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...
Starting a NYE donation push. An EA has already committed $40k. Aiming for $111k, tho the ultimate goal is to get a group together to match and discuss opportunities that can lead to a new year of giving. (I'm recruiting many folks who don't give substantially before. I hope to have more EAs who can fuel conversation toward effectively combating preventable suffering.) Also, experimenting with Twitter promotion in this age of Elon.. https://twitter.com/bbertucc/status/1597980309256957952 .. Feel free to email or DM me if I'm too slow on the form reply .. blake[at]philosophers[dot]group ..