[Problem profile] “Factory farming” by Benjamin Hilton

Each year, 50 billion animals are raised and slaughtered in factory farms. Most experience extreme levels of suffering.

Narrated by AI.

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Outline:

(00:09) Summary

(02:52) Introduction

(03:42) How many animals are in farms?

(06:03) How do we treat these animals?

(07:16) How farmed chickens are treated

(11:34) How farmed pigs are treated

(13:13) How farmed cattle are treated

(15:49) How farmed sheep and goats are treated

(17:45) How farmed fish are treated

(20:20) How farmed frogs and turtles are treated

(21:13) How farmed shrimp and crustaceans are treated

(22:00) How other farmed invertebrates (snails and insects) are treated

(23:01) Images of farmed chickens

(24:02) Images of farmed pigs

(25:05) Images of farmed cattle

(26:17) Images of farmed sheep and goats

(27:08) Images of farmed fish

(27:52) Images of farmed frogs and softshell turtles

(28:45) Images of farmed snails and insects

(29:07) To what extent do animals deserve our moral consideration?

(30:16) Animal consciousness and pain

(36:18) What makes something deserving of moral consideration?

(38:59) Different moral approaches

(45:21) How many animals count morally the same as one human?

(45:34) Counting the number of individuals

(46:24) Counting the number of neurons

(47:40) Trying to estimate the probability of consciousness

(48:09) Using welfare ranges

(52:01) Bob Fischer

(52:20) How might factory farming change in the future?

(54:54) How will factory farming be affected by technological advances?

(56:35) When might we develop really good alternatives to meat?

(59:28) Would a competitive meat alternative end factory farming, and if so -- when?

(01:01:54) How could AI affect factory farming?

(01:04:51) What might happen to factory farming in the very long-run future?

(01:08:24) There are promising ways of solving this problem

(01:17:16) Work on factory farming is highly neglected

(01:19:45) How can we compare the pressingness of factory farming to existential risks?

(01:29:33) What are the major arguments against this problem being (especially) pressing?

(01:31:45) What can you do to help?

(01:34:15) Earning to give

(01:35:16) Helping to run nonprofits

(01:36:32) Seren Kell

(01:37:07) Founding something new

(01:38:21) Andrés Jiménez Zorrilla

(01:38:50) Government and policy

(01:39:33) Corporate campaigning and activism

(01:40:10) Leah Garcés

(01:40:40) Scientific and engineering research

(01:43:14) Strategy research and grantmaking

(01:44:25) Lewis Bollard

(01:44:43) Find vacancies on our job board

(01:45:17) Key organisations

(01:53:50) Learn more

(01:53:53) Top recommendations

(01:54:21) Further recommendations

(01:54:26) More resources

(01:54:37) 80,000 Hours podcast episodes

The original text contained 167 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
July 24th, 2024

Source:
https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/factory-farming

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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