Owen,
I appreciate that you’re thinking about flow-through/long-term effects and definitely agree we need more discussion and understanding in the area.
My “hostility” (although it isn’t that extreme =] really) is primarily due to the propagation of the assumption that “human-focused causes have positive significant flow-through effects while non-human animal-focused causes do not.” We have a lot more research to do into questions like this before we have that sort of confidence.
So the danger here is that impact-focused people might read the post and say “Wow, I should stop trying to support non-human animal-welfare since it doesn’t matter in the long-run!” I realize that your personal view is more nuanced, and I wish that came across more in your post. The possible flow-through effects: (i) promoting antispeciesism, (ii) scope sensitivity, (iii) reducing cognitive dissonance, and many more seem perfectly viable.
Hope that makes sense.
Although I generally encourage dissenting opinions in the EA community, I think the idea expressed by this post is harmful and dangerous for similar reasons as those expressed by Brian and Peter.
1) “Some have argued for estimates showing animal welfare interventions to be much more cost-effective per unit of suffering averted, with an implication that animal welfare should perhaps therefore be prioritised.”
This seems to be a misrepresentation of the views held by many EAs. Cost-effectiveness calculations are employed by every EA prioritization organization, and nobody is claiming they imply a higher priority. They are only one of many factors we consider when evaluating causes.
2) “Moreover, if it could achieve a lasting improvement in societal values, it might have a large benefit in improved animal welfare over the long-term.”
I am glad this sentence was included, but it is relatively deep in the post and is one of the strongest reasons EAs advocate against factory farming and speciesism. I posted my thoughts on the subject here: ( http://thebestwecan.org/2014/04/29/indirect-impact-of-animal-advocacy/ )
3) “The upshot of this is that it is likely interventions in human welfare, as well as being immediately effective to relieve suffering and improve lives, also tend to have a significant long-term impact. This is often more difficult to measure, but the short-term impact can generally be used as a reasonable proxy. … ”
I could replace “human” with “non-human animal” welfare here and the argument would be just as valid. It’s a grand assumption to think this applies to human-focused causes but not others. If you have further justification for this, I think that would be an interesting post.
4) “For many types of human welfare intervention, we can use the short-term benefits to humans as a proxy for ongoing improvements in a way that is not possible – and may be misleading – when it comes to improvements to animal welfare.”
I think we’d all be happy for you to defend this assertion, since it is quite controversial within EA and the broader community.