story of a injured astronaut whose only hope for living was to have new bionic human technology implanted into his broken body at the cost of 6 million dollars. Amazingly, some years ago in response to the biogenic six million dollar man proposed by Hollywood , Harold, J. Morowitz, a leading chemist received a birthday card from his daughter. It read, "According to biochemists the materials of your body are worth only 98 cents!" Intrigued by that statement sent from his daughter, Morowitz took out his chemical supply catalog and began looking up the prices of all the chemicals that composed the human body. Well, it turned out that the human body of an average size is actually worth more than SIX MILLION DOLLARS, chemically speaking. Here’s the breakdown Morowitz found:

(1) Hemoglobin - $ 285 a gram;

(2) Insulin - $ 47.50 a gram;

(3) Trypsin - $ 36 a gram;

(4) Bilrubin, the bile pigment, $ 12 a gram;

(5) Human DNA, $ 76 a gram;

(6) Collagen, $ 15 a gram;

(7) Human albumin, $ 3.00 a gram. Even more, less common constituents like

(8) Acetate Kinase, $ 8,860 a gram;

(9) Alkaline Phosphatase, $ 225 a gram;

(10)Amino acids such as Bradykinin cost upwards of $ 12 a gram. Now the real shocker came, when he got to the

(11) follicle-stimulating hormone at $ 8 million a gram and then

(12) Prolactin the hormone that stimulates milk production for mothers, this costs

$ 17.5 million a gram.

Well taking all these costs into account from a common chemical supply catalog and calculating the percentages of each chemical in the composition of the human body, Morowitz arrived at the cost of $ 245.54, as the average value, per gram, of any human being. Then, taking the average weight of himself at 168 pounds or 79,364 grams, but subtracting for the fact that man’s body is 68 % water, his dry weight would then be 24,436 grams. Finally, multiplying that by $ 254.54, Dr. Morowitz found his body alone was worth $ 6,000,015.44! Imagine that! How about that ladies ? And you thought your husbands were worthless. Now if you could only find a way to extract all those chemicals out of his body !

However, one must not stop there, for the SIX MILLION DOLLAR figure of the average human being’s body is inaccurate. That figure applies only, to the human atoms priced at their sophisticated, informational state. The supply companies, to offer these chemicals in their existing state within the human body, brings an even greater picture as the value of man’s basic body. If the supply companies had to synthesize these elements from raw materials, the desired chemicals would increase in value per person to SIX BILLION dollars. But then, once having these chemicals in the needed forms, is still not enough. You see, now someone would have to assemble these synthetic molecules into cellular structures, and then make them into larger cell components. Again, Dr. Morowitz then estimated the cost per human body, would jump much higher to $ 600 BILLION! Would we then have man? The answer is still no.

Still, another crucial step would be necessary. The cell components now produced at over say $ 600 BILLION dollars, must now be turned into human cells. How much more will this cost, chemically speaking? The answer Dr, Morowitz reported is a figure of $ 6000 trillion dollars!

But what would we have now? We would just have a blob of combined simple cells. Obviously more is necessary, for cells must become tissues, tissues must become organs, and organs must be set up to function as the human being is found today. How much is man worth? Well, Dr. Morowitz at this point, in dollars and cents said: "Our ability to calculate this now disappears!"

(from The World, The Word & You Broadcast)

Yet this evening we are of even greater value because God remembers us ! David asks the question……"What is man that thou art mindful of him ?" Think about it this evening. Your are in God’s thoughts. He thinks of you…..he remembers you ! He knows your name…..and the number of the hairs on your head…..which is in the case of some of us doesn’t take much calculating !!!