Thanks. I agree that the benefits could outweigh the costs, certainly at least for some humans. There are sophisticated reasons to be veg(etari)an. I think those benefits aren’t cruxy for many EA veg(etari)ans, or many veg(etari)ans I know.
Or me. I’m veg(etari)an for selfish reasons — eating animal corpses or feeling involved in the animal-farming-and-killing process makes me feel guilty and dirty.
I certainly haven’t done the cost-benefit analysis on veg(etari)anism, on the straightforward animal-welfare consideration or the considerations you mention. For example, if I was veg(etari)an for the straightforward reason (for agent-neutral consequentialist reasons), I’d do the cost-benefit analysis, and do things like:
Eat meat that would otherwise go to waste (when that wouldn’t increase anticipated demand for meat in the future)
Try to reduce others’ meat consumption, and try to reduce the supply of meat or improve the lives of farmed animals, when that’s more cost-effective than personal veg(etari)anism
Notice whether eating meat would substantially boost my health and productivity, and go back to eating meat if so
I think my veg(etari)an friends are mostly like me — veg(etari)an for selfish reasons. And they don’t notice this.
Written quickly, maybe hard-to-parse and imprecise.
Thanks. I agree that the benefits could outweigh the costs, certainly at least for some humans. There are sophisticated reasons to be veg(etari)an. I think those benefits aren’t cruxy for many EA veg(etari)ans, or many veg(etari)ans I know.
Or me. I’m veg(etari)an for selfish reasons — eating animal corpses or feeling involved in the animal-farming-and-killing process makes me feel guilty and dirty.
I certainly haven’t done the cost-benefit analysis on veg(etari)anism, on the straightforward animal-welfare consideration or the considerations you mention. For example, if I was veg(etari)an for the straightforward reason (for agent-neutral consequentialist reasons), I’d do the cost-benefit analysis, and do things like:
Eat meat that would otherwise go to waste (when that wouldn’t increase anticipated demand for meat in the future)
Try to reduce others’ meat consumption, and try to reduce the supply of meat or improve the lives of farmed animals, when that’s more cost-effective than personal veg(etari)anism
Notice whether eating meat would substantially boost my health and productivity, and go back to eating meat if so
I think my veg(etari)an friends are mostly like me — veg(etari)an for selfish reasons. And they don’t notice this.
Written quickly, maybe hard-to-parse and imprecise.