Hi, I am hoping to politely contest part of your third point—I believe it contains a factually incorrect claim.
’And i would just like to say that herbivores themselves eat small amounts of meat from time to time, and so if herbivores, which evolved to get the absolute most out of plants, need to eat meat sometimes, what will that say about transitioning carnivores to meat?
You are correct that some larger herbivores do sometimes eat smaller animals, but this occurs rarely and to my knowledge only in an opportunistic fashion. However a) this is not a common behaviour and b) it is in no shape or form essential for a herbivore’s well-being.
Herbivores have evolved an amazing digestive tract to acquire all their needs from plant matter. Opportunistic carnivorous behaviour is simply an advantageous behaviour for getting a bit of extra protein and nutrients, not a requirement for a healthy life. For instance, a wild ruminant may acquire a small, but useful survival advantage by munching on some ground laying bird’s eggs or even their live chicks when the ruminant happens to encounter them. But as I’ve mentioned this is not essential, nor particularly common. The ruminant can acquire all their nutritional needs through plant matter—their specialised anatomy, bacteria in their digestive tracts and well evolved metabolic pathways enabling them to do so.
Your claim applies even less so for herbivorous pets because humans can (and should!) ensure their pet’s diet contains everything they need for good wellbeing. Although, sadly I accept that many pet owners fail to do this.
I wanted to question the €1000 per month for the internships? (Note I appreciate the forum poster isn’t responsible) To me this amount seems exploitative and I’d like to know the The School of Moral Ambition’s reasoning behind this.
These internships are 6-12 months long, based in Amsterdam—which is an expensive place to live. From the government’s own website, minimum wage for 21+ is €2,317.83 per month, and the €1000 offered will barely cover living costs.
I recognise that the organisation’s ambitions are good and that internships offering this amount are not infrequent in the Netherlands. However, I don’t think this provides an excuse.
This is not an internship at the IMF or an investment bank, where the role has a large value in future employment. These are roles in operations and event management.
This pay level encourages elitism within EA—most people who take this job will need support from family or reliance on savings. Those from a low income background are heavily penalised given the wage is much lower than minimum wage.
More importantly, even if this behaviour is acceptable in other industries, we should ask if this is how we, the EA community, want to treat our young talent. In my eyes, we can do a lot better.