u/KKirdan

>How many days of suffering and lives taken go into the consumption of animal products every day?

>When, if ever, is it better to spend money to improve pig welfare over chicken welfare? Which species of fish is worst off in commercial aquaculture operations? When, if ever, would humans benefit less from a policy than animals stand to lose? The answers to these questions involve making interspecies welfare comparisons <...> This volume addresses this crucial gap in the literature: it proposes a methodology for making such comparisons, it puts that methodology into practice, and then reports some tentative, proof-of-concept results.

>...most of the influenza viruses with pandemic potential considered “of special concern” by the CDC emerged from commercial poultry operations.

>The small animal replacement problem is the concern that certain diet changes aimed at causing less harm to the world might, in fact, cause more harm - specifically, changes that result from eating smaller animals instead of larger ones. For example, when many people see the problems with factory farming, the first meat to go is often red meat, specifically cows. Sadly, if this person increases their chicken or fish consumption even moderately, this might be a bad move ethically. There are two main factors that drive this: welfare condition and meat generated per animal.

>Many of today's Western consumers are unwilling to cut their meat consumption. Flexitarians are receptive to limit meat consumption by abstaining from eating meat occasionally. Flexitarians exist as a distinct consumer group in various Western countries. Flexitarians not only differ from meat lovers but they also differ from each other. Many flexitarians only mildly reduce their meat intake.

>A comprehensive collection of meat reduction research is waiting for researchers, advocates, and funders to unlock its potential

>Most of us nowadays believe that dogs and other non-human mammals can feel pain <...> Nevertheless, most of us seem to assume, without question, that the capacity to feel pain is positively correlated with mental dexterity – with the ability to reason, think, reflect and so on. My purpose here is to question that assumption.

>The Case for Omnivore Activists

>In trying to give advice to someone who is just starting out working on AI welfare, I’ve been thinking about what papers have been most helpful to me in orienting to this complex issue, which sits at the intersection of many different disciplines.

>Research suggests that moving hens from battery cages to cage-free environments reduces the time animals spend in pain substantially.

>It's far from clear that human values will shape an Earth-based space-colonization wave, but even if they do, it seems more likely that space colonization will increase total suffering rather than decrease it. That said, many other people care a lot about humanity's survival and spread into the cosmos, so I think suffering reducers should let others pursue their spacefaring dreams in exchange for stronger safety measures against future suffering. In general, I encourage people to focus on making an intergalactic future more humane if it happens rather than making sure there will be an intergalactic future.

>Humane farming, compassionate meat, ethical omnivorism: how is it that so many people want to eat food sourced in friendly ways, but so few do this in practice?

>Many people, myself included, find it plausible that suffering of a certain intensity, such as torture, carries greater moral significance than any amount of mild suffering. <...> one may think such views will generally imply little priority to beings with small, less complex brains, such as insects. (Which is probably also a view we would intuitively like to embrace, given the inconvenience of the alternative.)  Yet while perhaps intuitive, I do not think this conclusion follows.

>In this report, we argue that there is a realistic possibility that some AI systems will be conscious and/or robustly agentic in the near future. That means that the prospect of AI welfare and moral patienthood — of AI systems with their own interests and moral significance — is no longer an issue only for sci-fi or the distant future. It is an issue for the near future, and AI companies and other actors have a responsibility to start taking it seriously.

>My conclusion is that in a colonized universe the probability of the annihilation of the human race could actually rise rather than fall

>Animal Activism Sucks. Missing Ingredients: Fun, Meaning, and Connection

>Why are chickens so far down in the pecking order for moral concern? Would our reaction have been the same if the animal in question were a mammal?