Executive summary: This persuasive and impassioned article argues that preventing the suffering of vastly neglected animals—especially shrimp, insects, and fish—is among the most cost-effective ways to reduce suffering, and recommends supporting high-impact organizations (mostly ACE Movement Grant recipients) working to improve their welfare, with specific donation opportunities that could prevent immense agony for trillions of sentient beings.
Key points:
Neglected animals like shrimp, insects, and fish plausibly suffer, and their immense numbers mean that helping them could avert staggering amounts of expected suffering, even if their capacity for suffering is lower than that of humans.
Most people ignore these creatures’ interests due to their small size and unfamiliar appearance, which the author frames as a failure of empathy and a morally indefensible prejudice.
The Shrimp Welfare Project is a standout organization, having already helped billions of shrimp with relatively little funding by promoting humane slaughter methods and influencing regulations.
Several other high-impact organizations are tackling different aspects of invertebrate and aquatic animal welfare, including the Insect Welfare Research Society, Rethink Priorities, Aquatic Life Institute, Samayu, and the Undercover Fish Collective—each working on research, policy, industry standards, or investigations.
An unconventional suggestion is to support human health charities like GiveWell’s top picks, on the grounds that saving human lives indirectly prevents vast amounts of insect suffering due to habitat disruption.
Readers are encouraged to donate to ACE’s Movement Grants program or the featured charities, with the promise of donation matching and a free subscription as incentives to support the neglected trillions enduring extreme suffering.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: This persuasive and impassioned article argues that preventing the suffering of vastly neglected animals—especially shrimp, insects, and fish—is among the most cost-effective ways to reduce suffering, and recommends supporting high-impact organizations (mostly ACE Movement Grant recipients) working to improve their welfare, with specific donation opportunities that could prevent immense agony for trillions of sentient beings.
Key points:
Neglected animals like shrimp, insects, and fish plausibly suffer, and their immense numbers mean that helping them could avert staggering amounts of expected suffering, even if their capacity for suffering is lower than that of humans.
Most people ignore these creatures’ interests due to their small size and unfamiliar appearance, which the author frames as a failure of empathy and a morally indefensible prejudice.
The Shrimp Welfare Project is a standout organization, having already helped billions of shrimp with relatively little funding by promoting humane slaughter methods and influencing regulations.
Several other high-impact organizations are tackling different aspects of invertebrate and aquatic animal welfare, including the Insect Welfare Research Society, Rethink Priorities, Aquatic Life Institute, Samayu, and the Undercover Fish Collective—each working on research, policy, industry standards, or investigations.
An unconventional suggestion is to support human health charities like GiveWell’s top picks, on the grounds that saving human lives indirectly prevents vast amounts of insect suffering due to habitat disruption.
Readers are encouraged to donate to ACE’s Movement Grants program or the featured charities, with the promise of donation matching and a free subscription as incentives to support the neglected trillions enduring extreme suffering.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.