Ostensibly it seems like much of Sentience Institute’s (SI) current research is focused on identifying those MCE strategies which historically have turned out to be more effective among the strategies which have been tried. I think SI as an organization is based on the experience of EA as a movement in having significant success with MCE in a relatively short period of time. Successfully spreading the meme of effective giving; increasing concern for the far future in notable ways; and corporate animal welfare campaigns are all dramatic achievements for a young social movement like EA. While these aren’t on the scale of shaping MCE over the course of the far future, these achievements makes it seem more possible EA and allied movements can have an outsized impact by pursuing neglected strategies for values-spreading.
On terminology, to say the focus is on non-human animals, or even moral patients which typically come to mind when describing ‘animal-like’ minds, i.e., familiar vertebrates is inaccurate. “Sentient being”, “moral patient” or “non-human agents/beings” are terms which are inclusive of non-human animals, and other types of potential moral patients posited. Admittedly these aren’t catchy terms.
Thanks for funding this research. Notes:
Ostensibly it seems like much of Sentience Institute’s (SI) current research is focused on identifying those MCE strategies which historically have turned out to be more effective among the strategies which have been tried. I think SI as an organization is based on the experience of EA as a movement in having significant success with MCE in a relatively short period of time. Successfully spreading the meme of effective giving; increasing concern for the far future in notable ways; and corporate animal welfare campaigns are all dramatic achievements for a young social movement like EA. While these aren’t on the scale of shaping MCE over the course of the far future, these achievements makes it seem more possible EA and allied movements can have an outsized impact by pursuing neglected strategies for values-spreading.
On terminology, to say the focus is on non-human animals, or even moral patients which typically come to mind when describing ‘animal-like’ minds, i.e., familiar vertebrates is inaccurate. “Sentient being”, “moral patient” or “non-human agents/beings” are terms which are inclusive of non-human animals, and other types of potential moral patients posited. Admittedly these aren’t catchy terms.