Having read much of Brian Tomasik’s work, I think the idea that wild animals have net negative lives is plausible, and I don’t think habitat destruction would be ludicrous. However, that does seem to be a more extreme position than most wild animal welfare organizations are willing to commit to, and I suggest that the framework proposed here is not well-suited for answering those sorts of questions.
Yeah, I think there’s a bad dynamic where people who have read Tomasik either seriously or jokingly propose “pave everything” and other people find that alarming and want nothing to do with any ideas that could lead in that direction. I spent years intentionally not reading Tomasik because I was afraid it would make me into some kind of fanatic.
Having read much of Brian Tomasik’s work, I think the idea that wild animals have net negative lives is plausible, and I don’t think habitat destruction would be ludicrous. However, that does seem to be a more extreme position than most wild animal welfare organizations are willing to commit to, and I suggest that the framework proposed here is not well-suited for answering those sorts of questions.
Yeah, I think there’s a bad dynamic where people who have read Tomasik either seriously or jokingly propose “pave everything” and other people find that alarming and want nothing to do with any ideas that could lead in that direction. I spent years intentionally not reading Tomasik because I was afraid it would make me into some kind of fanatic.