Vasco Grilo🔸 comments on GiveWell may have made 1 billion dollars of harmful grants, and Ambitious Impact incubated 8 harmful organisations via increasing factory-farming?

[Vasco Grilo🔸]

Hi Nick,

I do not think the specific term matters much. I mention effects on animals lots of times, so it should be clear that these are the problem, not saving lives per se.

[Fai]

Hi Vasco,

I lean much more to your side than Nick’s on the subject matter, but I strongly agree with Nick and Michael’s suggestion that saying the “meat eating problem” is much less provoking than the “meat eater problem”. You can actually count myself as another data point that this terminology change makes me feel less uncomfortable. (even as someone who believe this effect is probably real in the short term)

[Vasco Grilo🔸]

Thanks, Fai. I have changed “meat-eater” to “meat eating”.

[NickLaing]

I agree it doesn’t matter too much like you say, but it is a 30 second change that you could potentially make in good faith which could turn blame away from the people involved and focus directly on the problem itself. There’s also a (low chance but real) potential EA future PR issue here with that framing I think...