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Sentientism

Sentientism

By Jamie Woodhouse

We discuss the biggest questions: "what's real?", "who matters?" and "how to make a better world?" with scientists, celebrities, activists, writers and philosophers. The Sentientism worldview is "evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings." It's a simple, yet radical, philosophy that's grounded in reality (naturalistic epistemology) and has compassion for all sentient beings (mostly human and non-human animals)? Naturalism & sentiocentrism combined. Find out more at https://sentientism.info/ or join a group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism. Also on YouTube!
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154: "With great power comes great responsibility" - Elan Abrell - Cultural Anthropologist & Author - Sentientism

SentientismMay 10, 2023

00:00
01:22:29
"A new world of animal justice" - Sabine Brels of World Animal Justice - Sentientism 189

"A new world of animal justice" - Sabine Brels of World Animal Justice - Sentientism 189

Dr Sabine Brels is a lawyer dedicated to advancing animal protection law worldwide. She teaches international and comparative animal law and published books on animal related-issues in French and English. In the last 15 years, she directed the Global Animal Law (GAL) projects and worked as legal advisor for the World Federation for Animals, the Eurogroup for Animals, and Compassion in World Farming. Besides her consulting work, she is currently leading the World Animal Justice NGO that she founded in 2023.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

00:00 Clips!

01:09 Welcome

Sabine's previous appearance on episode 66

02:15 Sabine's Intro

- #internationallaw , #animallaw and #animalrights

03:17 International vs. national law

- #icc #icj #unitednations

- Laws of genocide, humanitarianism, crimes against humanity...

- Policy, law, regulation, enforcement

- Regional law e.g. EU, Asia

07:34 World Animal Justice

- Bringing non-human animals into international law

- "An animal law revolution"

- #CrimesAgainstAnimality or #sentientity ?

- "Massive crimes against animals happen every day, everywhere worldwide... it's our collective responsibility"

- "Every day the entire European Union population is killed... that's a reality for animals... 450 million of animals are killed per day... this is only for food... every second it's 5000 animals killed"

- "It's not acceptable when we know that we can do otherwise... that this is avoidable"

- Companion, stray, laboratory, sport, working, wild animals "they are all victims of crimes against animality"

- Crimes against humanity: massive murders, sequestrations, enslavement, deportations, torture, violence including sexual violence "this is what is actually happening against animals every day... and it can still be legal in some places"

- Anti-cruelty and pro-welfare laws: "usually to reduce the suffering of these exploited animals or to condemn some acts of cruelty... against companion animals"

- "1/3 of countries today still have nothing to protect animals - not even the basic anti-cruelty laws"

- "Some of the most cruel practices are still legal in some countries..." force-feeding for #foiegras and #bullfighting in France are "a kind of torture for animals"

- The potential for a global consensus at least against some of those most egregious practices "That's wrong for animals but also for our human dignity"

- India and some South American countries: have granted some rights to great apes or large mammals based on poor treatment in zoos

- WAJ: "Go faster and higher... criminality against animals is huge"

- Welfare / anti-cruelty approaches "we are not taking this concern for the gravity it is"

- "If we were doing the same to humans... it would seem unbelievable that it would be still legal... we would cry about genocides and crimes against humanity"

- WAJ's network of experts and NGOs spanning 5 continents

28:22 WAJ Expert Network and Strategy37:00 Impacts on Animal AgricultureFollow Sabine and  @WorldAnimalJustice  :

- WAJ contact: contact@worldanimaljustice.org

- WAJ Website

- WAJ introductory Video

- WAJ Linkedin

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Mar 13, 202446:51
Talking to Humanists about Sentientism - Cross-post bonus from Podcast for Inquiry - Sentientism 188

Talking to Humanists about Sentientism - Cross-post bonus from Podcast for Inquiry - Sentientism 188

This episode is a bonus cross-post of my discussion with Leslie Rosenblood, host of Podcast For Inquiry. Podcast For Inquiry is produced by the Center For Inquiry Canada. Leslie describes it as a podcast for scientific, skeptical, secular, rational and humanistic (and maybe now sentientst) inquiry. Make sure you go and subscribe there too.

I also wanted to extend a warm welcome to everyone who has recently joined one of our online Sentientism communities. More people join us there every day - whether they think of themselves as Sentientists or not. The groups are open to everyone. Just search for the word "Sentientism" on your favourite platforms (FaceBook is our biggest group) and you'll find us there.

 Also check out the new "In action" section of Sentientism.info. We're building pages there about Sentientist Education, Politics, Rights, Economics, Justice, Agriculture, Environmentalism and more - come and help us work out what a more Sentientist world might look like. 

A final thank you to Denise and Tarabella who found our Sentientism Patreon and are kindly contributing to our production costs - helping us steadily nudge the world towards "evidence, reason and compassion".

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Mar 08, 202401:09:35
"What if we saw ourselves as species diplomats?" - David Peña-Guzmán of Overthink and SFSU - Sentientism 187

"What if we saw ourselves as species diplomats?" - David Peña-Guzmán of Overthink and SFSU - Sentientism 187

David specializes in European philosophy, the history and philosophy of science and the philosophy of animal minds. He is interested in the problem of consciousness, the study of lived experience and the value of the humanities. David lives in San Francisco, California and is Associate Professor of Humanities at San Francisco State University. He has previously worked at Johns Hopkins University, Laurentian University, Dillard University, and Emory University (where he received his Ph.D. in 2015). He is the author of "When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness" and co-host, with Ellie Anderson, of the Overthink Podcast. His work has been covered by The New York Times, CNN, ABC, The Atlantic, Le Parisian, El País, and Forbes, among others.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

