Revolutionists' Night DC
Animal movement strategy discussions over drinks!
We'll ask folks to read something ahead of the event, then we can drink and discuss. This week the reading is a spicy one: a chapter from "The Good It Promises, The Harm It Does" (a book critical of Effective Altruism), excerpted here: https://www.lincolnquirk.com/TheGoodItPromises_Ch4.pdf
If the weather is good, we will use the rooftop, otherwise we will meet indoors. I do have some cheap beer around and maybe a couple non-alcoholic beers, but if you want to drink or nibble on anything else, then please bring it yourself!
Discussion questions:
1) "A narrow focus on suffering reduction can open one to manipulation by industry. Our enemies in the factory farm industry know how to sacrifice a pawn" (p44). Is EA animal advocacy plausibly being gamed by factory farming industry to entrench the industry further? What would evidence for this state of affairs look like?
2) "we...expect a steady stream of
promises for more humane animal products from a sector of the meat industry" (p47): are campaigns truly counterfactual or would these companies be on this path anyway?
3) "Effective Altruists have more or less decided that community organizing is 'not effective,' and that has put a chill on support for certain organizations" (p50): Does the essay make a compelling case for community organizing being a good use of money?
Guest List
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