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Meat-eat­ing problem

TagLast edit: Dec 23, 2024, 4:05 PM by weeatquince

The meat-eating problem (sometimes called the meat-eater problem or poor meat-eater problem) is the concern that some interventions aimed at helping humans might increase animal product consumption and as a result increase farmed animal suffering, e.g. by increasing real income or human population.

History

The meat-eating problem appears to have been first explicitly described in a Felicifia post from 2009.[1]

Further details

Saving human lives, and making humans more prosperous, seem to be obviously good in terms of direct effects. However, humans consume animal products, and these animal products may cause considerable animal suffering. Therefore, improving human lives may lead to negative effects that outweigh the direct positive effects. This “meat-eater problem” suggests that working on global poverty may be less effective than is commonly assumed.

Although it is very difficult to quantify these effects, one estimate suggests that each additional $1,000 per year for a relatively poor individual may cause between 1 and 190 days of animal suffering, though the estimate should not be taken literally.[2] Some have argued that the problem is less significant by claiming that animals have net positive lives, or by arguing that the effect on consumption is relatively small.[3]

Further reading

Plant, Michael (2022) The Meat Eater Problem, Journal of Controversial Ideas

Holness-Tofts, Alex (2020) Poor meat eater problem, Effective Altruism Forum, July 10.

Shulman, Carl (2015) Comment on “What is the expected effect of poverty alleviation efforts on existential risk?”, Effective Altruism Forum, October 2.

Related entries

cause prioritization | cultivated meat | dietary change | economic growth | farmed animal welfare

  1. ^

    Östman, Jesper (2009) The poor meat eater problem, Felicifia, October 26.

  2. ^

    Bogosian, Kyle (2015) Quantifying the impact of economic growth on meat consumption, Effective Altruism Forum, December 22.

  3. ^

    Weathers, Scott (2016) The meat eater problem: developing an EA response, Effective Altruism Forum, February 29.

The Meat Eater Problem

Vasco Grilo🔸Jun 17, 2023, 6:52 AM
61 points
1 comment7 min readEA link
(journalofcontroversialideas.org)

GiveWell may have made 1 billion dol­lars of harm­ful grants, and Am­bi­tious Im­pact in­cu­bated 8 harm­ful or­gani­sa­tions via in­creas­ing fac­tory-farm­ing?

Vasco Grilo🔸Dec 22, 2024, 10:19 AM
91 points
108 comments9 min readEA link

Hedg­ing against deep and moral uncertainty

MichaelStJulesSep 12, 2020, 11:44 PM
83 points
13 comments9 min readEA link

Com­par­i­son be­tween the he­do­nic util­ity of hu­man life and poul­try liv­ing time

Vasco Grilo🔸Jun 8, 2022, 7:52 AM
47 points
28 comments14 min readEA link

Con­se­quences of an­i­mal product con­sump­tion (com­bined model)

kbogJun 15, 2019, 2:46 PM
22 points
10 comments2 min readEA link

Pro-na­tal­ist suc­cess would cause so much an­i­mal suffer­ing it is not even a net-pos­i­tive cause area

ben.smithDec 8, 2024, 6:17 PM
31 points
15 comments4 min readEA link

[Question] Does im­prov­ing global health cause meat-eater prob­lem?

jackchang110Jul 26, 2023, 9:05 PM
5 points
1 comment1 min readEA link

Poor meat eater problem

Alex HTJul 10, 2020, 8:13 AM
25 points
1 comment1 min readEA link

The Poor Meat In­vestor Problem

zdgroffApr 21, 2016, 9:17 PM
11 points
14 comments3 min readEA link

[Question] How do you deal with the “meat eater” problem

sammyboizAug 22, 2024, 8:26 PM
81 points
99 comments1 min readEA link

Helping an­i­mals or sav­ing hu­man lives in high in­come coun­tries is ar­guably bet­ter than sav­ing hu­man lives in low in­come coun­tries?

Vasco Grilo🔸Mar 21, 2024, 9:05 AM
12 points
10 comments12 min readEA link

The harm cas­cade: why helping oth­ers is so hard

StijnJul 27, 2023, 1:54 PM
43 points
1 comment13 min readEA link

Quan­tify­ing the Im­pact of Eco­nomic Growth on Meat Consumption

kbogDec 22, 2015, 11:30 AM
24 points
37 comments4 min readEA link

Net global welfare may be nega­tive and declining

kyle_fishSep 26, 2023, 6:49 PM
288 points
50 comments8 min readEA link

Are poul­try birds re­ally im­por­tant? Yes...

Vasco Grilo🔸Jun 19, 2022, 6:24 PM
13 points
2 comments1 min readEA link

Pri­ori­tis­ing an­i­mal welfare over global health and de­vel­op­ment?

Vasco Grilo🔸May 13, 2023, 9:03 AM
112 points
50 comments18 min readEA link

kbog did an oop­sie! (new meat eater prob­lem num­bers)

kbogFeb 15, 2019, 3:17 PM
26 points
8 comments2 min readEA link

[Question] EA to­wards hu­mans = effec­tive vi­o­lence to­wards farm an­i­mals?

Nicolas_FeilDec 3, 2020, 5:22 PM
7 points
6 comments1 min readEA link

The suffer­ing of a farmed an­i­mal is equal in size to the hap­piness of a hu­man, ac­cord­ing to a survey

StijnMay 21, 2024, 11:46 AM
48 points
7 comments16 min readEA link

Meat con­sump­tion and pro­duc­tion in de­vel­op­ing coun­tries: who bucks the trend?

Animal AskSep 25, 2023, 4:28 AM
91 points
4 comments36 min readEA link

Rea­sons to eat meat

kbogApr 21, 2019, 8:37 PM
43 points
43 comments3 min readEA link

Causal Net­work Model III: Findings

Alex_BarryNov 22, 2017, 3:43 PM
7 points
3 comments9 min readEA link

Bulk­ing in­for­ma­tion ad­di­tion­al­ities in global de­vel­op­ment for medium-term lo­cal prosperity

brb243Apr 11, 2022, 5:52 PM
4 points
0 comments4 min readEA link

Long list of AI ques­tions

NunoSempereDec 6, 2023, 11:12 AM
124 points
14 comments86 min readEA link

[Question] Effec­tive char­i­ties that re­duce suffer­ing but don’t save hu­man lives? [Meat-eater prob­lem]

Ávila CarmesíJul 14, 2024, 6:34 PM
25 points
10 comments1 min readEA link

Longter­mism and An­i­mal Farm­ing Trajectories

MichaelDelloDec 27, 2022, 12:58 AM
51 points
8 comments17 min readEA link
(www.sentienceinstitute.org)

[Question] What is the im­pact of an­i­mal agri­cul­ture on wild an­i­mal suffer­ing?

OscarD🔸Feb 12, 2023, 8:02 AM
27 points
2 comments1 min readEA link