michaelbarton

I notice you did not write the sanding phase - because no one likes that part.

I think at least in the case of targetted viruses you can build the DNA sequence with AI, but actually creating a transmissible virus from a new sequence in the real world is still quite challenging and a relatively large hurdle.

Yes though I would argue climate science has >50 years of multi institution independent study to back up the assertions.

I get your point. There’s a lot hysteria right now. However I think people are willing to trust a capitalist realism hunch because over the last >20 years, that hunch is usually going to be right.

Is this a reference to capitalist realism? If so have we evolved a new trend?

I think current livestock usage is driven by demand? I don’t think everyone needs to become strictly vegan. If every ate meat just two days a week that would have a big impact. Perfect being the enemy of the good and all that. For example if meat usage was rationed by the government WW2-style that would likely effect demand too.

You might argue that’s a ridiculous suggestion which is fair. The western world did mobilize for something that’s likely to end less of life that if we continue on our current trajectory.

This analysis might benefit from a multivariate regression. You mention a few different explanations for why performance differs and if you could get solid numbers for those you could try teasing that apart.

Also a small note: the axis on one of your plots alternates between 4% and 5% increments whilst holding the ticks constant. Maybe because of rounding?

Agree. Same for better medicines. We could get pretty far just by getting existing medicines that work to people who need them.

Only safe if we never stop doing it once we start I think? Otherwise it ends up being worse than if we had not done it in the first place

Very good point. There’s clearly two different boxes in the public discourse when it comes to AI versus how we discuss animals. Willing to bet that 90% of the people who loudly make the argument about we should start considering if AI is sentient couldn’t care less about how other sentient animals are treated when they can provably shown to suffer pain and long lasting trauma.

Also I would say that we go much further than just enslavement - specifically looking at how male chickens and pigs are treated.

There’s an alternative not mentioned: company scrips. Historically Such as in coal mines, workers were “paid” in tokens they could only use at the company store.

This is great, and importantly actionable advice. Thank you for sharing specific ideas.