I appreciate these analyses, but given the very high sensitivity of the bottom lines to parameters like how welfare ranges correspond to neuron counts or other facts about the animals in question, I find it implausible that the best donation option is to fund the intervention with the highest mean estimate rather than either 1) fund more research into those parameters or 2) save/invest until such research has happened. Maybe future posts could examine the tradeoff between funding/waiting for such research versus funding the direct interventions now?
Thanks for the comment. I actually agree that funding research explicitly aiming to decrease the uncertainty about the effects on soil animals would be more cost-effective than funding the cheapest ways to save human lives. However, I do not know about any concrete donation opportunities to support that research. I asked people from RP, the Welfare Footprint Institute (WFI), and Wild Animal Initiative (WAI) about it 3 months ago, and said I would be happy to donate 3 k$ myself. Only Cynthia Schuck-Paim from WFI replied saying Wladimir Alonso from WFI is working on a review related to this post. @tlevin, let me know if you know about such opportunities, or people who may know about them.
I appreciate these analyses, but given the very high sensitivity of the bottom lines to parameters like how welfare ranges correspond to neuron counts or other facts about the animals in question, I find it implausible that the best donation option is to fund the intervention with the highest mean estimate rather than either 1) fund more research into those parameters or 2) save/invest until such research has happened. Maybe future posts could examine the tradeoff between funding/waiting for such research versus funding the direct interventions now?
Thanks for the comment. I actually agree that funding research explicitly aiming to decrease the uncertainty about the effects on soil animals would be more cost-effective than funding the cheapest ways to save human lives. However, I do not know about any concrete donation opportunities to support that research. I asked people from RP, the Welfare Footprint Institute (WFI), and Wild Animal Initiative (WAI) about it 3 months ago, and said I would be happy to donate 3 k$ myself. Only Cynthia Schuck-Paim from WFI replied saying Wladimir Alonso from WFI is working on a review related to this post. @tlevin, let me know if you know about such opportunities, or people who may know about them.