I think it’s good to have in clear mind if we mean x-risk pandemic vs bad pandemic. Factory farming already has done many bad pandemics, but as you seem to note the majority of EV from pandemics comes from x-risk cases
The best solutions to pandemics are ones that can tackle all vectors of deadly pandemics(natural & man made)
Hear this idea podcast has a great recent episode on this topic
This is a good point, and I think most EV in general is in X-risk. I’d include COVID-level or HIV-level emerging pandemics as being worth thinking about even if they don’t represent X-risk, though. It’s not obvious to me that generalised solutions (for both natural & man-made andemics) are the most efficient answer. For instance as a random and un-researched example, it could be really cheap to encourage farmers to wear gloves or surgical masks when handling certain animals (or in certain regions), but this is only worth doing if we’re worried about farm animal pandemics.
I think it’s good to have in clear mind if we mean x-risk pandemic vs bad pandemic. Factory farming already has done many bad pandemics, but as you seem to note the majority of EV from pandemics comes from x-risk cases
The best solutions to pandemics are ones that can tackle all vectors of deadly pandemics(natural & man made)
Hear this idea podcast has a great recent episode on this topic
This is a good point, and I think most EV in general is in X-risk. I’d include COVID-level or HIV-level emerging pandemics as being worth thinking about even if they don’t represent X-risk, though.
It’s not obvious to me that generalised solutions (for both natural & man-made andemics) are the most efficient answer. For instance as a random and un-researched example, it could be really cheap to encourage farmers to wear gloves or surgical masks when handling certain animals (or in certain regions), but this is only worth doing if we’re worried about farm animal pandemics.