Isn’t most of the current suffering in the world animal suffering? I’d expect most suffering focused EAs to either focus on animals or S-risk prevention.
Also, isn’t enlightenment notoriously hard to reach? I.e. it takes years of lots of meditation. Most humans probably don’t have both the luxury and the discipline to spend that much time. Even if it’s real (I think it is), there are probably lower hanging fruit to pick.
My guess is that helping someone to go from depressed to normal, is a bigger step in suffering reduction than from normal to enlightened. Same for lifting someone out of poverty.
Isn’t most of the current suffering in the world animal suffering?
I’d expect most suffering focused EAs to either focus on animals or S-risk prevention.
I know there are also a few people thinking about current human mental health, but I don’t think that group is very large.
Also, isn’t enlightenment notoriously hard to reach? I.e. it takes years of lots of meditation. Most humans probably don’t have both the luxury and the discipline to spend that much time. Even if it’s real (I think it is), there are probably lower hanging fruit to pick.
My guess is that helping someone to go from depressed to normal, is a bigger step in suffering reduction than from normal to enlightened. Same for lifting someone out of poverty.
However, I have not though about this a lot.