To be honest, the text of this article is extraordinarily long and hard to comprehend. Is there like a simplified version of this text that is in simpler English and is much shorter?
dstudioscode
Karma: −53
[Question] Whose life matters more—a baby’s or an adult’s?
[Question] Does boycotting work?
[Question] What Is More Important—Blood/Platelet/Plasma Donation Or Veganism?
So is it basically saying that many people follow different types of utilitarianism (I’m assuming this means the “ambitious moralities”), but judging which one is better is quite neglible since all the types usually share important moral similarities (I’m assuming what this means “minimal morality”)?
Idk, red cross says check with a physician beforehand. Furthermore, the blood donation center I am currently going to frequently asks if I am taking those supplements before I donate. It seems like there must be something external that is relevant about those supplements—its not just another source of iron.
How is veganism effective then? Like blood/platelet/plasma donation is ineffective because there are already lots of blood donations out there, but somehow veganism if effective despite there being plenty of meat eaters out there?
Furthermore, earlier on regarding saving hospitals money, I have been thinking if that really saves any lives in a very indirect manner. For context, I live in the US in a for-profit healthcare system. Should I care about saving hospitals money? Who receives the benefit in this scenario? Maybe hospital has more money to save more people, or maybe the admins in charge gets a bigger payraise...
To be honest for some reason, there seems to be some wariness regarding iron supplementation (I am supposed to see a physician before doing this). I currently am not able to do that. Its just lots of people here seem to view blood/platelet/plasma donation as not effective altruism, but view veganism as effective altruism. So I was expecting responses to be more biased towards veganism than blood/platlet/plasma donation...
I don’t get compensated at all for blood donation/plasma donation/platelet donation...
Why is this getting downvoted?
Well in this context, you pretty much said its guaranteed that another person would have saved such person’s life. I don’t really care about “building character” and whatnot considering this is about consequentialism, not about displaying virtue. Regarding saving money for hospital, you are saying that donating blood leads to hospitals to not have to use extraneous measures (that are expensive) to get blood, right?
Technically the live-saving surgery part was told by the person who drew my blood.
What’s the point of donating blood if I am not saving lives though?
Does that mean there is no value in blood/platelet donation? Does it matter if I do not donate?
Also, it is said that life-saving surgeries have been postponed due to lack of blood/platelets. I guess it is hard to say if the postponement results in death.Furthermore, I’m not entirely sure the shelf-life of blood/platelets is even long enough for there to be an importation from another country (ig it depends on the country).
And also, why do blood donation groups then incentivize blood donation quite excessively, if its not that big of a problem right now?
Why wouldn’t it be more effective? If there is a shortage, and blood is needed, wouldn’t donating once save a life? Apparently, one blood donation can like affect like 3 people. If there is a shortage, lives are being saved. This is much easier—and cheaper—than paying 5000 bucks to Give Directly.
Sources:
https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/press-release/2024/red-cross-declares-emergency-blood-shortage-calls-for-donations-during-national-blood-donor-month.html
Furthermore, I talked to a person who took my blood. Can’t provide a source on that, but I am guessing the person who took my blood wouldn’t lie just like that.
I mean I guess the problem is that commonsense morality can sort of contradict. I feel like most mothers would sacrifice themselves to save their babies (and this is not just some Harry Potter thing). Sure, it may indeed be due to hormones and not rationality. Still, one can argue from intuition that there must be a reason to value the lives of babies over just simple sperm.
I mean most people that support abortion would be horrified of infanticide.
I’m not sure of this, but baby-killing itself generally seems to be a worse crime than killing an adult (though I guess it may seem so due to the sheer unneccessariness of it).
Does a positive obligation exist to procreate?
While controversies surround total utilitarianism and the Repugnant Conclusion, what about the ethical implications of sperm donation? Given that it typically entails negligible costs and results in creating content lives in developed nations, could sperm donation be considered a moral duty? Despite concerns about overpopulation and its impact on climate change, could individual actions be akin to a Prisoner’s Dilemma, where meaningful change requires large-scale government intervention and individual actions do not matter at all on a large scale?
Regarding meat consumption, when does the act of creating life outweigh the potential for negative consequences, such as dietary choices? If refraining from creating life is justified on the basis of potential meat consumption (as seen in vegan antinatalist perspectives), does it logically follow that it is morally acceptable to kill non-vegans due to their meat consumption?
Finally, you said that saving a life is more important than creating one, though creating one has some relevance. So how many lives created is equal to one life saved? What is the break-even point?
Thanks.
Hi, in the city I am presiding there are a lot of homeless people.
A lot of these people are near grocery stores. Considering meat is a high protein source, like if you buy turkey slices, I feel like that lasts (compared to buying something like tofu). So I was wondering whether its okay to buy meat to give it to a homeless person. This forum seems to think veganism is highly impactful so I don’t know.Or perhaps, rather than donating meat, I could donate money to them? I don’t know if that is good either because there isn’t really much of a big difference if a homeless person buys meat vs I buy the meat for them.
Furthermore, there are some instances where some argue that homeless people would spend the money on drugs and alcohol. But when I’m not in a position to give food (because I don’t have it with me currently), I donate like a dollar. Would this be considered good or bad?
I have asked a question previously that you have not responded to yet:
“Does a positive obligation exist to procreate?
While controversies surround total utilitarianism and the Repugnant Conclusion, what about the ethical implications of sperm donation? Given that it typically entails negligible costs and results in creating content lives in developed nations, could sperm donation be considered a moral duty? Despite concerns about overpopulation and its impact on climate change, could individual actions be akin to a Prisoner’s Dilemma, where meaningful change requires large-scale government intervention and individual actions do not matter at all on a large scale?
Regarding meat consumption, when does the act of creating life outweigh the potential for negative consequences, such as dietary choices? If refraining from creating life is justified on the basis of potential meat consumption (as seen in vegan antinatalist perspectives), does it logically follow that it is morally acceptable to kill non-vegans due to their meat consumption?
Finally, you said that saving a life is more important than creating one, though creating one has some relevance. So how many lives created is equal to one life saved? What is the break-even point?
Thanks.”
I guess then I’ll continue to donate then but take it less seriously. Out of curiosity though, which position do you think is more important—veganism or blood/platelet/plasma donation? I have recently been not having enough iron to donate, and it really seems that the only way to solve this is to start eating meat. What would you recommend?
Edit: For context, I heard in some countries like India, there do seem to be genuine blood/platelet/plasma shortages where people can’t get blood when they need it. I heard this from word of mouth, not from a source.