Despite this, we are faced with a genuine choice here and need some way to navigate that choice, even if we may do that with different values and philosophical backgrounds in mind.
Of course. But we’re comparing two such different things here that I wouldn’t claim things like, ”. . . an estimate of $310 per pig year saved . . . which is worse than human-focused interventions even from a species neutral perspective”—to me, that’s much worse than saying things like, “it costs $300 to provide biweekly CBT for a depressed Kenyan for a month and $50 to provide a daily hot meal for a homeless American for a month, so the former is worse than the latter even from a nationality neutral perspective”, which you wouldn’t say.
I disagree with your analogy. I do think it’s meaningful to say that I would prefer human-focused interventions at that price tradeoff and that it isn’t because of speciesist attitudes. So they’re at least comparable enough for people to know what I’m talking about.
It’s meaningful to have an opinion one way or the other, but it’s far from clear that one is better was my point. Like, I’d imagine people in this community would disagree a lot on the value of CBT vs hot meals in my example, so I wouldn’t just claim that one is worse than the other because it costs more.
Let me try another example. GiveWell wouldn’t just say “AMF saves the life of a child under 5 for ~$x. GiveDirectly doubles consumption for one person for 50 years for >$x. Therefore, AMF is a better marginal choice.” Not without justifying or at least acknowledging the underlying trade-off there.
Of course. But we’re comparing two such different things here that I wouldn’t claim things like, ”. . . an estimate of $310 per pig year saved . . . which is worse than human-focused interventions even from a species neutral perspective”—to me, that’s much worse than saying things like, “it costs $300 to provide biweekly CBT for a depressed Kenyan for a month and $50 to provide a daily hot meal for a homeless American for a month, so the former is worse than the latter even from a nationality neutral perspective”, which you wouldn’t say.
I disagree with your analogy. I do think it’s meaningful to say that I would prefer human-focused interventions at that price tradeoff and that it isn’t because of speciesist attitudes. So they’re at least comparable enough for people to know what I’m talking about.
It’s meaningful to have an opinion one way or the other, but it’s far from clear that one is better was my point. Like, I’d imagine people in this community would disagree a lot on the value of CBT vs hot meals in my example, so I wouldn’t just claim that one is worse than the other because it costs more.
Let me try another example. GiveWell wouldn’t just say “AMF saves the life of a child under 5 for ~$x. GiveDirectly doubles consumption for one person for 50 years for >$x. Therefore, AMF is a better marginal choice.” Not without justifying or at least acknowledging the underlying trade-off there.