Yeah, I agree with all of this difficulty. But, I also think the animal movement trends too far in hiring too many people, and all things considered, I’d probably prefer an animal movement that was smaller and more strategic (though this is partially because I don’t think ambitious animal welfare goals, like abolishing factory farming, are tractable), and think the things that are tractable (wild animal welfare policy, shrimp welfare, etc.) would do better if coordinated by fewer talented people rather than more mass movement — but I recognize that I’m the only animal advocate in the world who is against broad movement building so don’t put too much stock in my views.
I also think the animal movement suffers from a lack of “coolness” unfortunately — e.g. I think AI risk, for example, just has more general appeal / trendiness, and so they can appeal to a way larger audience of potential applicants, which should in theory mean higher quality (just because more people are interested).
I agree that it could be centralized — I think the benefits outweigh the risks here, especially for heavily EA organizations.
Yeah, I agree with all of this difficulty. But, I also think the animal movement trends too far in hiring too many people, and all things considered, I’d probably prefer an animal movement that was smaller and more strategic (though this is partially because I don’t think ambitious animal welfare goals, like abolishing factory farming, are tractable), and think the things that are tractable (wild animal welfare policy, shrimp welfare, etc.) would do better if coordinated by fewer talented people rather than more mass movement — but I recognize that I’m the only animal advocate in the world who is against broad movement building so don’t put too much stock in my views.
I also think the animal movement suffers from a lack of “coolness” unfortunately — e.g. I think AI risk, for example, just has more general appeal / trendiness, and so they can appeal to a way larger audience of potential applicants, which should in theory mean higher quality (just because more people are interested).
I agree that it could be centralized — I think the benefits outweigh the risks here, especially for heavily EA organizations.