Well, since we're on political philosophy anyway... grin

I think it's a fundamental role of human civilization to do things like SAR. The strength of civilization, and the reason that the human species has been so successful, is because we're social animals. Caring for our 'stragglers' is necessary and essence of being human. To me this transcends any profit-and-loss statement or notions of libertarian politics.
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“I'd rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” —Richard Feynman