00:00 Clips! 01:14 Welcome - Our two way para-social relationships - Sharing #naturalistic thinking & an interest in expanding our #moralcircle based on #sentience 04:48 David's Intro - Continental philosophy, teaching humanities, animal minds/ethics/politics, the science of consciousness & co-hosting  @OverthinkPodcastPhilosophy  - "There's something equally mysterious & fascinating & alluring... about the minds of other creatures." - Links between animal academia & animal movements (rights, welfare...) "Most of it is happening beyond the ivory tower of higher education... it's happening on the ground with people who are committed to the goal of #animalliberation" 08:10 What's Real? - "It's hard to know how much weight to give to those early experiences..." - Raised #catholic - A small town in Mexico where "Catholicism was the economic driving force of town life... 5-10 thousand people that would be overrun by a million religious pilgrims 5 times a year" - Manifestation of the virgin Mary with indigenous roots with a reputed power to do health miracles - Disenchantment "I really saw the church & faith largely as a story that we the locals told in order to bring in tourists... As a child I never really understood that we were really meant to believe the content of the stories" - A "great 11 year old awakening" and a "show-down with my mother... I don't want to go to church... I don't actually believe any of this... my mother had no problem with that which further just confirmed my suspicion that a lot of this was just surface" - "Catholics... we tend to be very bad at reading the bible - we usually just get our lessons from the priest... for me it seemed like smoke & mirrors" - "From my early teen years I leaned towards a naturalistic outlook of the world and the cosmos... I do think the world is composed of matter, of motion, of the fundamental forces of physics..." - "That does not necessarily mean that I am a #rationalist ... I don't think that our human cognitive architecture is necessarily so imperious and mighty that it is poised to uncrack all the mysteries of nature..." 34:59 What Matters? 57:05 Who Matters? 01:14:15 How To Make A Better World? 01:22:42 Follow David - David at SFSU

- Overthink

- When Animals Dream

- @DrPenaGuzman1

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Feb 26, 202401:25:54
Could animal farming be good for the animals? The Logic of the Larder - with Nick Pendergrast - Cross-post bonus episode from 3CR's Freedom of Species radio show and podcast - Sentientism 186

Could animal farming be good for the animals? The Logic of the Larder - with Nick Pendergrast - Cross-post bonus episode from 3CR's Freedom of Species radio show and podcast - Sentientism 186

This episode is a bonus cross post of my conversation with ⁠Nick Pendergrast⁠⁠⁠ on the 3CR ⁠⁠⁠Freedom of Species⁠⁠ radio show and podcast he co-hosts. In this, my third time as their guest (thank you!), we talk about the "Logic of the Larder" - an argument that animal farming could potentially be good for animals.

You can subscribe to 3CR's ⁠⁠⁠Freedom of Species⁠ wherever you listen. ⁠⁠3CR is a community radio station based in Melbourne⁠⁠⁠, Australia. Nick and the other co-hosts have a fascinating range of guests, conversations and also music with a message.

Nick has been a guest on Sentientism too - have a listen to ⁠⁠episode 88⁠⁠⁠ if you'd like to hear his thoughts about what's real, who matters and how can we make a better world. You might also be interested in Sentientism episode 156 with Peter Singer where we discuss his uncertainty about the Logic of the Larder.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Feb 20, 202401:05:39
"If you combine rationality and compassion you have the essence" - Jonathan Leighton of OPIS - Sentientism 185

"If you combine rationality and compassion you have the essence" - Jonathan Leighton of OPIS - Sentientism 185

Jonathan is an ethics strategist, writer, social change advocate and public speaker. He is Executive Director of the Organisation for the Prevention of Intense Suffering (OPIS), a Swiss-based think-and-do tank that promotes the prevention of human and non-human suffering as our overriding global ethical priority. His book, The Battle for Compassion: Ethics in an Apathetic Universe, explores the question "What matters?". His new book The Tango of Ethics: Intuition, Rationality and the Prevention of Suffering goes further in proposing a rigorous reassessment of how we think about ethics.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Clips!

01:00 Welcome

03:34 Jon's Intro

- Molecular biology PhD

- Ethicist

- Writing "The Battle for Compassion" and "The Tango of Ethics"

- Running the "think and do tank" OPIS (Organisation for the Prevention of Intense Suffering) "Trying to put the ideas into practice" 

04:41 What's Real?

- A scientific family, physicist father

- "A naturalistic, mechanistic way of thinking about the world"

- "It's not that there was no #spirituality at all... a #Jewish household that was more traditional than religious... Reciting things that I didn't necessarily understand the meaning of"

- "...a brief phase where I did take things [religious prescriptions] more literally... but that didn't last very long"

- "Seeing the world as inherently physical"

- "Not to say that the subjective doesn't matter... the subjective is the essence of what matters"

- Maternal grandfather "I remember him describing himself as a Humanist... his way of saying 'don't take the supernatural too seriously'"

- "I think spirituality is an important part of life... but I don't think of spirituality in the supernatural sense... I think of spirituality in terms of the experience... a feeling that there is an intense meaning possible in life."

- "During spiritual experiences we might suspend the very rational perspective. You can't really be fully plunged into a spiritual experience if you're also trying to analyse things scientifically at the same time."

- In circles with people, lighting a fire, reciting poetry... "it feels like a source of meaning at times to get into that other state of mind."

- "It's this dance between two very different perspectives"

- "How do we reconcile the need to understand reality as accurately as possible using the tools of rationality and science and how do we also extract meaning from our existence?"

- JW: Instead of a scientistic denial or a mystical reification of the subjective... a recognition that our subjective experiences are part of the objective world we all share... and are the source of its value

- Subjective experience is determined by the physical "but you won't actually know what it's like... without having experienced it yourself"

13:25 What Matters?

- "Subjective experience... it's the most important part of reality... the only part of reality that really matters when it comes down to ethics..."

46:40 Who Matters?

01:03:37 How To Make A Better World?

01:19:43 Follow Jon and OPIS

- https://www.jonathanleighton.org/

- https://www.preventsuffering.org/

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Feb 02, 202401:22:35
Is veganism a moral obligation? Ghostless Machine cross-post bonus - Sentientism 184

Is veganism a moral obligation? Ghostless Machine cross-post bonus - Sentientism 184

Welcome to episode 184 of the Sentientism Podcast. A podcast about what's real, who matters and how we can make a better world.

The Sentientism worldview answers those deep questions by committing to evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings.

This episode is a bonus cross-post of my discussion with Ariel Pontes. His Ghostless Machine podcast includes a series of dialogues where he has friendly disagreements over controversial topics with a variety of guests. I had the pleasure of being his first. Make sure you go and subscribe.

I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did talking to Ariel - feedback and suggestions are always welcome. As ever I'm only one Sentientist so others will disagree!

In ⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientist Conversations⁠⁠⁠⁠ we talk about the three most important questions: “what’s real?”, “what (and who) matters?” and "how can we make a better future?"

The Sentientism worldview answers those questions with a commitment to "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings."

Find out more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Thanks to Tarabella and Denise for chipping in with our production costs via the secret(ish) ⁠⁠⁠Sentientism Patreon⁠⁠⁠.

