Ok, here's a hypothetical situation that I find interesting. Now, imagine you are in the house of a lady in her 90's with ailing health. Further suppose that in this house she possesses the Mona Lisa. Now, as you are visiting her, peddling whatever goods or services you’ve come to pedal, (you don’t know her personally), imagine that the house become engulfed in flames. You are in the living room, but are quickly surrounded by suffocating, noxious vapors and intolerable heat that threatens to end your lives at any moment.
You have exactly enough time to either save the lady or save the painting. Which do you save, and why? Would you feel guilty? Is the question even worthy of asking? Do we value some art or inanimate models of life more than the very life it is modeling?