Scott creates a philosophical fiction where multiple characters named John Rawls explore the veil of ignorance through a drug that simulates living other people's lives, spiraling through nested realities until ending with a disturbing twist about karma and moral desert. Longer summary

This is a complex philosophical fiction exploring John Rawls' veil of ignorance concept through multiple characters all named John Rawls. The story follows John Rawls the Alcoholic through multiple layers of reality, starting with his rejection by a charity called the John Rawls Foundation that uses a drug to test whether poor people would help the rich if positions were reversed. The narrative spirals through nested drug-induced dreams, featuring encounters with a banker, a visionary, and eventually Brahma himself, who explains karma and reincarnation as mechanisms enforcing the golden rule. The story ends with a dark twist as the alcoholic character finds himself reborn as a factory-farmed chicken, suffering terribly while knowing he deserves it for his lack of compassion in previous lives. The piece uses nested narratives and recursive structure to explore questions of morality, reciprocity, and whether ethics require self-interest as motivation. Shorter summary

In 'Dominion', conservative Christian Matthew Scully makes a comprehensive case for animal welfare, critiquing practices like factory farming and hunting from religious, ethical, and scientific perspectives. Longer summary

Matthew Scully's 'Dominion' is a comprehensive exploration of animal welfare from a conservative Christian perspective. Scully, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, argues that humans have a moral obligation to show mercy to animals based on religious, ethical, and scientific grounds. He critiques various practices including factory farming, hunting, and animal experimentation, while also engaging with philosophical arguments about animal consciousness. The book combines personal experiences, biblical interpretation, and criticism of both conservative and liberal approaches to animal rights. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander examines the ethical considerations of insect farming for food, questioning whether insects have moral value and how this impacts our ethical decisions. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses the moral implications of insect farming for food production. He explores the question of whether insects have moral value, citing scientific debates on insect pain perception and comparing the scale of insect farming to other forms of animal agriculture. The post touches on the environmental arguments for eating insects, the scale of wild insect suffering, and how considering insect welfare can influence our moral calibration. Scott uses a mix of scientific references, philosophical arguments, and humor to explore this complex ethical issue. Shorter summary

A vegetarian and meat-eater collaborate to analyze the impacts of eating meat, concluding that reduced consumption is beneficial but not as clear-cut as some might think. Longer summary

This post is an entry to the 2019 Adversarial Collaboration Contest, where a vegetarian and a meat-eater investigate the ethical, health, and environmental impacts of eating meat. They explore animal consciousness, factory farming conditions, human happiness set points, health outcomes, environmental effects, and costs of switching diets. They conclude that reducing meat consumption, especially chicken, is beneficial overall, but the case is not as strong as some vegetarians might assume. Shorter summary