Another worry I have is about interpersonal aggregation, which I didn’t capture in the post. The ‘importance’ of this cause area depends on a large number of fairly mild harms (slight decrease in IQ, slight decrease in earnings, slight decrease in welfare). The large number of people affected suggests the overall magnitude is large, but I feel uncertain and queasy about suggesting it is more important than a much smaller number of serious harms (e.g. a debilitating disease or premature death).
Another worry I have is about interpersonal aggregation, which I didn’t capture in the post. The ‘importance’ of this cause area depends on a large number of fairly mild harms (slight decrease in IQ, slight decrease in earnings, slight decrease in welfare). The large number of people affected suggests the overall magnitude is large, but I feel uncertain and queasy about suggesting it is more important than a much smaller number of serious harms (e.g. a debilitating disease or premature death).