I also support renaming this the ‘rich meat eater problem’, or something like that. It’s absurd to focus on the very poor in this regard.
Most EAs who care about human and non-human animals are donating to humans in “poor” countries and/or donating to promote animal welfare. Therefore, meat eater behavior in “poor” countries is an important “problem” for these EAs.
The problems are a) it looks bad to have a bunch of rich people blaming the ‘poor’ for a problem created by the wealth they already have and others don’t; b) the problem isn’t about ‘poor meat eaters’, it’s about ‘no-longer-poor meat eaters’ so in that sense it’s a misnomer .
a) it looks bad to have a bunch of rich people blaming the ‘poor’ for a problem created by the wealth they already have and others don’t;
We shouldn’t really care if it looks bad. We should only care about what course of action leads to the most good. If it looks SO bad that the efficiency gains from rationality are outweighed by people repelled from the EA movement, then we’ve got a problem. Personally, I don’t think this is likely.
b) the problem isn’t about ‘poor meat eaters’, it’s about ‘no-longer-poor meat eaters’ so in that sense it’s a misnomer
Disagree. The problem will still be about “poor meat eaters” because the unfortunate likelihood is that they will remain poor for some time.
For example, AMF operates in Malawi and DRC.
Malawi’s nominal GDP per capita is only 6% of the median country’s measured by the IMF. DRC’s is only 8%.
To increase each country’s nominal GDP per capita to the median country for just one year, Malawi would need a cash donation of $88B and DRC would need $428B. It’s safe to say these countries will remain extremely poor for the near future.
No need to give up. I think it’s beneficial to calculate the costs of “looking bad” and have it as a factor that we make in our analysis of the situation. Only by weighing “Bad PR” as a cost can we make a thorough analysis of the situation.
Most EAs who care about human and non-human animals are donating to humans in “poor” countries and/or donating to promote animal welfare. Therefore, meat eater behavior in “poor” countries is an important “problem” for these EAs.
The problems are a) it looks bad to have a bunch of rich people blaming the ‘poor’ for a problem created by the wealth they already have and others don’t; b) the problem isn’t about ‘poor meat eaters’, it’s about ‘no-longer-poor meat eaters’ so in that sense it’s a misnomer .
We shouldn’t really care if it looks bad. We should only care about what course of action leads to the most good. If it looks SO bad that the efficiency gains from rationality are outweighed by people repelled from the EA movement, then we’ve got a problem. Personally, I don’t think this is likely.
Disagree. The problem will still be about “poor meat eaters” because the unfortunate likelihood is that they will remain poor for some time.
For example, AMF operates in Malawi and DRC.
Malawi’s nominal GDP per capita is only 6% of the median country’s measured by the IMF. DRC’s is only 8%.
To increase each country’s nominal GDP per capita to the median country for just one year, Malawi would need a cash donation of $88B and DRC would need $428B. It’s safe to say these countries will remain extremely poor for the near future.
Sources: GiveWell, Wikipedia—IMF, Wikipedia—Malawi, Wikipedia—DRC
“We shouldn’t really care if it looks bad.”
I give up.
No need to give up. I think it’s beneficial to calculate the costs of “looking bad” and have it as a factor that we make in our analysis of the situation. Only by weighing “Bad PR” as a cost can we make a thorough analysis of the situation.