Executive summary: The type of animal husbandry is relevant for assessing animal welfare and suffering, so calculators and arguments about dietary choices should account for differences in farming practices, not just types of animals.
Key points:
Avoiding animal products can reduce animal suffering, but the type of farming matters, not just the type of animal.
Brian Tomasik’s suffering calculator assumes all farmed animals are factory-farmed and every day of life involves suffering, which may not always be true.
The calculator should be adjusted to account for possible positive or negative quality of life under different farming conditions.
Convincing people to choose animal products from higher-welfare farms may be easier than pushing strict veganism.
Decisions about animal welfare should consider the net happiness or suffering over an animal’s lifespan, including the manner of their death.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: The type of animal husbandry is relevant for assessing animal welfare and suffering, so calculators and arguments about dietary choices should account for differences in farming practices, not just types of animals.
Key points:
Avoiding animal products can reduce animal suffering, but the type of farming matters, not just the type of animal.
Brian Tomasik’s suffering calculator assumes all farmed animals are factory-farmed and every day of life involves suffering, which may not always be true.
The calculator should be adjusted to account for possible positive or negative quality of life under different farming conditions.
Convincing people to choose animal products from higher-welfare farms may be easier than pushing strict veganism.
Decisions about animal welfare should consider the net happiness or suffering over an animal’s lifespan, including the manner of their death.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.