How is value is derived from conscious experience? Don’t you mean capacity to suffer is determined by degree of conscious experience , which in turn makes individual animals important/having value. This does not mean that species are valueless which then begs the question of, how are species valuable.
I am no ecologist or environmental scientist but I see biodiversity loss as a process not an outcome. The outcome is increased vulnerability of ecosystems to collapse.
You say you haven’t seen a good argument for (2). What argument’s have you read? I think the link between this and Civilizational Resilience is clear. For example, if important pollinator species go extinct this would have consequences for global food security and this would also likely be a risk multiplier for multiple X-Risks. The Future of Life Institute has a decent article. There is also likely a very high degree of error in our assessment of this area, so the implications could be a lot worse (or better) than we think given that natural systems (of which animals play essential roles in) I would be conservative here.
We also don’t have to spent all of EA resources on this. We can spend some. It doesn’t have to be a binary, prioritisation is just a best evidenced-based guest after all with significant uncertainty.
I also think from a moralistic point of view, conservation of nature and biodiversity, is important for the well-being of humans, for spiritual reasons, given how exposure to nature has deep implications for our well-being (connectedness to nature is positive correlated to altruism for example—though there is the question of cause and effect). We shouldn’t only be concerned about reducing X-Risks but also maximising human well-being and self-actualisation. Its the reason S-Risks are now a thing.
How is value is derived from conscious experience? Don’t you mean capacity to suffer is determined by degree of conscious experience , which in turn makes individual animals important/having value. This does not mean that species are valueless which then begs the question of, how are species valuable.
I am no ecologist or environmental scientist but I see biodiversity loss as a process not an outcome. The outcome is increased vulnerability of ecosystems to collapse.
You say you haven’t seen a good argument for (2). What argument’s have you read? I think the link between this and Civilizational Resilience is clear. For example, if important pollinator species go extinct this would have consequences for global food security and this would also likely be a risk multiplier for multiple X-Risks. The Future of Life Institute has a decent article. There is also likely a very high degree of error in our assessment of this area, so the implications could be a lot worse (or better) than we think given that natural systems (of which animals play essential roles in) I would be conservative here.
We also don’t have to spent all of EA resources on this. We can spend some. It doesn’t have to be a binary, prioritisation is just a best evidenced-based guest after all with significant uncertainty.
I also think from a moralistic point of view, conservation of nature and biodiversity, is important for the well-being of humans, for spiritual reasons, given how exposure to nature has deep implications for our well-being (connectedness to nature is positive correlated to altruism for example—though there is the question of cause and effect). We shouldn’t only be concerned about reducing X-Risks but also maximising human well-being and self-actualisation. Its the reason S-Risks are now a thing.