Thanks for the useful context, Bob. Is there any grant round on soil animals that you would be willing to run for less than 100 k$? It does not have to be about investigating sentience, or comparing the welfare of soil animals with that of humans, and it could be about soil ants or termites.
Oh sure. I would certainly run one on ant or termite welfare for $50,000, again only speaking for myself and needing to talk to the board before it is a claim about what the organization would do. Possibly less. It’s just important to have enough to be able to support a handful of small projects.
That said, our confidence in our own position is not high. So, we’d be willing to fund things to challenge our own views: If we had sufficient funding from folks interested in the question, Arthropoda would fund a grant round specifically on soil invertebrate sentience and relevant natural history studies (especially in ways that attempt to capture the likely enormous range of differences between species in this group). Currently, much of our grant-making funds are restricted (at least informally) to farmed insects and shrimp, so it’s not an option.
Mal and Bob, what would you fund with 50 k$ of unrestricted funding under expectational total hedonistic utilitarianism? How about under your own moral views? Why? I understand you are open to funding research on soil animals, but I wonder whether you would prefer funding more research on farmed invertebrates.
Thanks for the useful context, Bob. Is there any grant round on soil animals that you would be willing to run for less than 100 k$? It does not have to be about investigating sentience, or comparing the welfare of soil animals with that of humans, and it could be about soil ants or termites.
Oh sure. I would certainly run one on ant or termite welfare for $50,000, again only speaking for myself and needing to talk to the board before it is a claim about what the organization would do. Possibly less. It’s just important to have enough to be able to support a handful of small projects.
Understood.
Mal and Bob, what would you fund with 50 k$ of unrestricted funding under expectational total hedonistic utilitarianism? How about under your own moral views? Why? I understand you are open to funding research on soil animals, but I wonder whether you would prefer funding more research on farmed invertebrates.