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polymathwannabe comments on Open thread, Jan. 19 - Jan. 25, 2015 - Less Wrong
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One one hand, gorillas are crucially important for the seed dispersion that maintains forests, so we need to save them from ebola, even if only for the human benefit that can be gained from those forests. On the other hand, ebola is killing humans, too. There's disagreement on how to allocate research funding.
My feeling is that gorillas are pretty important just because they are apes (for practical research purposes, although I think they have a fair degree of intrinsic value too). Seed dispersion seems the least of these benefits. (On the other hand, I suppose the existence of other apes poses a disease threat to humans).
We should really demand more funding for research, in general. Under-funding research may be the single most irrational thing we do as a society, considering the return on investment.