This is indeed a good idea (although it isnât that clear to me âhow to do targeted outreach to people thereâ woud work, but I havent done targeted outreach before)
A future where the current situation would continue, but with AI making us more powerful, would in all likelihood be a very bad one if we are to include farmed animals (it gets more complicated if you include wild animals).
Longtermism plans to colonize space and expand as much as possible would be horrifying for animals. We could bring factory farms, animal testing and see earth animals to other planets
Values and habits can lock-in for a long timeâespecially habits like meat eating.
For me, it sounds likely that the âexpected valueâ of the future depends mostly on what happens to farmed and wild animals. See the Moral Weight project : âGiven hedonism and conditional on sentience, we think (credence: 0.65) that the welfare ranges of humans and the vertebrate animals of interest are within an order of magnitude of one anotherâ.
The case could be made that the case for concerning about farmed animals in the far future is at least as strong as the case concerning for humans in the far future.
Longtermists tend to be super optimistic that alternative proteins and cultured meat will be more efficient and cheaper, baffling people working in animal welfare.
[reasons include that factory farming goes beyond âcows+chicken+pigsâ and could come to include fish and insects. It also includes silk, fashion, pigments, medical supplies, experimentation. Current AI is already boosting factory farming.]
This is indeed a good idea (although it isnât that clear to me âhow to do targeted outreach to people thereâ woud work, but I havent done targeted outreach before)
A future where the current situation would continue, but with AI making us more powerful, would in all likelihood be a very bad one if we are to include farmed animals (it gets more complicated if you include wild animals).
See the following relevant articles:
Optimistic longtermism would be terrible for animals:
If we donât end factory farming soon it might be there forever :
For me, it sounds likely that the âexpected valueâ of the future depends mostly on what happens to farmed and wild animals. See the Moral Weight project : âGiven hedonism and conditional on sentience, we think (credence: 0.65) that the welfare ranges of humans and the vertebrate animals of interest are within an order of magnitude of one anotherâ.
Why the expected numbers of farmed animals in the far future might be huge: