2. Iâve been generally unimpressed by responses to criticisms of animal sentience. Iâve rarely seen an animal welfare advocate make an even small concession. This makes me even more skeptical about the neutrality of thought processes and research done by animal welfare folks.
I concede there is huge uncertainty about welfare comparisons across species. For individual welfare per fully-healthy-animal-year proportional to âindividual number of neuronsâ^âexponentâ, and âexponentâ ranging from 0.5 to 1.5, which I believe covers reasonable best guesses, I estimate the absolute value of the total welfare of farmed shrimps ranges from 2.82*10^-7 to 0.282 times that of humans. In addition, I calculate the Shrimp Welfare Projectâs (SWPâs) Humane Slaughter Initiative (HSI) has increased the welfare of shrimps 0.00167 (= 2.06*10^5/â0.0123) to 1.67 k (= 20.6/â0.0123) times as cost-effectively as GiveWellâs top charities increase the welfare of humans. Moreover, I have no idea whether HSI or GiveWellâs top charities increase or decrease welfare accounting for effects on soil animals and microorganisms.
Thanks for the relevant comment, Nick.
I concede there is huge uncertainty about welfare comparisons across species. For individual welfare per fully-healthy-animal-year proportional to âindividual number of neuronsâ^âexponentâ, and âexponentâ ranging from 0.5 to 1.5, which I believe covers reasonable best guesses, I estimate the absolute value of the total welfare of farmed shrimps ranges from 2.82*10^-7 to 0.282 times that of humans. In addition, I calculate the Shrimp Welfare Projectâs (SWPâs) Humane Slaughter Initiative (HSI) has increased the welfare of shrimps 0.00167 (= 2.06*10^5/â0.0123) to 1.67 k (= 20.6/â0.0123) times as cost-effectively as GiveWellâs top charities increase the welfare of humans. Moreover, I have no idea whether HSI or GiveWellâs top charities increase or decrease welfare accounting for effects on soil animals and microorganisms.