“Epistemic Humility vs. Tobacco Abolition” by groundsloth

The School for Moral Ambition (SMA) describes itself as a movement of idealists taking on the world's most pressing problems. Their proposed campaign to 'abolish the tobacco industry altogether' is one of their more ambitious proposals. This would require governments to override the consumption choices of the roughly one in five adults globally who use tobacco. SMA quickly dismisses the idea that these billions of adults are making free choices about what to put into their bodies, stating The problem with this “free choice” argument is that, for most smokers, it's not: more than two-thirds say they want to quit and over half have made a serious attempt to quit. The comparison often made with alcohol consumption also doesn’t wash for this reason: only 3 to 4 percent of people who drink alcohol are addicted, and many consider it an enjoyable part of their lives. But if regretted choices are treated as non-choices, the implication is extremely broad: many of us regret our social media use, diet, screen time, or sleep habits. We generally do not conclude from this that the state should control those behaviors. It is also ironic SMA chooses alcohol as an example of a more [...] --- First published: December 1st, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Wg8DXzeJ9rkmqrcze/epistemic-humility-vs-tobacco-abolition --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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