I’ve fixed this on my blog but LW’s editor is being difficult (and because this is a cross-post I can only fix it there), I’ve pinged the team about getting access to the right editor. I wish I’d included your links because it’s always good to quote people more accurately. I’m not sure it matters materially, because I preemptively agreed that overconsumption of animal products has its own risks.
I think most of the nutritional harm would be mitigated if vegan advocates said “all large dietary changes have challenges, here’s an easy guide to starting” in a way people believed and followed up on (and no one loudly argued to the contrary, which at one point was very widespread within EA). I would still think there was something important in acknowledging that it can’t work for everyone, and thus the strongest forms of vegan advocacy will leave those people malnourished. I can respect arguments that this is a regrettable necessity, but not blindness to it. I would also still see value in arguing about the ideal diet, or more properly how to discover an individual’s ideal diet, which is so complicated and has so much variation between people. But I wouldn’t have put nearly this level of work in if I didn’t see people being harmed.
I’ve fixed this on my blog but LW’s editor is being difficult (and because this is a cross-post I can only fix it there), I’ve pinged the team about getting access to the right editor. I wish I’d included your links because it’s always good to quote people more accurately. I’m not sure it matters materially, because I preemptively agreed that overconsumption of animal products has its own risks.
I think most of the nutritional harm would be mitigated if vegan advocates said “all large dietary changes have challenges, here’s an easy guide to starting” in a way people believed and followed up on (and no one loudly argued to the contrary, which at one point was very widespread within EA). I would still think there was something important in acknowledging that it can’t work for everyone, and thus the strongest forms of vegan advocacy will leave those people malnourished. I can respect arguments that this is a regrettable necessity, but not blindness to it. I would also still see value in arguing about the ideal diet, or more properly how to discover an individual’s ideal diet, which is so complicated and has so much variation between people. But I wouldn’t have put nearly this level of work in if I didn’t see people being harmed.