I’ve updated somewhat from your response and will definitely dwell on those points :)
And glad you plan to read and think about microbes. :) Barring the (very complicated) nested minds issue, the microbe suffering problem is the most convincing reason for me to put some weight to near-term issues (although disclaimer that I’m currently putting most of my efforts on longtermist interventions that improve the quality of the future).
Thanks for writing this. Some time ago, I also wrote on the possibility of microorganism suffering. Feel free to reach out if you’d like to discuss the topic :) From the intro: