Even though we ourselves are skeptical of the neuron count theory, many people in EA do put significant credence on it. As such, we chose to present the results that includes the neuron count model in this particular diagram. Additionally, the differences between the results including and excluding the neuron count model are small. As we’ve mentioned in this post, our estimates are not meant to be precise—rather, we think that order-of-magnitude comparisons are probably more appropriate given our significant uncertainty in theories of welfare and how best to represent them in a model.
Hi Vasco, thanks for the question.
Even though we ourselves are skeptical of the neuron count theory, many people in EA do put significant credence on it. As such, we chose to present the results that includes the neuron count model in this particular diagram. Additionally, the differences between the results including and excluding the neuron count model are small. As we’ve mentioned in this post, our estimates are not meant to be precise—rather, we think that order-of-magnitude comparisons are probably more appropriate given our significant uncertainty in theories of welfare and how best to represent them in a model.