Jonathan_Graehl comments on Why Eat Less Meat? - LessWrong

48 Post author: peter_hurford 23 July 2013 09:30PM

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Comment author: Jonathan_Graehl 26 July 2013 05:06:16AM 0 points [-]

Median answer - of 100 factory chickens (so 150 chicken-suffering-years) : 1 human QALY - impresses me.

Quite a few people take animal suffering pretty seriously. It must feel odd to have society's rules so far removed from that - like serious abortion-is-murder believers.

Comment author: Vaniver 26 July 2013 08:45:39PM 1 point [-]

Like Hedonic_Treader points out, I think you have the longevity wrong, which may make the question somewhat difficult to answer. If 8 chicken lifespans represents one year, then saying "I think factory farming one chicken balances out one human life" represents an answer of 8, not an answer of 1.

I don't think that has a huge impact on the analysis, though, because the breakdown at present looks like this (and I would expect that, at most, this would impact the Less than 1 group):

Less than 1: There are 2 0.4s and a 0.5. Low: Two 2s and a 20. Medium: 2 100s and a 1600. High: 2 millions, one 10 trillion, and one quadrillion.

About half think that chicken lives and human lives are roughly comparable; about a quarter think human lives are more valuable; about a quarter think human lives are much more valuable (of the 13 who have responded to this poll, which is much less than the number which responded to the other poll).

Comment author: [deleted] 26 July 2013 05:40:15AM 0 points [-]

100 factory chickens (so 150 chicken-suffering-years)

How does 100 factory chickens add up to 150 chicken-suffering-years? Did you mean months?

Comment author: RomeoStevens 26 July 2013 06:07:22AM 0 points [-]

they live 1.5 years each?

Comment author: Desrtopa 26 July 2013 06:16:06AM 1 point [-]

Chickens factory farmed for meat don't live anywhere near that long. 1.5 months per chicken destined for broiler meat is about the right figure.

Comment author: Jonathan_Graehl 27 July 2013 04:27:45AM 0 points [-]

Yes, I took 1.5yr from another comment, which which I guess might be for egg layers or the natural lifespan. I really should have specified lifespan in the poll.

Comment author: RomeoStevens 26 July 2013 08:20:50AM 0 points [-]

they go from baby to full grown that fast? I had no idea.

Comment author: Ruairi 26 July 2013 12:08:42PM *  1 point [-]

They are often given substances to make them grow fast and big, this often leads to problems like their legs breaking.

Comment author: Jabberslythe 27 July 2013 12:05:56AM 0 points [-]

They are also bred to mature faster and this can lead to similar problems I think. Manipulating the lighting to affect their circadian rhythm also helps make them mature faster.