There is an estimate of 24.9 million people in slavery, of which 4.8 million are sexually exploited! Very likely these estimates are exaggerated, and the conditions are not as bad as one would think hearing those words, and even if they were the conditions might not be as bad as battery cages, but my broader point is that the world really does seem like it is very broken and there are problems of huge scale even just restricting to human welfare, and you still have to prioritize, which means ignoring some truly massive problems.
I agree, there is already a lot of human suffering that longtermists de-prioritize. More concrete examples include,
The estimated 27.2% of the adult US population that who lives with more than one of these chronic health conditions: arthritis, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease, current asthma, diabetes, hepatitis, hypertension, stroke, and weak or failing kidneys.
The nearly 10% of the world population who lives in extreme poverty, which is defined as a level of consumption equivalent to less than $2 of spending per day, adjusting for price differences between nations.
The 7 million Americans who are currently having their brain rot away, bit by bit, due to Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Not to mention their loved ones who are forced to witness this.
The 6% of the US population who experienced at least one major depressive episode in the last year.
The estimated half a million homeless population in the United States .
The significant fraction of people who have profound difficulties with learning and performing work, who disproportionately live in poverty and are isolated from friends and family
EDIT: I made this comment assuming the comment I’m replying to is making a critique of longtermism but no longer convinced this is the correct reading 😅 here’s the response anyway:
Well it’s not so much that longtermists ignore such suffering, it’s that anyone who is choosing a priority (so any EA, regardless of their stance on longtermism) in our current broken system will end up ignoring (or at least not working on alleviating) many problems.
For example the problem of adults with cancer in the US is undoubtedly tragic but is well understood and reasonably well funded by the government and charitable organizations, I would argue it fails the ‘neglectedness’ part of the traditional EA neglectedness, tractability, importance system. Another example, people trapped in North Korea, I think would fail on tractability, given the lack of progress over the decades. I haven’t thought about those two particularly deeply and could be totally wrong but this is just the traditional EA framework for prioritizing among different problems, even if those problems are heartbreaking to have to set aside.
I agree, there is already a lot of human suffering that longtermists de-prioritize. More concrete examples include,
The 0.57% of the US population that is imprisoned at any given time this year. (This might even be more analogous to battery cages than slavery).
The 25.78 million people who live under the totalitarian North Korean regime.
The estimated 27.2% of the adult US population that who lives with more than one of these chronic health conditions: arthritis, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease, current asthma, diabetes, hepatitis, hypertension, stroke, and weak or failing kidneys.
The nearly 10% of the world population who lives in extreme poverty, which is defined as a level of consumption equivalent to less than $2 of spending per day, adjusting for price differences between nations.
The 7 million Americans who are currently having their brain rot away, bit by bit, due to Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Not to mention their loved ones who are forced to witness this.
The 6% of the US population who experienced at least one major depressive episode in the last year.
The estimated half a million homeless population in the United States .
The significant fraction of people who have profound difficulties with learning and performing work, who disproportionately live in poverty and are isolated from friends and family
EDIT: I made this comment assuming the comment I’m replying to is making a critique of longtermism but no longer convinced this is the correct reading 😅 here’s the response anyway:
Well it’s not so much that longtermists ignore such suffering, it’s that anyone who is choosing a priority (so any EA, regardless of their stance on longtermism) in our current broken system will end up ignoring (or at least not working on alleviating) many problems.
For example the problem of adults with cancer in the US is undoubtedly tragic but is well understood and reasonably well funded by the government and charitable organizations, I would argue it fails the ‘neglectedness’ part of the traditional EA neglectedness, tractability, importance system. Another example, people trapped in North Korea, I think would fail on tractability, given the lack of progress over the decades. I haven’t thought about those two particularly deeply and could be totally wrong but this is just the traditional EA framework for prioritizing among different problems, even if those problems are heartbreaking to have to set aside.