I was wondering if—in the case that it were true that agricultural land decreases the number of nematodes & Co.—given that we write here so that new ideas might be put into action, and thus based on the consensus these ideas can obtain, wouldn’t it be more advantageous to highlight more the non-problematic cases for someone who cares about animals?
I would still be very uncertain about whether increasing agricultural land increases or decreases welfare even if I was confident it decreased soil-animal-years. This is because I am very uncertain about whether soil animals have positive or negative lives. However, if increasing agricultural land increased welfare, and the increase in welfare per $ is roughly proportional to the increase in m²-years of agricultural land per $, as I calculated for my preferred exponent of the number of neurons of 0.5, I think it would make sense to advocate for global health interventions over ones targeting farmed animals. There is much more funding going to global health interventions than ones targeting farmed animals, which suggests the fundraising multiplier is higher for the former. Moreover, I estimate global health interventions increase agricultural land more cost-effectively.
In general, you are absolutely right to draw attention to this issue. One could argue that it’s probably not a relevant topic. But if it were relevant, it would be extremely relevant. And that fact makes it effectively relevant (at least given our current state of knowledge).
Yes, this is how I think about it. I would not be surprised if the absolute value of the total welfare of soil animals was negligible compared with that of farmed animals. However, based on my current knowledge, I believe the absolute value of the total welfare of soil animals is much larger in expectation than that of farmed animals.
I would still be very uncertain about whether increasing agricultural land increases or decreases welfare even if I was confident it decreased soil-animal-years. This is because I am very uncertain about whether soil animals have positive or negative lives. However, if increasing agricultural land increased welfare, and the increase in welfare per $ is roughly proportional to the increase in m²-years of agricultural land per $, as I calculated for my preferred exponent of the number of neurons of 0.5, I think it would make sense to advocate for global health interventions over ones targeting farmed animals. There is much more funding going to global health interventions than ones targeting farmed animals, which suggests the fundraising multiplier is higher for the former. Moreover, I estimate global health interventions increase agricultural land more cost-effectively.
Yes, this is how I think about it. I would not be surprised if the absolute value of the total welfare of soil animals was negligible compared with that of farmed animals. However, based on my current knowledge, I believe the absolute value of the total welfare of soil animals is much larger in expectation than that of farmed animals.