Open Thread 410
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Peter Singer
15 min read
Singer is mentioned as moderating the shrimp welfare debate. He's one of the most influential living philosophers, known for founding the effective altruism movement and his controversial utilitarian arguments about animal welfare and moral obligations - central themes in the fundraiser discussions mentioned.
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Animal welfare in the United States
15 min read
The shrimp welfare fundraiser and debate about whether invertebrate suffering matters connects to the broader history and evolution of animal welfare philosophy and legislation, which most readers probably haven't studied in depth despite having opinions on it.
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Title IX
13 min read
The transgender sports debate referenced in the subscriber post is fundamentally shaped by Title IX's legal framework for sex-based protections in athletics. Understanding this 1972 law's history and implementation provides essential context for the 'biological advantage' argument being discussed.
This is the weekly visible open thread. Post about anything you want, ask random questions, whatever. ACX has an unofficial subreddit, Discord, and bulletin board, and in-person meetups around the world. Most content is free, some is subscriber only; you can subscribe here. Also:
1: In honor of International Shrimpact Day™, pro-shrimp Substackers are holding a shrimp welfare fundraiser, with 50% matching until December 2. Did you know that $1 can help as many as 21,000 shrimp avoid a painful death? And here is a debate between Jeff Sebo and Lyman Stone, moderated by Peter Singer, on whether shrimp welfare matters.
2: If your response is noooo, charity money should be spent on humans, then good news: pro-human Substackers are holding a human welfare fundraiser, also with 50% matching, until the end of the month. All donations go to homo sapiens, guaranteed!
3: If your response is noooo, I want to spend my money on things that are fun for me personally, then good news: there will be a rationalist community West Coast megameetup on December 5-6 to complement the East Coast megameetup December 19-22 mentioned last time. And tickets are still probably available for the rationalist Solstice celebration (although be warned that this one is being led by Ray, who is on the very pessimistic and apocalyptic end of our community, and may be unusually dark).
4: If your response is noooo, I hate going out and making friends, I want to spend my money sitting in my room and consuming online ragebait, then good news: new subscriber-only ACX post out, Against The Omnipresent Advantage Argument For Trans Sports. One common defense of letting trans people play as their chosen gender in sporting leagues is that - although trans women may have a biological advantage over cis women, and this might make them win so often that it stops being fun for cis women, most sporting victories involve biological advantages that make things less fun for people who don’t have them. For example, tall basketball players have a biological advantage over short basketball players, and it’s probably not very fun being a 5’5 guy who wants to make it in the NBA. In the basketball case, and every other one - Mike Phelps’ long arms, marathoners’ slow-twitch muscle fibers - this is considered fine, and maybe even the whole ...
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