Thought I’d comment in brief. I very much enjoyed your post and I think it is mostly right on point. I agree that EA does not have a great epistemic hygiene, given what their aspirations are, and the veganism discussion is a case in point. (Other issues related to EA and CEA have been brought up lately in various posts, and are not worth rehashing here.)
As far as the quoted exchange with me, I agree that I have not stated a proper disclaimer, which was quite warranted, given the thrust of the post. My only intended point was that, while a lot of people do veganism wrong and some are not suited to it at all, an average person can be vegan without adverse health effects, as long as they eat varied and enriched plant-based diet and periodically check their vitamins/nutrients/minerals levels and make dietary adjustments as necessary. Some might find out that they are in the small minority for whom vegan diet is not feasible, and they would do well to focus on what works for them and contribute to EA in other ways. Again, I’m sorry this seems to have come across wrong.
Oh, and cat veganism is basically animal torture, those who want to wean cats off farmed animal food should focus on vat-grown meat for pet food etc.
I agree that I have not stated a proper disclaimer, which was quite warranted, given the thrust of the post.
To clarify: it’s not clear to me whether you think it would have been warranted of you to give a disclaimer, or whether you think not-giving it was warranted?
My only intended point was that, while a lot of people do veganism wrong and some are not suited to it at all, an average person can be vegan without adverse health effects, as long as they eat varied and enriched plant-based diet and periodically check their vitamins/nutrients/minerals levels and make dietary adjustments as necessary.
Your original comments said nothing about periodically checking levels and making adjustments. So if that was part of your intended point, you executed your intent very poorly. (My guess would be that four months later, you misremember your intent at the time. Which isn’t a big deal. Whatever the reason for the omission, the omission seems worth noting.)
(I separately think it’s worth noting that your comment sounds like you’re observing “my partner does X” and concluding “the average person can do X”, which is obviously not good reasoning. Like, maybe you have more evidence than you’re letting on, but the natural-to-me reading of your post is that you’re making a basic error.)
Thought I’d comment in brief. I very much enjoyed your post and I think it is mostly right on point. I agree that EA does not have a great epistemic hygiene, given what their aspirations are, and the veganism discussion is a case in point. (Other issues related to EA and CEA have been brought up lately in various posts, and are not worth rehashing here.)
As far as the quoted exchange with me, I agree that I have not stated a proper disclaimer, which was quite warranted, given the thrust of the post. My only intended point was that, while a lot of people do veganism wrong and some are not suited to it at all, an average person can be vegan without adverse health effects, as long as they eat varied and enriched plant-based diet and periodically check their vitamins/nutrients/minerals levels and make dietary adjustments as necessary. Some might find out that they are in the small minority for whom vegan diet is not feasible, and they would do well to focus on what works for them and contribute to EA in other ways. Again, I’m sorry this seems to have come across wrong.
Oh, and cat veganism is basically animal torture, those who want to wean cats off farmed animal food should focus on vat-grown meat for pet food etc.
To clarify: it’s not clear to me whether you think it would have been warranted of you to give a disclaimer, or whether you think not-giving it was warranted?
Your original comments said nothing about periodically checking levels and making adjustments. So if that was part of your intended point, you executed your intent very poorly. (My guess would be that four months later, you misremember your intent at the time. Which isn’t a big deal. Whatever the reason for the omission, the omission seems worth noting.)
(I separately think it’s worth noting that your comment sounds like you’re observing “my partner does X” and concluding “the average person can do X”, which is obviously not good reasoning. Like, maybe you have more evidence than you’re letting on, but the natural-to-me reading of your post is that you’re making a basic error.)