I see the “incremental” vs. “optimal” approach as a bit of a false dichotomy , in the sense that it seems like what you’re really arguing for (or at least what I’d argue for) is that EA needs more on-ramps. As you mentioned, plant-based burgers normalize veganism and give folks a clearer path to caring about animals. Donating to US-based GiveDirectly leads to donating abroad.
Given the multiple orders of magnitude of difference in effectiveness between US and developing country charities (to take global wellbeing as an example cause area), it seems difficult to argue on the merits of “doing more good” if it doesn’t lead to even more good from that person/group, i.e. if there isn’t momentum or a flywheel effect on someone’s altruism. But as a “Big Tent EA,” I would love to see more focus on EA on-ramps because that compounding effect seems real and substantial to me.
But maybe I’m biased because I followed that path? Hopefully still!
I would sum this article up as “A speciesist society capable of tiling itself across the galaxy is a frightening one we should be actively working to avoid, and this conclusion is robust to a wide variety of future scenarios with respect to AGI, factory farming, wild animal suffering, and alien civilizations.”