It's been a big month. We've had updates from major orgs like GiveWell and MIRI, new evidence from GWWC about the impact of deworming, CSER is hiring for new postdocs and much more!
Welcome to April's open thread on the Effective Altruism Forum. Feel free to add other EA-relevant topics that have not appeared in recent posts.
I have seen worry about improving the material living conditions of animals such that people become less concerned with their welfare. I think the idea there is that most of the expected value is in the small chance of a very large shift away from consumption of animals.
Animal welfare ensures animals are taken care of, but isn't necessarily about ending carnism, i.e., eating animal flesh. Animal rights seeks to respect the rights of nonhuman animals, including the right to life and not to be killed by humans. This is merely my impression, not objective data, but in NY experience the majority of those in effective altruism who care about factory farming are for full animal rights, not merely animal welfare. There is also a contingent of utilitarians within effective altruism who primarily care about reducing and ending suf... (read more)