“Measurability is Doubly Important in Animal Advocacy” by emre kaplan🔸

EA-aligned animal advocacy is often criticized for measurability bias. In this post, I argue that the usual epistemic safeguards of leftist advocacy are unavailable in animal advocacy, and as a result, measurability is doubly important in our domain. What do pro-measurement people say? Intuition and abstract reasoning are very poor predictors of charity performance. Furthermore, charities differ 100x in effectiveness, therefore measuring the cost-effectiveness of charities enables us to do much more good. We need careful scientific studies and preferably RCTs to figure out which interventions work. Through measurement, we will have a transparent accountability mechanism which will help us identify cases of failure and stop funding things that don't work. What are the usual criticisms of measurability bias? Not all important outcomes are measurable. How do you quantify the value of a social movement, a shift in public discourse, or groundbreaking legal precedent? External measurement misses [...] ---Outline:(00:27) What do pro-measurement people say?(01:00) What are the usual criticisms of measurability bias?(01:52) What is the main leftist alternative to measurable outcomes?(02:35) You cant do standpoint epistemology with non-human animals(03:27) Balancing measurement with movement building--- First published: April 17th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rwXiBwzczXLzr4zRb/measurability-is-doubly-important-in-animal-advocacy --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.