Shelling Out For Maximum (Shr)impact!
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Today, Substack went into shrimp mode!
and both came out with essays (Richard’s, Bentham’s) on the powerful case for shrimp welfare. Hanania writes:I’ve written about my struggles with animal rights before. On the one hand, every ethical argument in favor of veganism is correct. On the other, I want a diet that is high in lean protein and satisfies my taste, and that means eating a lot of chicken and seafood, which are among the worst options from the perspective of minimizing suffering.
Luckily, there’s a way to make myself feel better. Bentham’s Bulldog writes about the Shrimp Welfare Project, which gets corporations to stun shrimp before they are killed and promise not to crush their eyes in order to increase fertility. One can save from an agonizing death an estimated 1,500 shrimp per dollar per year through donating to this charity.
I’ve written on behalf of the insects before, so it should come as no surprise I’m all in for shrimp. Thanks to Bentham’s article, I just set up a small, monthly donation to the Shrimp Welfare Project. With my first donation, I personally saved 47,325 shrimp from a (probably) painful death!
I plan on doing a deep dive into the evidence for shrimp sentience soon, but if there’s even a small chance that shrimp feel pain — which there certainly seems to be, given that, apparently, a plurality of researchers who’ve studied the issue think they probably do — that’s more than enough reason to get on board, since the expected value is so high.
Judaism would have solved this; unfortunately, we live in a world of gentiles. Give Bentham’s article a read today, if you have time, and consider donating while the iron is hot! (To sweeten the deal, I’ll make the same offer Bentham is making: anyone who sets up a recurring donation of $30 or more, and sends me the receipt, can have a free paid subscription to Going Awol! That’s a good deal, pain and shrimple.)
I am named after Forrest Gump, who is clearly one of the most evil people in history. And don't get me started on who that guy is named after!
https://www.farmkind.giving/confirmation?id=44cfdc9e-8f37-48d4-b2cc-e3008d25fb15
The Buddhist said: we should not kill sentient beings. But I haven't been able to give up meat altogether, so I only eat a bit of beef every week. Killing a single animal gives me enough meat for many months. I would never touch shrimp, so many corpses in a single plate!
The Effective Altruist replied: Based on my carefully constructed priors, and the best animal-consciousness science I could find, I'm 98.7% certain that there is more suffering involved, and more years of adjusted conscious existence lost, in the slaughter of a single cow, than in a year's supply of shrimp. Bring on the Pad Thai!
They argued and they argued, but they could not come to a point of agreement. Eventually they got hungry, went to a restaurant, and out of respect for each other's beliefs, they both ordered tofu.
Unbeknown to both, the proverbial God got the last laugh, because each single soy plant is actually a fully divine Avatar, consciously offering itself as food, and physically suffering as it is being cut, cooked and eaten.