Yeah, that makes sense and was also my (less informed) impression. I’ve said so in the post:
As others[2] have also pointed out, I think we’d get the best sense of net wild animal welfare not from abstract arguments but by studying individual animals up close. I don’t think anyone who works on these topics really disagrees (my post is directed more towards non-experts than experts). Still, I have seen versions of the Evening Out Argument come up here and there in discussions, and I got the impression that some people [[in EA]] put a lot more weight on these sorts of considerations than I would.
I think it’s a typical EA thing, having too high of a regard for specific types of arguments (especially when the empirical work is being done in places).
(But then my also somewhat abstract/philosophical counterarguments should at least land well with an EA target audience! :))
Oh yeah! Sorry, missed that. But to be clear, I definitely agree that this was an important point to put out there and am glad you did! :) Thanks for writing it.
Yeah, that makes sense and was also my (less informed) impression. I’ve said so in the post:
I think it’s a typical EA thing, having too high of a regard for specific types of arguments (especially when the empirical work is being done in places).
(But then my also somewhat abstract/philosophical counterarguments should at least land well with an EA target audience! :))
Oh yeah! Sorry, missed that. But to be clear, I definitely agree that this was an important point to put out there and am glad you did! :) Thanks for writing it.