We aim to incorporate relevant aspects (e.g., assumptions, moral weights) of research outputs from other organizations if we think they are well supported and will improve the conclusions of our reports.
Since you mention moral weights, are you considering addressing the effects on animals? I think it would quite important. I estimated:
Here the negative utility of farmed animals is 4.64 times the positive utility of humans.
Here the effects of GiveWellās top charities on wild arthropods are 1.50 k times their effects on humans (based on deforestation rates, and Rethink Prioritiesā median welfare range for silkworm). I do not know the sign of the effects on arthropods, but it seems important to figure out if they are indeed the major driver (for better or worse).
Hi Vasco, I apologize for the delayed response. Because of capacity constraints, we canāt always address all comments, so we prioritize them based on relevance/āimportance and upvotes. To answer your question, we donāt currently address the effects of the interventions on animals. As we mention in the post, most of our work to date has been commissioned. Because of this, the questions we seek to answer and the scope associated with those questions are often decided by the client (though we only work with value-aligned clients, in topics we think are relevant and could be impactful). So far, our clients havenāt wanted us to assess the effect of potential interventions on animals, and we havenāt done so. If we encountered prospective clients interested in this topic, or if RP was interested in conducting internal research on this topic, this is something that would likely fall under the new Worldview Investigations Team, since because of their mission and expertise they are better positioned to tackle this question. I encourage you to stay tuned to their future research and invite you to join our newsletter in case WIT publishes topics of interest to you! Thank you for your interest and for sharing your estimates.
Thanks for sharing your process!
Since you mention moral weights, are you considering addressing the effects on animals? I think it would quite important. I estimated:
Here the negative utility of farmed animals is 4.64 times the positive utility of humans.
Here the effects of GiveWellās top charities on wild arthropods are 1.50 k times their effects on humans (based on deforestation rates, and Rethink Prioritiesā median welfare range for silkworm). I do not know the sign of the effects on arthropods, but it seems important to figure out if they are indeed the major driver (for better or worse).
Hi Vasco, I apologize for the delayed response. Because of capacity constraints, we canāt always address all comments, so we prioritize them based on relevance/āimportance and upvotes. To answer your question, we donāt currently address the effects of the interventions on animals. As we mention in the post, most of our work to date has been commissioned. Because of this, the questions we seek to answer and the scope associated with those questions are often decided by the client (though we only work with value-aligned clients, in topics we think are relevant and could be impactful). So far, our clients havenāt wanted us to assess the effect of potential interventions on animals, and we havenāt done so. If we encountered prospective clients interested in this topic, or if RP was interested in conducting internal research on this topic, this is something that would likely fall under the new Worldview Investigations Team, since because of their mission and expertise they are better positioned to tackle this question. I encourage you to stay tuned to their future research and invite you to join our newsletter in case WIT publishes topics of interest to you! Thank you for your interest and for sharing your estimates.
Thanks for the update, Melanie!