PETA has been around for longer than EA, among other (rather less obnoxious and more effective) animal welfare organizations; I don’t think losing what makes EA distinct would entail losing animal welfare altogether. The shrimp and insect crowd probably wouldn’t remain noticeable. Not because I think they overlap heavily with the skeptic-EA crowd (quite the opposite), but because they’d simply be drowned out. Tolerance of weirdness is a fragile thing.
I do think the evidence is already there for a certain kind of losing/wildly redefining “effective,” ie, criminal justice reform. Good cause, but no way to fit it into “effectiveness per dollar” terms without stretching the term to meaninglessness.
PETA has been around for longer than EA, among other (rather less obnoxious and more effective) animal welfare organizations; I don’t think losing what makes EA distinct would entail losing animal welfare altogether. The shrimp and insect crowd probably wouldn’t remain noticeable. Not because I think they overlap heavily with the skeptic-EA crowd (quite the opposite), but because they’d simply be drowned out. Tolerance of weirdness is a fragile thing.
I do think the evidence is already there for a certain kind of losing/wildly redefining “effective,” ie, criminal justice reform. Good cause, but no way to fit it into “effectiveness per dollar” terms without stretching the term to meaninglessness.