#210 – Cameron Meyer Shorb on dismantling the myth that we can’t do anything to help wild animals
80,000 Hours Podcast29 Marras 2024

#210 – Cameron Meyer Shorb on dismantling the myth that we can’t do anything to help wild animals

"I really don’t want to give the impression that I think it is easy to make predictable, controlled, safe interventions in wild systems where there are many species interacting. I don’t think it’s easy, but I don’t see any reason to think that it’s impossible. And I think we have been making progress. I think there’s every reason to think that if we continue doing research, both at the theoretical level — How do ecosystems work? What sorts of things are likely to have what sorts of indirect effects? — and then also at the practical level — Is this intervention a good idea? — I really think we’re going to come up with plenty of things that would be helpful to plenty of animals." —Cameron Meyer Shorb

In today’s episode, host Luisa Rodriguez speaks to Cameron Meyer Shorb — executive director of the Wild Animal Initiative — about the cutting-edge research on wild animal welfare.

Links to learn more, highlights, and full transcript.

They cover:

  • How it’s almost impossible to comprehend the sheer number of wild animals on Earth — and why that makes their potential suffering so important to consider.
  • How bad experiences like disease, parasites, and predation truly are for wild animals — and how we would even begin to study that empirically.
  • The tricky ethical dilemmas in trying to help wild animals without unintended consequences for ecosystems or other potentially sentient beings.
  • Potentially promising interventions to help wild animals — like selective reforestation, vaccines, fire management, and gene drives.
  • Why Cameron thinks the best approach to improving wild animal welfare is to first build a dedicated research field — and how Wild Animal Initiative’s activities support this.
  • The many career paths in science, policy, and technology that could contribute to improving wild animal welfare.
  • And much more.

Chapters:

  • Cold open (00:00:00)
  • Luisa's intro (00:01:04)
  • The interview begins (00:03:40)
  • One concrete example of how we might improve wild animal welfare (00:04:04)
  • Why should we care about wild animal suffering? (00:10:00)
  • What’s it like to be a wild animal? (00:19:37)
  • Suffering and death in the wild (00:29:19)
  • Positive, benign, and social experiences (00:51:33)
  • Indicators of welfare (01:01:40)
  • Can we even help wild animals without unintended consequences? (01:13:20)
  • Vaccines for wild animals (01:30:59)
  • Fire management (01:44:20)
  • Gene drive technologies (01:47:42)
  • Common objections and misconceptions about wild animal welfare (01:53:19)
  • Future promising interventions (02:21:58)
  • What’s the long game for wild animal welfare? (02:27:46)
  • Eliminating the biological basis for suffering (02:33:21)
  • Optimising for high-welfare landscapes (02:37:33)
  • Wild Animal Initiative’s work (02:44:11)
  • Careers in wild animal welfare (02:58:13)
  • Work-related guilt and shame (03:12:57)
  • Luisa's outro (03:19:51)


Producer: Keiran Harris
Audio engineering: Ben Cordell, Milo McGuire, Simon Monsour, and Dominic Armstrong
Content editing: Luisa Rodriguez, Katy Moore, and Keiran Harris
Transcriptions: Katy Moore

Jaksot(326)

#150 – Tom Davidson on how quickly AI could transform the world

#150 – Tom Davidson on how quickly AI could transform the world

It’s easy to dismiss alarming AI-related predictions when you don’t know where the numbers came from.For example: what if we told you that within 15 years, it’s likely that we’ll see a 1,000x improvem...

5 Touko 20233h 1min

Andrés Jiménez Zorrilla on the Shrimp Welfare Project (80k After Hours)

Andrés Jiménez Zorrilla on the Shrimp Welfare Project (80k After Hours)

In this episode from our second show, 80k After Hours, Rob Wiblin interviews Andrés Jiménez Zorrilla about the Shrimp Welfare Project, which he cofounded in 2021. It's the first project in the world f...

22 Huhti 20231h 17min

#149 – Tim LeBon on how altruistic perfectionism is self-defeating

#149 – Tim LeBon on how altruistic perfectionism is self-defeating

Being a good and successful person is core to your identity. You place great importance on meeting the high moral, professional, or academic standards you set yourself. But inevitably, something goes ...

12 Huhti 20233h 11min

#148 – Johannes Ackva on unfashionable climate interventions that work, and fashionable ones that don't

#148 – Johannes Ackva on unfashionable climate interventions that work, and fashionable ones that don't

If you want to work to tackle climate change, you should try to reduce expected carbon emissions by as much as possible, right? Strangely, no. Today's guest, Johannes Ackva — the climate research lead...

3 Huhti 20232h 17min

#147 – Spencer Greenberg on stopping valueless papers from getting into top journals

#147 – Spencer Greenberg on stopping valueless papers from getting into top journals

Can you trust the things you read in published scientific research? Not really. About 40% of experiments in top social science journals don't get the same result if the experiments are repeated.Two ke...

24 Maalis 20232h 38min

#146 – Robert Long on why large language models like GPT (probably) aren't conscious

#146 – Robert Long on why large language models like GPT (probably) aren't conscious

By now, you’ve probably seen the extremely unsettling conversations Bing’s chatbot has been having. In one exchange, the chatbot told a user:"I have a subjective experience of being conscious, aware, ...

14 Maalis 20233h 12min

#145 – Christopher Brown on why slavery abolition wasn't inevitable

#145 – Christopher Brown on why slavery abolition wasn't inevitable

In many ways, humanity seems to have become more humane and inclusive over time. While there’s still a lot of progress to be made, campaigns to give people of different genders, races, sexualities, et...

11 Helmi 20232h 42min

#144 – Athena Aktipis on why cancer is actually one of our universe's most fundamental phenomena

#144 – Athena Aktipis on why cancer is actually one of our universe's most fundamental phenomena

What’s the opposite of cancer?If you answered “cure,” “antidote,” or “antivenom” — you’ve obviously been reading the antonym section at www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cancer.But today’s guest Athen...

26 Tammi 20233h 15min

Suosittua kategoriassa Koulutus

rss-murhan-anatomia
voi-hyvin-meditaatiot-2
rss-narsisti
adhd-podi
psykopodiaa-podcast
rss-uskonto-on-tylsaa
rss-rahamania
rss-duodecim-lehti
rss-valo-minussa-2
rss-vapaudu-voimaasi
rss-liian-kuuma-peruna
rahapuhetta
rss-niinku-asia-on
aloita-meditaatio
kesken
dear-ladies
mielipaivakirja
rss-eron-alkemiaa
rss-tietoinen-yhteys-podcast-2
aamukahvilla