I think farms/‘nature’/artificial environments in space habitats or planetary colonies are likely to be net-positive for animals larger than insects, because they would be taken better care of as a matter of course due to how scarce resources are. It is likely very difficult to spread unmanaged wilderness on an unterraformed planet, so it has to be managed and the animals treated well. Even moreso in an artificial habitat. This gives me hope for wild animal welfare. I invite argument otherwise, as reading this post was a small update against this position. This also hinges on terraforming being difficult, which could be wrong (life finds a way). Animals on a new planet might also just suffer more as they try to adapt.
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My model is that cultivated meat will create a cultural inflection point that makes it easier to ban factory farming. Once factory farming is banned (roughly speaking), wild animal welfare will in turn be the next frontier.
I also don’t see organ transfers from animals as a significant factor, though it might be indicative of a trend of continued animal uses through other means. I have an image of my head of animals being bred for organ transfers being treated better, which could be wrong.
Unfortunately, I don’t think it is true that “they would be taken better care of as a matter of course due to how scarce resources are.” Our current model of animal agriculture is to operate the system incredibly efficiently overall but with no regard for the welfare of the individual animal. “Animal health” is a billion dollar industry constantly optimizing this. The animals are kept alive with drugs and careful diets but live short lives of physical and mental distress until their bodies quickly reach slaughter age. I imagine this system in space would be even more suffering-causing and unnatural than dark sheds. Chickens that died, for example, in a space CAFO would probably just be recycled to more chicken feed.
I think I disagree with your view here. Let me explain why.
Consider these two objective functions:
Maximize the efficiency of raising tilapia (or any species of animals)
Minimize the chance that the tilapia raised live net negative lives
I think we shouldn’t expect that optimizing for 1 would always, robustly, ensure that 2 is also optimized at the same time. I think highly intelligent systems are quite likely to identify ways to optimize for 1 that do not optimize for 2 at all. In fact, we probably don’t need AI for that. I believe the sole reason that classical, non-intensive, family sized type of raising animals became factory farming exactly because the industry was interested in optimizing for 1, with no regard for 2. I understand that your argument is that, you believe, resource scarcity will make people take “good care” of the animals. But it seems clear to me that the reason they will take good care, is to optimize for 1 and only 1. Unless we can bioengineer a new species of animal of which optimizing for 1 always optimize for 2 at the same time, I am not convinced that we can confidently expect farmed animals in space live net positive lives.
Re: banning factory farming. I think an important consideration is whether this will be done before large scale space exploration and colonization. If factory farming already spread far and wide everywhere in the universe, the earth or nearby planets banning factory farming might not have major effects.
I think farms/‘nature’/artificial environments in space habitats or planetary colonies are likely to be net-positive for animals larger than insects, because they would be taken better care of as a matter of course due to how scarce resources are. It is likely very difficult to spread unmanaged wilderness on an unterraformed planet, so it has to be managed and the animals treated well. Even moreso in an artificial habitat. This gives me hope for wild animal welfare. I invite argument otherwise, as reading this post was a small update against this position. This also hinges on terraforming being difficult, which could be wrong (life finds a way). Animals on a new planet might also just suffer more as they try to adapt.
-
My model is that cultivated meat will create a cultural inflection point that makes it easier to ban factory farming. Once factory farming is banned (roughly speaking), wild animal welfare will in turn be the next frontier.
I also don’t see organ transfers from animals as a significant factor, though it might be indicative of a trend of continued animal uses through other means. I have an image of my head of animals being bred for organ transfers being treated better, which could be wrong.
Unfortunately, I don’t think it is true that “they would be taken better care of as a matter of course due to how scarce resources are.” Our current model of animal agriculture is to operate the system incredibly efficiently overall but with no regard for the welfare of the individual animal. “Animal health” is a billion dollar industry constantly optimizing this. The animals are kept alive with drugs and careful diets but live short lives of physical and mental distress until their bodies quickly reach slaughter age. I imagine this system in space would be even more suffering-causing and unnatural than dark sheds. Chickens that died, for example, in a space CAFO would probably just be recycled to more chicken feed.
Hi Dony! Thank you for your comment!
I think I disagree with your view here. Let me explain why.
Consider these two objective functions:
Maximize the efficiency of raising tilapia (or any species of animals)
Minimize the chance that the tilapia raised live net negative lives
I think we shouldn’t expect that optimizing for 1 would always, robustly, ensure that 2 is also optimized at the same time. I think highly intelligent systems are quite likely to identify ways to optimize for 1 that do not optimize for 2 at all. In fact, we probably don’t need AI for that. I believe the sole reason that classical, non-intensive, family sized type of raising animals became factory farming exactly because the industry was interested in optimizing for 1, with no regard for 2. I understand that your argument is that, you believe, resource scarcity will make people take “good care” of the animals. But it seems clear to me that the reason they will take good care, is to optimize for 1 and only 1. Unless we can bioengineer a new species of animal of which optimizing for 1 always optimize for 2 at the same time, I am not convinced that we can confidently expect farmed animals in space live net positive lives.
Re: banning factory farming. I think an important consideration is whether this will be done before large scale space exploration and colonization. If factory farming already spread far and wide everywhere in the universe, the earth or nearby planets banning factory farming might not have major effects.