Jan 23, 202401:26:46
Don't underestimate your influence! - Chris Bryant of Bryant Research - Sentientism 183

Don't underestimate your influence! - Chris Bryant of Bryant Research - Sentientism 183

Chris is the Director of Bryant Research and the Head of Policy at the Alternative Proteins Association. He is a social scientist and an expert on alternative protein markets and marketing. He has published several papers on consumer acceptance, policy, nutritional value, and other social dimensions of cultivated meat, plant-based meat, and fermentation-derived animal product alternatives. He has worked with alternative protein companies and non-profits, including THIS, Formo, Ivy Farm Technologies, Aleph Farms, Wild Type, ProVeg International, Mercy For Animals, and the Good Food Institute. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Clips!

00:53 Welcome

02:55 Chris' Intro

- Social science research and analysis helping those "trying to move our food system away from animals and towards alternatives"

- "Industrial animal farming... one of the biggest utility sinks"

 06:46 What's Real?

- Growing up in a "nominally religious" household... "vaguely Christian"

- Turning to #atheism and thinking "what is the answer then... what does matter?"

- An interest in philosophy at university "realised that philosophy was the thing I had been talking about"

- Going #vegetarian

- #effectivealtruism "an incredibly powerful tool... applying empirical evidence to altruistic intentions... trying to come up with the best ways of doing good... given limited resources"

- "I had a good go at #hedonism in the interim though"

- Naturalistic #epistemology and "being willing to be wrong about things"

- The dangers of unquestioned assumptions

- Crash testing ideas that go against the mainstream (e.g. are "processed" foods really unhealthy?)

- Choosing good sources, doing research and running experiments

- How people form and update beliefs: cognitive dissonance, motivated reasoning, working backwards to justify what we want to believe or do (e.g. consuming animal products)...

- Even before that: ignorance (not knowing) and neglect / avoidance (not thinking about it) "Most people have probably never thought about that question [e.g. what % of animals are factory farmed]". "It's important to reach those people [~50%?] with just the reality and the facts"

- Strongly and weakly-held beliefs

- "For some people that's progress... at least they're having to do the mental gymnastics whereas before it had just never occurred to them"

- "The fact that so few people have thought about it should be some kind of weird hope for vegetarians and vegans"

- Push [away from animal products - ethics, environment, health] and pull [towards the alternatives - cheap, healthy, appealing, available] factors. "Really for long time we didn't have very good pull factors... appealing alternatives to offer people."

- Motivated reasoning: "If I lose this argument I'll have to go vegan and only eat beans... but if you can have burgers and nuggets and everything else... I'm not very motivated to try and defend this view any more"

- Social norms & the expectations of others "Not just what I think of veg*ism but what do others think of it"

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Jan 15, 202401:50:34
160: "Mother Cow, Mother India" - Yamini Narayanan - International Development A/Prof - Sentientism

160: "Mother Cow, Mother India" - Yamini Narayanan - International Development A/Prof - Sentientism

Yamini is Senior Lecturer in International and Community Development at Deakin University. Her work makes substantive contributions to the rapidly emergent field of South Asian Animal Studies through a twin focus on animals in political and urban life in India. It addresses species as an explicit identity category in Indian national politics through the intersections of #anthropocentrism, #sectarianism, and #casteism. Her book Mother Cow, Mother India offers one of the first empirical critiques of India’s cow protectionism discourse and politics from a #criticalanimalstudies standpoint. Yamini publishes widely in media on issues related to animal rights, including the Animal Liberation Currents, The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, Huffington Post and Animal People Forum. She has been interviewed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Brazil, and for documentaries on cow protection politics and animal advocacy in India.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

Welcome

Yamini's Intro

- Researching gender-sensitive urban development (e.g. urban transport in New Delhi & risks to women)

- "It was entirely by mistake... a twist of events suddenly led me to the world of animals"

- Animals and urban planning... then animals and nationalistic & identity politics in #india

What's Real?

- Being asked "how do you know?" when researching non-human animals

- "It's also a question we need to reflect on ourselves... how much of projections... biases... are we bringing into our analyses"

- "To do justice to the subjects of the work... we actually got to be very carefully reflective on this question of 'what is real?'"

- Confronting "scenes of really visceral extreme physical violence & suffering"... #dairy farming, animal labour in brick kilns

- Humans with "the flimsiest of protections... virtually none... but in the case of animals they have been completely disregarded as labour subjects at all"

- "For me it has always been the eyes... of an animal... it is impossible to sustain any form of differentiation when we look at the eyes"

- "The eyes are possibly one of the most real aspects of connection between two #sentient beings"

- "When I'm talking to a butcher... or to a self-identified Hindu right-wing cow vigilante who is actually practicing a very authoritarian form of politics... when I look into their eyes... it is again difficult for me to cancel or reject them completely... a window of an opportunity of connection... the eyes are a pathway into something real."

- Critical studies: valuing the subjective other "any being with a perspective"

- "In an Indian dairy farm animals are heavily restrained constrained... almost like concentrated animal feeding operations (#CAFO / #Factoryfarm ) of the west"

- "There is very limited avenue for... expressing individual behaviour... and yet they manage..." curiosity / repulsion / impatience "almost tired of futile interventions"

- Subjective and objective value and truths

- The "charge of emotionalism" levied against dairy researchers (vs. rationaity and intellect)... "The separation of the mother and the infant... the visceral suffering that both the infant and the mother experience as a result... when you're seeing it on a farm it is undeniable... how loud and how charged a calf's bleating for its mother can be"

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Jan 08, 202401:39:10
Waking Cosmos - a cross-post bonus episode - Sentientism 182

Waking Cosmos - a cross-post bonus episode - Sentientism 182

Welcome to episode 182 of the Sentientism Podcast. A podcast about what's real, who matters and how we can make a better world. The Sentientism worldview answers those deep questions by committing to evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings.

This episode is a bonus cross-post of my discussion with Adrian David Nelson. His Waking Cosmos podcast (here on Apple) explores the nature of consciousness, reality, ethics, and life’s place in the universe. The video version of our conversation is now here on his YouTube channel. Make sure you go and subscribe to both if you haven't already.

I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did talking to Adrian - feedback and suggestions are always welcome. As ever I'm only one Sentientist so others will disagree!

 We now have over 4500 subscribers on YouTube too. It's great to have your support there.

In ⁠⁠⁠Sentientist Conversations⁠⁠⁠ we talk about the three most important questions: “what’s real?”, “what (and who) matters?” and "how can we make a better future?"

The Sentientism worldview answers those questions with a commitment to "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings."

Find out more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Thanks to Tarabella and Denise for chipping in with our production costs via the secret(ish) ⁠⁠Sentientism Patreon⁠⁠.

