Upvoting this post even though it doesn’t criticize EA. :-)
Looking at your charts, I find it really interesting to see the trend in animal welfare posts over time. As you summarize it: “The percentage of posts on animal welfare peaked in 2018-19 and has since decreased somewhat.”
I’ve heard concerns from other animal-focused EAs that the EA movement feels like it is starting to de-emphasize animals. And that worried me. But these charts make me feel better.
Your analysis does validates peoples’ perception that the EA movement feels like it has recently started focusing less on animals. Because your analysis suggests the movement probably has been focusing less on animals ever since the 2019 peak. So that shows that people aren’t crazy to feel like something is changing in EA. :-)
But at the same time, your analysis suggests that the decrease in focus on animals is probably just a return to the norm. So there’s probably no real risk that this trend will eventually lead to EA forgetting about animals altogether! Therefore, by showing the big picture, your post is reassuring.
Upvoting this post even though it doesn’t criticize EA. :-)
Looking at your charts, I find it really interesting to see the trend in animal welfare posts over time. As you summarize it: “The percentage of posts on animal welfare peaked in 2018-19 and has since decreased somewhat.”
I’ve heard concerns from other animal-focused EAs that the EA movement feels like it is starting to de-emphasize animals. And that worried me. But these charts make me feel better.
Your analysis does validates peoples’ perception that the EA movement feels like it has recently started focusing less on animals. Because your analysis suggests the movement probably has been focusing less on animals ever since the 2019 peak. So that shows that people aren’t crazy to feel like something is changing in EA. :-)
But at the same time, your analysis suggests that the decrease in focus on animals is probably just a return to the norm. So there’s probably no real risk that this trend will eventually lead to EA forgetting about animals altogether! Therefore, by showing the big picture, your post is reassuring.