I think it’s important to consider that the other person may be coming from a very different ethical framework than you are. I wouldn’t likely support any of the examples in your footnote, but one can imagine an ethical framework in which the balance looks closer than it does to me. To be clear, I highly value saving the lives of kids under five as the standard EA lifesaving projects do. But: I can’t objectively show that a framework that assigns little to no value to averting death (e.g., because the dead do not suffer) is a bad one. And such a significant difference in values could be behind some statements of the sort you describe.
I think it’s important to consider that the other person may be coming from a very different ethical framework than you are. I wouldn’t likely support any of the examples in your footnote, but one can imagine an ethical framework in which the balance looks closer than it does to me. To be clear, I highly value saving the lives of kids under five as the standard EA lifesaving projects do. But: I can’t objectively show that a framework that assigns little to no value to averting death (e.g., because the dead do not suffer) is a bad one. And such a significant difference in values could be behind some statements of the sort you describe.