Dec 20, 202301:29:18
Christof Koch & IIT - "Consciousness is not a computation... it's a state of being" - Sentientism 181

Christof Koch & IIT - "Consciousness is not a computation... it's a state of being" - Sentientism 181

Christof is a neurophysiologist and computational neuroscientist best known for his work on the neural basis of consciousness on which he worked with Nobel Prize winner Francis Crick for 24 years. He is the president and chief scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle.

Christof describes his passion in life as "to understand how I came to be in this wonderful, mysterious universe. Not so much me, personally, but me as a conscious, experiencing thing surrounding by other conscious organisms and trees, stars, and the sea." Over the last decade, he has worked closely with the psychiatrist and neuroscientist Giulio Tononi. Together they advocate for an Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of consciousness - often seen as a modern version of panpsychism that only ascribes consciousness to entities with some degree of irreducible cause-effect power.

Christof is the author of the books Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist. The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach, and Biophysics of Computation: Information Processing in Single Neurons. His forthcoming book, Then I am Myself the World, is due out in 2024.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Clips!

01:09 Welcome

- "My dog... Mr. Felix... a sentient being"

- The dedication from Christof's forthcoming book "Then I Am Myself The World": "... to all fellow travellers on the river of time who howl, bark, cry, screech, whine, bellow, shriek, buzz, sing, speak or those without a voice - for it is only in compassion with all life that we can redeem ourselves."

03:52 Christof's Intro

- Physicist turned neurobiologist

- "I've always been fascinated by the question of #consciousness"

04:45 What's Real

- Growing up in a devout Roman #catholic family, raised kids Catholic

- "One thing that always irked me... the belief that my dogs... somehow didn't have a soul and wouldn't be resurrected... that always bothered me... whatever it is we all share"

- "I lived in two worlds - like many scientists do. On Sunday you go to church and you pray... during the week, the rest of the time, you're a scientist - you try to explain everything using natural explanation... this split... I couldn't support any more"

- "Progressively I lost my faith... I'm a naturalist... I try to explain everything... using natural laws"

- A priest acknowledging that non-human animals are "parts of god's creation" and can suffer, but "they do not partake in the same way we do"

- Human exceptionalism "many religions believe that humans are exceptional... we're in charge of the universe... everything gets subsumed under human demands - that struck me as wrong"

- "Who has what faith - it's totally random - it depends where you were born and in which family you were born... how can this be true?"

- JW: Topics that draw even some naturalists back towards the mystical: Origins & nature of the universe, life, humanity, consciousness...

13:47 What and Who Matters?

39:45 What are Consciousness and Sentience?

1:14:09 A Better World?

1:17:35 Follow Christof

- christofkoch.com

- Christof at the Allen Institute

- Christof on Wikipedia

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Dec 13, 202301:20:31
S-Risks with Tobias Baumann - "Avoiding the Worst... a moral catastrophe" - Sentientism 180

S-Risks with Tobias Baumann - "Avoiding the Worst... a moral catastrophe" - Sentientism 180

Tobias co-founded the Center for Reducing Suffering with Magnus Vinding. CRS is a research center that works to create a future with less suffering, taking all sentient beings into account. More broadly, Tobias is involved in the effective altruism movement which applies evidence and reason to find the most effective ways to help others. In his new book, Avoiding the Worst: How to Prevent a Moral Catastrophe, Tobias lays out the concept of risks of future suffering (s-risks) and outlines ways to steer the world away from s-risks and towards a brighter future. You can get his book for free on Amazon or read the PDF version.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:10 Welcome 02:09 Tobias' Intro - CRS: "How can you best reduce suffering?"

- Tobias's book "Avoiding the Worst" and S-Risks

- A 2 step approach: 1) who & what matters, 2) empirical understanding & action 03:33 What's Real? - "I am #atheist since I am old enough to think about these issues"

- "I have a naturalist worldview - my answer to what's real is what we can scientifically observe & measure..."

- JW: For many religious people the biggest S-Risk "is that of being sent to hell by a supposedly benevolent god"

- Cognitive biases: wishful thinking (hoping s-risks aren't possible), confirmation bias (looking for evidence that supports our existing beliefs - ignoring contradictory evidence), scope neglect (struggling to understand or emotionally respond to very large numbers)

- JW: Animal agriculture as an understandable S-risk vs. #longtermism, large scales, artificial sentients

- "Factory farming is a moral catastrophe of incredible scale"

- JW: The ethical (e.g. "only humans matter") and epistemological (e.g. "animal farming is humane") errors that can cause massive harms

- Animal advocates' neglect of wild / free-ranging animal suffering ethics "the vast majority of sentient beings on earth are not humans... are not factory-farmed animals... but animals living in the wild, in nature - and they also suffer very serious harms... predation... starvation... diseases"

-  @AnimalEthics  video course on wild animal ethics

- "This might be the most important source of suffering at this point in time"- Risks of belief digitisation (jumping to yes/no instead of probabilistic credences) when considering low probability outcomes and/or large scale impacts

- Dealing with uncertainty

- "It's not necessarily what we are emotionally made for..."

- The expected value approach and "Pascal's mugging"... "taking speculative scenarios sufficiently seriously but not getting too crazy over it"

- "I would not think of S-risks as a Pascal's mugging... The broader idea of a large-scale moral catastrophe in the future doesn't seem that far-fetched to me at all"

- "We already have a similar dynamic... in terms of factory farming. Why is it so crazy to think that something similar and even larger scale could happen in the future."

- "The topic is quite neglected. I'm just a random guy on the internet and I've managed to write the first book on the topic."

20:30 What Matters? 27:40 Who Matters? 48:45 A Better World? 01:10:40 Follow Tobias - Avoiding the Worst

- CRS

- Tobias' site

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Dec 04, 202301:13:31
Melanie Joy - "How to End Injustice Everywhere" - Sentientism 179

Melanie Joy - "How to End Injustice Everywhere" - Sentientism 179

Melanie Joy, PhD, is a Harvard-educated psychologist specializing in relationships, communication, and social transformation. She is the award-winning author of six books, including the new How to End Injustice Everywhere and the bestselling Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows and Getting Relationships Right: How to Build Resilience and Thrive in Life, Love, and Work. Melanie is also an internationally recognized speaker and trainer who’s presented her work in fifty countries across six continents.

