Just to be clear, I do “believe in” the near-term reasons outlined in this article, even though far future arguments also matter a lot to me. I also think there’s a lot of overlap, e.g. if something is neglected now, that can be good reason to think it will continue being neglected. I don’t think this post deviated from evidence-based thinking, the use of reason, or intellectual honesty.
I think personal posts are important, but introductory content and topic summaries are also useful. Several people have asked for a post on “why animals matter” like this one, and I don’t think they’d have been nearly as interested in a post where >75% of the content was about the far future considerations.
Also, in case anyone missed it, I did mention this in the post: “Consideration of the far future is the strongest factor in favor of prioritizing animal advocacy for many long-time EAs, including myself.”
Just to be clear, I do “believe in” the near-term reasons outlined in this article, even though far future arguments also matter a lot to me. I also think there’s a lot of overlap, e.g. if something is neglected now, that can be good reason to think it will continue being neglected. I don’t think this post deviated from evidence-based thinking, the use of reason, or intellectual honesty.
I think personal posts are important, but introductory content and topic summaries are also useful. Several people have asked for a post on “why animals matter” like this one, and I don’t think they’d have been nearly as interested in a post where >75% of the content was about the far future considerations.
Also, in case anyone missed it, I did mention this in the post: “Consideration of the far future is the strongest factor in favor of prioritizing animal advocacy for many long-time EAs, including myself.”