Unexplainable

Consider the shrimp

October 22, 2025

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  • The episode explores philosopher John Torik's controversial argument that suffering is not additive, suggesting that saving five lives is not inherently better than saving one, which leads to the extreme ethical question of whether the massive scale of shrimp farming (440 billion killed annually) demands moral consideration. 
  • The massive scale of shrimp farming, estimated at 440 billion killed annually, forces listeners to confront 'scope insensitivity'—the ethical failure to properly weigh enormous numbers—if they accept the premise that saving five humans is better than one. 
  • The Shrimp Welfare Project attempts to address this ethical dilemma pragmatically by focusing on improving conditions (like humane stunning) for billions of shrimp, rather than engaging in abstract philosophical debates about whether shrimp matter more than humans. 

Segments

Torik’s Infamous Argument
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(00:01:13)
  • Key Takeaway: Philosopher John Torik argued that suffering is not additive, meaning one should flip a coin between saving five people or one person, as comparing aggregated suffering is unfair to the individual.
  • Summary: Torik’s 1977 paper, ‘Should the Numbers Count,’ suggests that comparing the suffering of five people to one is invalid because suffering is not summable across individuals. He proposed that in a scenario with five people needing one pill each and one person needing five pills, the decision should be a coin flip to show equal concern for each person. This conclusion was widely considered absurd by contemporaries like Derek Parfit.
The Scale of Shrimp Killing
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(00:06:06)
  • Key Takeaway: Roughly 440 billion shrimp are killed on farms annually, a number expected to reach 760 billion by 2033, dwarfing the scale of mammal and bird slaughter.
  • Summary: While humans kill 3.5 billion mammals and 78 billion birds in 2023, the estimated number of farmed shrimp killed is around 440 billion per year. If one accepts that numbers count in ethics, this scale suggests shrimp welfare is the most pressing issue in animal rights. This realization connects the abstract philosophy of Torik to a concrete, massive scale of animal death.
Shrimp Welfare Project’s Mission
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(00:08:47)
  • Key Takeaway: The Shrimp Welfare Project, founded by Andres Jimenezaria, is the only known organization singularly dedicated to improving the welfare of farmed shrimp.
  • Summary: Jimenezaria left private equity to found the project after realizing the massive, unaddressed suffering of shrimp. The organization offers farms free electric stunning machines, contingent on adopting better practices like minimum space, clean water, and avoiding eye-cutting (ice stock ablation) on females. They are currently working with farms responsible for about 1% of all farmed shrimp annually.
Evidence of Shrimp Sentience
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(00:12:34)
  • Key Takeaway: Scientific reviews suggest strong evidence that decapods, including shrimp, are sentient, responding to painkillers and exhibiting behaviors indicating pain perception.
  • Summary: LSE researchers found that while evidence is thin due to lack of research, crustaceans closely examined invariably show signs of sentience. Shrimp respond to painkillers by becoming calmer and grooming injured areas less, leading authors to recommend the British government treat all decapods as sentient animals. Many shrimp farmers also intuitively believe the animals they tend can feel pain.
Scope Insensitivity and Public Reaction
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(00:18:23)
  • Key Takeaway: The casual dismissal of shrimp welfare is an example of scope insensitivity, where the sheer magnitude of the numbers (billions) causes intelligent comparison to erode.
  • Summary: Scope insensitivity describes the ethical failure to properly weigh large numbers, exemplified by focusing on plastic straws (0.03% of ocean plastic waste) instead of fishing nets (46%). The number of shrimp killed annually is four times greater than the total number of humans who have ever lived, demanding consideration if one believes shrimp matter even 0.1% as much as humans. Public reaction to shrimp welfare advocacy often focuses on practical welfare questions rather than philosophical objections.