Perhaps a dark thought, and coming from someone not being well versed in these types of high-level analyses: Could this work possibly lend some support to antinatalist/misanthropic points of view? I should state for the record that I feel tremendous hesitation to these types of views.
This is a good question. I’d instinctively be wary of misanthropic views, and I don’t like asking myself these kind of questions, but I’m not sure my instinct is enough to make a good decision here.
Another way to pose the question could be : Should we strive to preserve the lives of those that (although inadvertantly, and probably not out of bad intentions) cause terrible harms ?
Good point on the intentions, I think that matters. Moreover, and perhaps naively I also think in terms of option value. If we were to hypothetically lose human-level intelligence, it might never be recovered. But if we give ourselves a few more decades (hopefully!) perhaps we can do better and become an assuredly, massively net positive welfare portion of the universe.
Well, hopefully, but given the current trends, I’d be very wary of that—it could very well be that factory farming continues forever and expands to other planets.
Perhaps a dark thought, and coming from someone not being well versed in these types of high-level analyses: Could this work possibly lend some support to antinatalist/misanthropic points of view? I should state for the record that I feel tremendous hesitation to these types of views.
This is a good question. I’d instinctively be wary of misanthropic views, and I don’t like asking myself these kind of questions, but I’m not sure my instinct is enough to make a good decision here.
Another way to pose the question could be : Should we strive to preserve the lives of those that (although inadvertantly, and probably not out of bad intentions) cause terrible harms ?
Good point on the intentions, I think that matters. Moreover, and perhaps naively I also think in terms of option value. If we were to hypothetically lose human-level intelligence, it might never be recovered. But if we give ourselves a few more decades (hopefully!) perhaps we can do better and become an assuredly, massively net positive welfare portion of the universe.
Well, hopefully, but given the current trends, I’d be very wary of that—it could very well be that factory farming continues forever and expands to other planets.
See these articles : Optimistic longtermist is terrible for animals, Why factory farming might be there forever, and this one explains why cellular meat might not replace everything.