This makes a number of non-trivial assumption and unsourced claims about a number of different issues, from relative moral value of animals to the carrying capacity of different biomes; I know that many of these are seen as common wisdom in EA, but I think failing to lay them out greatly weakens the conclusions.
Also, some questions to think about:
Why are insects ignored?
How does the transition happen, legally or economically?
What are the impacts of land use changes, and do farmers sell the land? (To whom?)
Do social norms around meat undermine the viability of a transition?
Thanks for the questions, David. Insects are not really ignored. When I refer to small animals, that includes insects. The transition can happen in many ways, both legally (regulations that decrease chicken farming), economically (taxing chicken meat). Farmers can be asked to sell the land to the government, who turns it into grassland habitat. Social norms could be the major obstacle. Individual consumers can always resist social norms and decrease their consumption of products from small animals, even if that goes against the social norms. And we could of course change social norms. Also, there may be social norms about meat consumption in general, but not about chicken meat consumption. The ask is to reduce chicken meat consumption, which is more feasible than going vegan.
This makes a number of non-trivial assumption and unsourced claims about a number of different issues, from relative moral value of animals to the carrying capacity of different biomes; I know that many of these are seen as common wisdom in EA, but I think failing to lay them out greatly weakens the conclusions.
Also, some questions to think about: Why are insects ignored? How does the transition happen, legally or economically? What are the impacts of land use changes, and do farmers sell the land? (To whom?) Do social norms around meat undermine the viability of a transition?
Thanks for the questions, David. Insects are not really ignored. When I refer to small animals, that includes insects. The transition can happen in many ways, both legally (regulations that decrease chicken farming), economically (taxing chicken meat). Farmers can be asked to sell the land to the government, who turns it into grassland habitat. Social norms could be the major obstacle. Individual consumers can always resist social norms and decrease their consumption of products from small animals, even if that goes against the social norms. And we could of course change social norms. Also, there may be social norms about meat consumption in general, but not about chicken meat consumption. The ask is to reduce chicken meat consumption, which is more feasible than going vegan.