Ideally, you would prioritize exploring ideas that are decision-relevant and where further research has high Value of Information.
And does the exploration of the consequences of spreading non-human life throughout the galaxy qualify? Doesn’t look like that to me, seems like you’ll be better off figuring out whether living on intersections of ley lines is beneficial, or maybe whether ghosts have many secrets to tell you...
Yes, I think it does because it’s a plausible scenario and most plausible (IMO) ethical views say that causing non-human suffering is bad. Further exploration of the probability of such scenarios could influence my EA cause priorities, donation targets, and/or general worldview of the future.
seems like you’ll be better off figuring out whether living on intersections of ley lines is beneficial, or maybe whether ghosts have many secrets to tell you...
Those have very low prior probabilities and low decision-relevance to me.
I believe I already told you that I don’t consider “spreading wild animal suffering” to be absurd; it’s a plausible scenario. What may be intuitively absurd is the claim that “destroying nature is a good thing”—which is not necessarily the same as the claim that “spreading wild animal suffering to new realms is bad, or ought to be minimized”. (And there are possible interventions to reduce non-human suffering conditional on spreading non-human life. E.g. “value spreading” is often discussed in the EA community.)
Anyway, I’m done with this conversation for now as I believe other activities have higher EV.
And does the exploration of the consequences of spreading non-human life throughout the galaxy qualify? Doesn’t look like that to me, seems like you’ll be better off figuring out whether living on intersections of ley lines is beneficial, or maybe whether ghosts have many secrets to tell you...
Yes, I think it does because it’s a plausible scenario and most plausible (IMO) ethical views say that causing non-human suffering is bad. Further exploration of the probability of such scenarios could influence my EA cause priorities, donation targets, and/or general worldview of the future.
Those have very low prior probabilities and low decision-relevance to me.
Aren’t we talking about picking which absurd ideas to engage with?
You are doing some motte and bailey juggling:
Motte: This is an absurd idea which we engage with because it’s worth engaging with absurd ideas.
Bailey: This is an important plausible scenario which we need to be concerned about.
I believe I already told you that I don’t consider “spreading wild animal suffering” to be absurd; it’s a plausible scenario. What may be intuitively absurd is the claim that “destroying nature is a good thing”—which is not necessarily the same as the claim that “spreading wild animal suffering to new realms is bad, or ought to be minimized”. (And there are possible interventions to reduce non-human suffering conditional on spreading non-human life. E.g. “value spreading” is often discussed in the EA community.)
Anyway, I’m done with this conversation for now as I believe other activities have higher EV.