I’m a research fellow at Open Philanthropy. Prior to that I was a senior research manager at Rethink Priorities. And prior to that I earned a PhD in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin.
Jason Schukraft
Karma: 2,925
I’m a research fellow at Open Philanthropy. Prior to that I was a senior research manager at Rethink Priorities. And prior to that I earned a PhD in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin.
I agree that bivalves are probably the least likely to be sentient of the animals that are easily available to eat. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend eating them because there may be issues with the way they are collected. (I haven’t looked into this at all.) I don’t eat them because I don’t find it particularly hard not to eat meat, and it’s easier to explain my dietary restrictions to people if there aren’t too many exceptions.
The research I did for my honey bee report has affected the way I feel about almonds. It hasn’t really reduced my almond consumption, but I now feel slightly guilty about eating almonds. Modern almond farming is pretty bad for bees, and bees are super cool and smart. From a bee welfare perspective, I’m pretty confident eating commercially farmed almonds is worse than eating wildflower honey. (Note that most honey is not wildflower honey.)