Hi!
This initiative sounds really cool! You guys are seriously amazing to take up such a difficult task, and major kudos to you.
I’ve felt that wild animal suffering research agendas tend to focus more on research reports as opposed to lab research. Given that the fundamental goal is to raise the hedonic level of wild animals, my opinion is that research into modifying pain pathways + propagating those modifications is essential. The only person who is doing research in this area is Prof. Kevin Esvelt at MIT, who has written about wild animal suffering and is applying the above techniques to rodents.
Personally, I think it would be valuable to consult with Prof. Esvelt and focus substantially on lab research. I’d appreciate your perspective, if you think I’m missing something.
Thank you!
A very excellent post!!! A huge kudos to you.
I’m suspecting more and more that synthetic biology may be an effective career path for insect welfare—producing these compounds from cells as opposed to animals. A proof of concept already exists for carmine: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-30816-9