Executive summary: While animal welfare deserves support, there are several reasons to be cautious about prioritizing it very strongly, including mixed track records, uncertain cost-effectiveness, and potential flaws in moral frameworks based solely on sentience.
Key points:
Scale and neglectedness of animal welfare may be irrelevant if meaningful progress is not achievable with available funds.
Animal advocacy has a mixed track record, with some successes but many challenges and uncertainties.
Cost-effectiveness estimates are difficult to make and may not accurately reflect marginal utility of additional funding.
Social conditions may not be favorable for significant progress in animal welfare at present.
Moral frameworks based solely on sentience and hedonism may be flawed or lead to counterintuitive conclusions.
There may be competing moral duties, such as addressing extreme human poverty, that should take precedence over animal welfare efforts.
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Executive summary: While animal welfare deserves support, there are several reasons to be cautious about prioritizing it very strongly, including mixed track records, uncertain cost-effectiveness, and potential flaws in moral frameworks based solely on sentience.
Key points:
Scale and neglectedness of animal welfare may be irrelevant if meaningful progress is not achievable with available funds.
Animal advocacy has a mixed track record, with some successes but many challenges and uncertainties.
Cost-effectiveness estimates are difficult to make and may not accurately reflect marginal utility of additional funding.
Social conditions may not be favorable for significant progress in animal welfare at present.
Moral frameworks based solely on sentience and hedonism may be flawed or lead to counterintuitive conclusions.
There may be competing moral duties, such as addressing extreme human poverty, that should take precedence over animal welfare efforts.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.