Melanie is best known for her groundbreaking theories on the psychology of violence and nonviolence and building healthy relationships. Her work has been featured by media outlets around the world, including the New York Times, BBC, NPR, and ABC Australia. She is the eighth recipient of the Ahimsa Award—previously given to the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela—for her work on global nonviolence; and she also received both the Peter Singer Prize and the Empty Cages Prize for her work developing strategies to reduce the suffering of non-human animals. Melanie is the founding president of the international organization, Beyond Carnism.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

00:00 Clips!

01:04 Welcome

02:51 Melanie's Intro

- The psychology of violence and #nonviolence , oppression and social transformation

- The psychology of eating animals and the work of  @BeyondCarnism 

04:05 What's Real?

- #catholic father, #protestant mother, neither particularly religious

- Attending #presbyterian #Christian church (occasionally) and nursery school

- Later, father re-discovered Catholic roots and became very religious. Jewish step-mother converted to Catholicism

- Mother joined #unitarianuniversalism church

- "I was never religious myself but I was very interested in religion... my first major was comparative religious ethics... fascinated by all things spiritual... the occult..."

- Very interested in #Judaism for a while

- "Always asking about meaning and what's true and what's real... sort of the way my brain was wired"

- Partially raised by #Quaker uncle and aunt "very progressive and socially engaged... very strong #socialjustice orientation" while father and step-mother were increasingly conservative

- "Everybody else in my family... is very progressive... my grandfather was even a #communist or at very least a #socialist "

- Quakerism and UU: "Integrating this sort of spiritual orientation which wasn't believing in a god, but believing in something more... that has to be very socially engaged... that was very attractive to me."

- "I'm not a Buddhist... but I have been guided by the principles of #buddhism "

- "My understanding of the world has been very much informed by witnessing and observing my family and the way they understood their own traditions and practices"

- "Liking to be in churches and liking to be in synagogues and wanting to be in temples... I felt very drawn" 26:43 What Matters?38:46 Who Matters?44:34 A Better World?55:45 Follow Melanie

- How to End Injustice Everywhere

- Beyond Carnism

- Infighting.org

- MelanieJoy.org

- @DrMelanieJoy

- Melanie on Insta

- Melanie on FaceBook

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Nov 22, 202358:48
178: "A commitment to solidarity and a stubborn commitment to hope" - Defending Animals Author - Kendra Coulter - Sentientism

178: "A commitment to solidarity and a stubborn commitment to hope" - Defending Animals Author - Kendra Coulter - Sentientism

Kendra is a professor at Huron University and a fellow of the OxfordCentre for Animal Ethics. She is a leading expert on animals and work, animal protection organizations and policy, and gender equity. Kendra has led multiple research projects enriching our understanding of human-animal work and animals’ own forms of labour in important new directions including through development of the concepts of humane jobs, interspecies solidarity, and ecosocial reproduction.

Kendra's latest book is Defending Animals: Finding Hope on the Front Lines of Animal Protection. She is the author of dozens of scholarly articles, book chapters, and public reports, as well as the path-making Animals, Work, and the Promise of Interspecies Solidarity. She is the co-editor of Animal Labour: A New Frontier of Interspecies Justice? Kendra has also published more than sixty columns including for The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Salon, Ottawa Citizen, Winnipeg Free Press, Edmonton Journal, The Conversation, iPolitics, and National Observer. Her work has so far been translated into French, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, German, and Bahasa Indonesia.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Clips!

01:17 Welcome

- 3 previous guests did blurbs for Kendra's new book: Ziya Tong, Marc Bekoff, Jeff Sebo

 03:02 Kendra's Intro

- "I'm not related to Ann Coulter... we have slightly different worldviews" :)

- "The primary purpose of my life is to improve and save animals' lives"

- "Cultivating empathy and compassion"

- Discriminatory "isms" and proactive, agitational, generative "isms"

- "Foregrounding sentient beings is a very powerful mobilising way of thinking about the positives... trying to find unity and common cause"

- JW: "Just rejecting the negative isms isn't quite enough... we also some sort of positive stance about what we do care about... who should matter."

- "We need to critique the problems... we also simultaneously need to be developing and proposing alternatives and solutions"

05:55 What's Real?

- Riding horses before walking, "learning how to be kind to animals"

- Raised by left-wing atheists

- "To this day I maintain a very progressive worldview... however... I have become less ideological"

- "Crucial to have an ethical core... but that the process of inquiry... evidence gathering and analysis... is absolutely essential"

- Dialogue with groups who have different views "while recognising that certain worldviews are antithetical to justice and equity for humans and other beings"

- Field research "experiencing things with your body... being out engaging... not reclining into the ivory tower"

- Amplifying and communicating with broad audiences "Public intellectual is one of the best compliments you can give someone... your ideas matter... using ideas to inspire action"

- Open mindedness based on evidence and data "but never losing those core commitments... equity... solidarity... justice"

- Lisa Kemmerer episode

15:11 What Matters?

26:36 Who Matters?

49:10 A Better World?

01:02:04 Follow Kendra

- https://twitter.com/DrKendraCoulter

- https://huronatwestern.ca/profiles/faculty/kendra-coulter-phd/ - https://www.instagram.com/gifted.horse/

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Nov 16, 202301:04:51
177: "Vegan Reflections" on animals and systems - with Jordi Casamitjana from Vegan FTA - a cross-post bonus episode

177: "Vegan Reflections" on animals and systems - with Jordi Casamitjana from Vegan FTA - a cross-post bonus episode

This episode is a bonus cross-post of my discussion with Jordi Casamitjana on his Vegan Reflections series for the VeganFTA YouTube channel. Make sure you go and subscribe if you haven't already. 

I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did talking to Jordi - feedback and suggestions are always welcome. As ever I'm only one Sentientist so others will disagree! If you want to hear me interview Jordi for Sentientism check out episode 104 on the Sentientism YouTube or podcast.

These are the two blogs we discussed:

In ⁠⁠Sentientist Conversations⁠⁠ we talk about the three most important questions: “what’s real?”, “what (and who) matters?” and "how can we make a better future?"

The Sentientism worldview answers those questions with a commitment to "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings."

Find out more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Thanks to Tarabella and Denise for chipping in with our production costs via the secret(ish) ⁠Sentientism Patreon⁠.

