This is a crosspost from the new Animal Welfare Alignment Newsletter by Anima International. You can subscribe on Substack if you are interested in following these efforts. Audio reading also available on Substack.
The goals of this post are to:
1. Raise a question I see as crucially important to the goal of aligning AI to animal welfare...
“How long have you been v*g*n?”
This is one of the most common icebreakers at animal protection events. It’s a baseline assumption, and it mostly holds true: if you’re out advocating for animals not to be tortured or abused, realistically these days you are v**n, or close. And it makes for good conversation. It seems fairly safe to assume when you meet strangers.
But this assumption is hurting the movement in a way which we don’t always notice: someone new comes into the sp...
Summary
Back in November 2023 I posted here to launch Spiro and raise our first $198k. Two and a half years later this is an update and a fundraiser for the next step.
The short version: we've now reached over-5,900 people with TB preventive medicine, including over 3,000 children under five years old. Our early results have held up well an...
Are Bribes Justified?
Have any EA interventions involved paying bribes to local officials, directly or indirectly? How would funders respond to a project that shows good evidence and great promise, but requires some allocation for "grease payments"?
There are major "Keep Calm and Carry On" vibes in this community to the the FTX situation; ends don't justify the means, no true EA would commit fraud etc. But there is some serious thinking and discussion required to understand when and to what extent actions considered unethical are acceptable in service of effective change.