Really enjoyed this piece. It is somewhat painful to read, given that I believe most of my professional life did more harm than good.
I do think that partially rationalizing torturing billions of sentient beings every year for more corn in silos in case of a nuclear winter—that’s really a stretch.
I started following a plant-based diet roughly 4 years ago mostly due to finding out about the badness of factory-farming (and also because I think it mitigates global warming, and is healthier). Meanwhile, I have gotten confused about the overall impact of a plant-based diet, given the uncertain effects on wild animals and in the longterm. I think I continue plant-based because (descending order of importance):
It feels intuitively wrong to be responsible for some visible torture based on unclear overall effects which are quite uncertain.
I think I should feel fine about doing something with overall unclear effects even if the most visible effects are bad.
However, I do not, and I suppose it makes sense to avoid conflicts with intuitions to some extent. For example, if in theory eating animals was super good overall, and I could not internalise that, still feeling bad about contributing to factory-farming, it is possible the overall best option for me would be continuing not to eat animals, such that I could remain productive working on other matters.
I believe a plant-based diet is healthier, and can extend my life for a few years. Since I think my work is positive, having the chance to do more of it is good!
I no longer like the taste of animals. Switching at this point would be hard, especially given the above.
I think a plant-based diet is more practical (e.g. generally involves less cooking time, and less cleaning due to less fat). There would typically be factors contributing to it being less practical, but I do not think those affect me much. For example, for (rare) family meals in restaurants, I am fine with just eating soup, rice and lettuce, or whatever is available.
Thanks, Vasco. I find it very difficult to imagine a scenario where I would support the active torture of factory farming chickens for any unknown / theoretical counterpoint. I’d certainly rather be a wild animal than a factory-farmed chicken.
Really enjoyed this piece. It is somewhat painful to read, given that I believe most of my professional life did more harm than good.
I do think that partially rationalizing torturing billions of sentient beings every year for more corn in silos in case of a nuclear winter—that’s really a stretch.
Thanks for sharing, Matt!
I started following a plant-based diet roughly 4 years ago mostly due to finding out about the badness of factory-farming (and also because I think it mitigates global warming, and is healthier). Meanwhile, I have gotten confused about the overall impact of a plant-based diet, given the uncertain effects on wild animals and in the longterm. I think I continue plant-based because (descending order of importance):
It feels intuitively wrong to be responsible for some visible torture based on unclear overall effects which are quite uncertain.
I think I should feel fine about doing something with overall unclear effects even if the most visible effects are bad.
However, I do not, and I suppose it makes sense to avoid conflicts with intuitions to some extent. For example, if in theory eating animals was super good overall, and I could not internalise that, still feeling bad about contributing to factory-farming, it is possible the overall best option for me would be continuing not to eat animals, such that I could remain productive working on other matters.
I believe a plant-based diet is healthier, and can extend my life for a few years. Since I think my work is positive, having the chance to do more of it is good!
I no longer like the taste of animals. Switching at this point would be hard, especially given the above.
I think a plant-based diet is more practical (e.g. generally involves less cooking time, and less cleaning due to less fat). There would typically be factors contributing to it being less practical, but I do not think those affect me much. For example, for (rare) family meals in restaurants, I am fine with just eating soup, rice and lettuce, or whatever is available.
Thanks, Vasco. I find it very difficult to imagine a scenario where I would support the active torture of factory farming chickens for any unknown / theoretical counterpoint. I’d certainly rather be a wild animal than a factory-farmed chicken.
Take care.