Nov 13, 202301:04:15
176: "Your Robot Dog Will Die" Author Arin Greenwood - Sentientism

176: "Your Robot Dog Will Die" Author Arin Greenwood - Sentientism

Arin Greenwood describes herself as an animal writer, novelist and lawyer. Her young adult book "Your Robot Dog Will Die" was published in 2018. Arin was animal welfare editor for The Huffington Post and now writes about dogs, cats, and other animals for The Today Show, The Dodo, The Washington Post, Slate, Creative Loafing, the American Bar Association Journal and many other publications.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

- Kyle Johannsen episode

02:01 Arin's Intro

- Dog lover, animal writer, former lawyer who has "written a couple of books"

- Writing about animal welfare then working with animal advocacy and sanctuary organisations

- Austin Pets Alive https://www.austinpetsalive.org/

03:57 What's Real?

- Growing up in a #Jewish family "And I'm still Jewish"

- Secular Judaism "We identify as Jewish, we have a Jewish community, I had a Bat Mitzvah... we celebrate a lot of the Jewish holidays but it doesn't necessarily have a belief component to it"

- Parents "go in and out of how spiritual they feel at any given moment"

- "I don't feel like I know enough about the universe to say there's definitely no such thing as a higher power... I barely know what's happening inside my own house most days"

- "My instinct is as a secular jew"

- "There are people who know more than I do... I believe in expertise... I also believe in humility"

07:53 What Matters?

- Regardless of whether there is a universal being... we do have knowable duties... to those who can feel happiness and those who can suffer"

- "The hard part is figuring out what those duties are and how they exist in a practical sense"

- "What difference does it make... if there's some sort of universal being... you should act in a good way regardless"

- The #torah  story of Abraham and Isaac "where god does tell Abraham to kill his son... that's not a story about 'you must be good' that's a story of 'you must follow my instructions'" #Divinecommandtheory

- JW: "We can have a hope that god might be benevolent... but if they're not we still have to do what we're told"

- Naturalistic #epistemology and/or #ontology

- "In Judaism we don't have hell... it's mostly 'you'll just really disappoint your mother'"

- Morality, amorality and immorality

- Moral foundations, #moralrealism or #antirealism

- #Psychopath and #Sociopathy JW: "even they can find an intellectual path to not harming others"

- JW: "Almost everybody has something you can start with... cares about their mother or their children or their friends... starting with the values they already hold... working with that... consistency"

21:20 Who Matters?

- "I've been #vegetarian since I was six years old... I made the connection between the animals I enjoyed spending time with and what was on my plate... at that point it just became unthinkable to keep eating them."

- "My husband... who doesn't share that same moral impulse... what do the normies think?"

- The animal welfare world: "Even in that world there's a lot of inconsistency - animal shelter events will serve meat... director eats meat

01:15:20 Follow Arin

- aringreenwood.com

- @arin_twit

- Arin on FaceBook

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Nov 05, 202301:17:48
175: "Making the kind choice becomes this gift" - Molly Elwood - Elwoods Dog Meat CEO - Sentientism

175: "Making the kind choice becomes this gift" - Molly Elwood - Elwoods Dog Meat CEO - Sentientism

Molly is a writer, copywriter, editor, creative strategist and an animal rights activist. She is Founder and CEO of the non-existent farm, Elwoods Organic Dog Meat.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss: 00:00 Clips 01:35 Welcome 03:20 Molly's Intro - Writing, copywriting & animal rights activism - 15 years in advertising - Starting the #ElwoodsOrganicDogMeat web site: "a vegan journey... through their own cognitive dissonance... to the realisation that they love animals and they actually don't want to eat them." - Going viral - "I think everyone's #vegan already... I don't think they're given the space to act on that... not given the moment to give it the thought... this gives them the chance to make all the vegan arguments that are already in their heart" 05:39 What's Real? - Not going to church growing up - Occasional visits to Lutheran church "but I didn't know what was happening... thinking the pastor was Jesus because he had long hair." - Dad: "There's just too much work to be done to waste a Sunday doing this" - Hearing of child abuse by a pastor - "It was never an #atheistic view... we never even talked about it... just 'this isn't our family - this isn't what we do'" - Parents in military. Travelling a lot, long hours "just going through the day" - At 12 yrs moving to a small, rural town "everybody was religious - I felt pretty left out" - Attending church youth group in high school "it was the boys and singing I wanted to go for :) - I really wanted to fit in. I got a Bible and I read it." - Asking youth group leaders questions: "If you can tell me what happened to the dinosaurs... why my parents are going to hell... why animals don't have souls... Once you've solved those for me... I'm ready to be baptised!" - "Let's isolate her away from the children... she's asking too many questions." - "It doesn't make any sense... Christianity had me in their palm and they rejected me" - "Going through the motions" in church youth group - At college youth group became a lot more religious "I realised this was not a group for me and I couldn't use this as my vehicle to belong." - "#Spirituality and #religion was never... even today is not part of my life" - Reading "The Buddha Got Stuck" then psychology - "I find personal growth to be my kind of spirituality" - A difficult time growing up "I was bullied... I was a bully... I have a lot of self-work I have to do" - "As we explore ourselves and find more peace with ourselves then we can be more at peace in the world" - "We all deal with so much suffering... if we understand ourselves we can heal a lot more in the world than we ever do through spirituality"

- #trauma and "chips on our shoulders"

- "We can make the world a lot better through personal growth than praying"

- JW "We can have the benefits of spirituality without the spirit and without the supernatural"

- The harms of supernatural beliefs via established religions, new age movements, wellness spaces, #conspiracy #conspirituality

01:16:02 Follow Molly (buying Elwood’s merch, free activist downloads and ways to get involved)

- elwooddogmeat.com

- mollyelwood.com

- @ElwoodDogMeat

- mollyelwood

- instagram.com/molly.elwood

- linkedin.com/in/mollyelwood

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Oct 22, 202301:18:56
174: "Law is a reflection of the people that make it" - Iyan Offor - Sentientism

174: "Law is a reflection of the people that make it" - Iyan Offor - Sentientism

Dr Iyan Offor is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Birmingham City University conducting interdisciplinary, theoretical research focusing on global animal law, environmental justice, intersectionality, posthumanism and law in the Anthropocene. Iyan is passionate about delivering legal education and research that will lead to the improvement of protections for animals and the environment in law. Iyan teaches international environmental law and human rights, legal theory, legal research, and constitutional law. He will also be creating a new course on animals in environmental law. His new book, "Global Animal Law From The Margins", is published by Routledge.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Clips

01:22 Welcome

- Josh Gellers (previous Sentientism guest)

03:00 Iyan's Intro

- Socio-legal scholar. Animals, nature and the law - and how those interact with society

- Improving educational options re: animal law: PhDs, masters projects, programmes, talks

- "...that appetite for learning about animals, the environment and the law that's already there - [but] in many places there's not space"

- Research: "How law can be used as a tool to try and improve animals lives... the core of what I'm trying to do"

- New book: "Global Animal Law From The Margins"

- Globallaw's multi-scale focus vs. #internationallaw (just the international level)

- Feminist, queer & postcolonial perspectives on the animal question

- "It ends up being a bit wacky... the international trading system... taking this forward-looking ethical approach... not the most natural bed-fellows but I think in the end it works"

 06:58 What's Real?

