Cognitive biases and animal welfare (with Leah Edgerton)

Apr 27, 2022

In this engaging discussion, Leah Edgerton, a seasoned advocate for farmed animals and effective altruism, dives into the complexities of animal welfare versus human suffering. She unpacks the cognitive biases that shape our empathy towards different animals, revealing why animals like cows often elicit more concern than fish. Leah also explores ethical dilemmas in advocacy and the challenges of motivational strategies. Moreover, she examines shifts toward plant-based alternatives and the emotional disconnect many people have regarding factory farming practices.

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ANECDOTE

Finding a Place in Animal Advocacy

Leah Edgerton didn't initially see herself working in traditional animal movements like PETA.
She found her place in the effective altruism side of animal advocacy.

ADVICE

Using Evidence and Reason in Animal Advocacy

Use evidence and reason to address animal suffering effectively.
Avoid being overwhelmed by emotional reactions.

INSIGHT

The Reality of Factory Farms

Typical US farms, from which most people source their meat, involve significant animal suffering.
Animals are kept in crowded, unsanitary conditions, and slaughtered young.

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Read the full transcript here.

What are some of the tensions between short-term and long-term thinking about how best to reduce animal suffering? Why spend time and energy working on animal welfare when human welfare hasn't even been secured? Why do so many animal rights activists and organizations have such negative reputations and elicit such strongly negative emotional reactions from the population at large when they're just trying to reduce suffering? How does animal rights activism from an effective altruism perspective intersect with the more traditional forms of animal rights activism and social justice activism? Humans tend to be more capable of empathizing (for example) with a cow than with a fish, and more with a dog than with a cow; so how can animal rights activists motivate people in a way that works with or around human cognitive and emotional biases? What are some tools for dealing with chronic pain?

Leah has been involved in the effective altruism community for a decade and in animal advocacy her whole life. She has 7 years of professional experience in farmed animal advocacy, primarily focused on movement growth and interfacing with funders. Most recently, she worked at Animal Charity Evaluators on the Communications team and then as Executive Director. Her previous work experience includes performing in the Zurich Opera, managing a small business, and founding and leading ProVeg International's China Program. She currently works as a freelance philanthropic advisor to high-net-worth individuals entering the farmed animal space. You can email Leah at leah.edgerton@gmail.com or find out more about her on her LinkedIn profile.

Further reading

A tool to help you figure out what animal products are most harmful (as well as some caveats about the methods of the tool)

Staff

Spencer Greenberg — Host / Director
Josh Castle — Producer
Ryan Kessler — Audio Engineer
Uri Bram — Factotum
Janaisa Baril — Transcriptionist

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