Yeah I think that is right that it is a conservative scenario—my point was more, the proposed future scenarios don’t come close to imagining as much welfare / mind-stuff as might exist right now.
Hmm, I think my point might be something slightly different—more to pose a challenge to explore how taking animal welfare seriously might change the outcomes of conclusions about the long term future. Right now, there seems to be almost no consideration. I guess I think it is likely that many longtermists thinks animals matter morally already (given the popularity of such a view in EA). But I take your point that for general longtermist outreach, this might be a less appealing discussion topic.
Yeah I think that is right that it is a conservative scenario—my point was more, the proposed future scenarios don’t come close to imagining as much welfare / mind-stuff as might exist right now.
Hmm, I think my point might be something slightly different—more to pose a challenge to explore how taking animal welfare seriously might change the outcomes of conclusions about the long term future. Right now, there seems to be almost no consideration. I guess I think it is likely that many longtermists thinks animals matter morally already (given the popularity of such a view in EA). But I take your point that for general longtermist outreach, this might be a less appealing discussion topic.
Thanks for the thoughts Brian!