- An #atheist household in a very religious community (highlands of Scotland) and wider family

- #bornagain #christian grand-parents "a healthy dose of trying to convert us... my parents weren't to thrilled about that but we were well prepared."

- "I couldn't bring my #harrypotter books into the house because magic was seen as sinful and against god's will... it didn't make a lot of sense to me."

- Christian cartoons and religion at school "There was a feeling of it being forced on us"

- "I can see as quite problematic the ways in which children at school were expected to engage in Christian custom"

- Exchange year in Singapore, multiculturalism, secularism re: separation of state and religion

- Coming to understand grand-parents' turn to religion "they needed their faith"

- "I identify as part of the queer community... growing up in that very small, rural and christian environment... growing up closeted... has been interesting"

- Parents "gave us the information & gave us the freedom to make our own choice... that's an incredible privilege to have that freedom..."

- "I don't practice or follow a religion... it's never felt like a gap in my life"

34:18 What and Who Matters?

01:11:39 A Better World?

01:28:19 Follow Iyan

- https://twitter.com/IyanOffor

- https://www.linkedin.com/in/iyan-offor/

- https://www.bcu.ac.uk/law/about-us/meet-our-staff/iyan-offor

- Global Animal Law From The Margins “the e-book is reasonably priced”

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Oct 16, 202301:32:46
173: "Welfare protections have failed animals" - Legal Academic Dr Jane Kotzmann - Sentientism

173: "Welfare protections have failed animals" - Legal Academic Dr Jane Kotzmann - Sentientism

Jane is an Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Deakin Law School. Jane obtained degrees in Commerce, Law (with Honours), and a PhD in human rights law from Deakin University, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching (Teach for Australia) from the University of Melbourne. Jane has published research in relation to the human right to education, the human rights of disabled people, animal rights, and animal related laws. She has taught a variety of units, including human rights law, administrative law and contract law. She was a finalist for 'Academic of the Year' in the Australian Law Awards in 2019 and 2020. Her article titled 'Recognising the Sentience of Animals in Law: A Justification and Framework for Australian States and Territories’ was given an Australian Legal Research Award in 2022 for Best Early Career Research Article. Before embarking on her career in academia, Jane served as an associate in the inaugural Teach for Australia program. Prior to this, she was in private legal practice for a number of years, principally in commercial litigation.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

02:41 Jane's Intro

- Lawyer (“I didn’t really like that very much”), teaching high school (“enjoyable… but exhausting”), now academic research and teaching

- Human rights PhD, now animal law focused “I often think about concepts that exist in human rights literature and think about how they might apply… to the animal rights space”

04:40 What's Real?

- Catholic and Anglican Christian parents but neither “practicing”. Although some tension between the two families

- Attending Lutheran school at 15 “Lacking in some self-confidence… the religious angle… allowed me a way to feel like I could connect with something… I tried really hard… but I always struggled with trying to make myself believe something that… doesn’t have a great deal of evidence.”

- “I think there is  something other than what we can see, touch, feel and taste – but I’m not going to commit to knowing what that is”

- What we can sense “humans can generally agree on those things… beyond that, there may be more – I don’t know”

- “Some very intelligent people I know are deeply religious… I have no problem with that except where they decide that that allows them to hurt others. That’s where I draw the line.”

11:42 What Matters?

- Parents’ religions didn’t affect childhood ethics much

- Lutheran… “By and large… big hearted, generous, empathetic, wonderful people.” But “I took great pleasure… in debating the alleged sins of homosexuality with some of the pastors.”

- “I always found issues with these rigid rules that didn’t really make a lot of sense to me”

- Developing morality through reading fiction “I read a truck-load… through fiction I developed a strong sense of empathy… that’s what drove me then and drives me today”

14:54 Who Matters

- “Veganism back then was absolutely radical”

47:00 A Better World?

01:15:57 Follow Jane

- “I don’t do a lot of social media… people can of course email me!”

- Jane at Deakin

- Jane’s Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law talk: “Sentience and Intrinsic Worth as a Pluralist Foundation for Fundamental Animal Rights

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Oct 10, 202301:18:47
172: "The Animal Turn" - talking about Sentientism with Claudia Hirtenfelder - a cross-post bonus episode

172: "The Animal Turn" - talking about Sentientism with Claudia Hirtenfelder - a cross-post bonus episode

This episode is a bonus cross-post of my discussion about Sentientism with Claudia Hirtenfelder on her wonderful podcast, The Animal Turn. Make sure you go and subscribe if you haven't already. Go back and listen from the start too! Claudia has hosted so many mind-expanding conversations spanning five seasons so far.

In ⁠Sentientist Conversations⁠ we talk about the three most important questions: “what’s real?”, “what (and who) matters?” and "how can we make a better future?"

The Sentientism worldview answers those questions with a commitment to "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings."

Find out more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Thanks to Tarabella and Denise for chipping in with our production costs via the secret(ish) Sentientism Patreon.

Oct 05, 202301:08:03
171: "We've made a civilizational error" - Philosopher John Sanbonmatsu - Sentientism

171: "We've made a civilizational error" - Philosopher John Sanbonmatsu - Sentientism

John is a writer, philosopher, cultural critic and magician. He is best known for his book, The Postmodern Prince, and for his more recent work in Critical Animal Studies where he edited the collection "Critical Theory and Animal Liberation". Also in that field his book "The Omnivore's Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and the Nature of Moral Life" will be published by NYU Press in 2024. He has taught at the University of Illinois Chicago, DePaul University, and the University of California Santa Cruz, and is currently Associate Professor of Philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, where he teaches ethics, politics, existentialism, and other courses.  In his spare time, he performs as a professional magician and mentalist. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

02:10 John's Intro

- Philosopher

- Critical theorist "begins from the perspective of the world being unfree - and works from there - how do we build a world that is free?"

