Week 4: Insects/Small Invertebrates
“Insect suffering is plausibly responsible, every year, for millions of times more suffering than has existed in all of human history.”
- Bentham’s Bulldog
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Does Insect Suffering Bug You? - Faunalytics (10 minutes)
Offers a time-efficient overview of the problem of insect suffering.
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Insect Suffering Is The Biggest Issue And What To Do About It (15 mins)
This blog post argues that wild insect suffering may be the largest source of suffering on Earth by far. While it is only one perspective, it is worth considering the merits of its arguments, which if even partially true is very important from an animal welfare perspective. We will further discuss the welfare of wild animals outside of human interference in a later week.
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Total number of neurons and welfare of animal populations (5 mins)
“I estimate the annual welfare in QALY/year of cattle, humans, hens, broilers, farmed black soldier fly (BSF) larvae and mealworms, wild birds, farmed finfishes and shrimps, wild mammals and finfishes, and soil ants, termites, springtails, mites, and nematodes… My results suggest prioritising increasing the welfare of soil animals. Yet, what matters is increasing welfare as much as possible per $”
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Orgs
The Barrett Lab (adjacent: studying insect sentience)
Resources/Further Reading
Forecasting Farmed Animal Numbers in 2033 - Rethink Priorities
A Primer for Insect Sentience and Welfare (as of Sept 2023) (Research List)
Insect welfare - EA Forum Topic (place to find discussion & resources)
