Thanks, a lot of things for me to reflect on and deep dive into.
I think the moral/self licensing perspective is intresting. I want to view it as exercising at the gym rather than the energy bar. It feels more intuitive and something I'd like to be true.
But the evidence I've read in "Thinking fast and slow" and "Doing good better" makes me think the truth is more like the energy bar.
Thanks, a lot of great things to reflect on for me.
"how much you view being vegetarian as a burden/a good deed that you are doing vs just a feature of your everyday life"
I think that if someone asked me what I think of factory farming, I'd reply I think it's terrible. Then if they asked if I do anything about it I'd instantly say "yeah I don't eat meat". So I definitely see it as a good deed. Even though it's not something I think about everyday.
"you probably wouldn't eat factory farmed humans regardless of how that might affect your other actions because that seems immoral"
Good point. I'll have to think about this one a bit!
"eat from places here you are highly confident in the good treatment of animals"
Hmm yeah maybe. But I think my main point is that doing that, or cutting out meat completely, has such a small effect on animal wellfare that it's not worth spending time/energy on. Eating that type of meat probably costs more, so just buying the cheap meat and giving the savings to effective charities would do much more good. Just like buying regular coffee instead of fair trade coffee does.
Yeah I agree that me being a vegetarian probably normalises it. But is it really impossible to estimate the impact of that? My EA intuition tells me that if it was measured somewhat accurately, it'd still be magnitudes lower impact than giving to effective charities.
Thanks, a lot of things for me to reflect on and deep dive into.
I think the moral/self licensing perspective is intresting. I want to view it as exercising at the gym rather than the energy bar. It feels more intuitive and something I'd like to be true.
But the evidence I've read in "Thinking fast and slow" and "Doing good better" makes me think the truth is more like the energy bar.
Thanks, a lot of great things to reflect on for me.
"how much you view being vegetarian as a burden/a good deed that you are doing vs just a feature of your everyday life"
I think that if someone asked me what I think of factory farming, I'd reply I think it's terrible. Then if they asked if I do anything about it I'd instantly say "yeah I don't eat meat". So I definitely see it as a good deed. Even though it's not something I think about everyday.
"you probably wouldn't eat factory farmed humans regardless of how that might affect your other actions because that seems immoral"
Good point. I'll have to think about this one a bit!
"eat from places here you are highly confident in the good treatment of animals"
Hmm yeah maybe. But I think my main point is that doing that, or cutting out meat completely, has such a small effect on animal wellfare that it's not worth spending time/energy on. Eating that type of meat probably costs more, so just buying the cheap meat and giving the savings to effective charities would do much more good. Just like buying regular coffee instead of fair trade coffee does.
Yeah good point. I'm not as grossed out by eating meat as many other vegetarians. But I get that it's a good argument for many!
Yeah I agree that me being a vegetarian probably normalises it. But is it really impossible to estimate the impact of that? My EA intuition tells me that if it was measured somewhat accurately, it'd still be magnitudes lower impact than giving to effective charities.