- "Since a kid I've been very interested in justice - social justice for all beings"

- Anti-nuclear weapons movement in college

- Solidarity movement against US interventions in Central America

- "When you become interested in claims of justice - it's a slippery slope - you broaden yourself out from there"

- Reading Peter Singer's "Famine, affluence and morality" (Peter Singer Sentientism episode here) #utilitarianism "we should all give 90% of our income"

- Singer's "Animal Liberation... turned me into a #vegetarian... got me on this path"

- Growing up in Massachusetts

- "Concerns oriented around liberation and justice"

- Professional magician & mentalism

05:10 What's Real?

- Brought up Unitarian

- Father "pretty much an atheist". Mother "Jewish but mostly a secular Jew". "I kind of think they met in the middle."

- "The pilgrims would have been horrified by the liberalism of the modern Unitarian church"

- Celebrating Passover "the liberation of the Jews... a narrative about freedom... more general liberation"

- "In the 70's people believed in psychic phenomena... ferment around supernaturalism... almost animism... maybe there are aliens... maybe the plants are listening to us"

- "#UriGeller was a big inspiration to me at the time... I would spend hours in my room trying to move pennies with my mind"

- "What I thought was real at the time turns out wasn't real :)"

- Japanese American father "I grew up in a completely white town... I experienced a lot of racism... that experience was real. Ordinary events were shot through with the potential for harm or vulnerability... grounded me... an attentiveness towards suffering - my own suffering and the suffering of other people."

- Charles Mills' "Blackness Visible" criticism of Descartes'... "Do I really exist" isn't a question black people are really asking. "They know they exist because they're getting beaten up - they're aware their body is real... it takes a certain privileged position to doubt your corporeal reality"

43:12 What and Who Matters?

01:00:55 A Better Future?

01:32:36 Follow John

- johnsanbonmatsu.com

- @SanbonmatsuJ

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Sep 29, 202301:35:03
170: "Think more like six year olds!" - Psychology Researcher Luke McGuire - Sentientism

170: "Think more like six year olds!" - Psychology Researcher Luke McGuire - Sentientism

Luke is a lecturer working in the Department of Psychology at the University of Exeter. His research examines social and moral development between childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. Between 2017 and 2020 he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow on the Wellcome Trust, ESRC and NSF funded “STEM Teens” project. This project examined the role of youth educators in informal science learning sites, both by longitudinally following youth educators and by quasi-experimentally examining their role in these sites.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

- Previous guests Kristof Dhont (ep:47), Matti Wilks (ep:45)

- PHAIR Society conference https://phairsociety.org/

01:53 Luke Intro

- Social & moral developmental #psychology

- Human prejudice, discrimination - fairness, co-operation, resource allocation

- PHAIR symposium on "The Meat Paradox" "That was a big inspirational moment for me"

- Tania Lombrozo ep:168

04:13 What's Real?

- "The beauty of this podcast is forcing people to wrestle with their own socialisation"

- Mum from Northern Ireland & dad from Scotland "culturally religious backgrounds"

- Going to church & "learning about the more scientific worldview alongside that... I wrestled with the conflict of those two things when I was younger"

- Rural childhood "being face to face with the natural world"

- "I sort of decided for myself when I was about 11 or 12 years old that the religious side of it was not really for me"

- "My parents were so respectful of whatever we wanted to do as kids"

- #punk and #metal

- "There's lots of people who come from sub-cultures into this animal rights movement... it's those sub-cultural spaces where these more radical ideas are first laid down and then expand out into the broader world"

- Nico Delon ep 159

- @moby 's Punk Rock Vegan Movie

- "I haven't gone as far as the full animal rights sleeve tattoo yet but there's still time"

- Peer influence "your parents might act as your early socialisers but a lot of what happens from when you're 6-7 years and older is down to the circles you're moving with in outside the home"

- A vegetarian friend at 13

- "If you work in science for long enough you stop believing that anything can be proven 100%... do not use the word 'proof'... you cannot use that word."

- "I'm with you - the more naturalistic view"

- Nature-facing spiritual movements "pagans are on the rise again... people are turning back to nature"

- Epistemological issues: #QAnon #antivaxx #flatearth #BigLie #trump #astrology #homeopathy #covid19 ...

- "There could be a rational computational model for how we interact with the world but that's just not how it works - the social world is impossibly complicated and the human brain is not very well set up to understand... so we have to use these more simple heuristics"

- "We see the importance of group membership time and time again - that identity aspect"

- #ReplicationCrisis

- "We have to use these simple decision-making processes because everything is too complicated"

- "We can dream of being the rational thinker but we're never going to get there"

- #misinformation , #disinformation , #conspiracy

- Genuine vs. performative belief?

- "What does it mean to really believe something?"


...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Sep 19, 202301:22:42
169: A Sentientism Salon with the American Ethical Union - with Amy Halpern-Laff and Jamie Woodhouse - hosted by Hugh Taft-Morales - a cross-post bonus episode

169: A Sentientism Salon with the American Ethical Union - with Amy Halpern-Laff and Jamie Woodhouse - hosted by Hugh Taft-Morales - a cross-post bonus episode

This episode is a bonus cross-post of a salon session about Sentientism with the American Ethical Union back in February 2022 hosted by Hugh Taft-Morales. Amy Halpern-Laff and I (Jamie Woodhouse) presented the Sentientism worldview and we had a great Q&A session with the group.

If you prefer video you can watch the session on the AEU YouTube channel here.

Find out more about the AEU on their website here.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what (and who) matters?”

The Sentientism worldview answers those questions with a commitment to "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings."

Find out more at ⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Sep 18, 202301:23:40
168: "Most people think they're better than average" - Tania Lombrozo - Psychologist - Sentientism

168: "Most people think they're better than average" - Tania Lombrozo - Psychologist - Sentientism

Tania is the Arthur W. Marks Professor of Psychology at Princeton University. She oversees the Concepts and Cognition Laboratory, which uses the empirical tools of cognitive psychology and the conceptual tools of analytic philosophy to study the human mind. Their research focuses on topics including explanation, learning, causal reasoning, and folk epistemology.  Tania is the recipient of numerous early-career awards including the Stanton Prize from the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, the Spence Award from the Association for Psychological Science, a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation and a James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award in Understanding Human Cognition. She blogs about psychology, philosophy, and cognitive science at Psychology Today and for NPR’s 13.7: Cosmos & Culture.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome 01:49 Tania Intro

- #interdisciplinary human #cognitivescience

- Links to #epistemology & #ethics "I came to cognitive science from a background largely in philosophy of science & epistemology"

- Questions at the boundary of empirical psychology & philosophy "how can we know things, what is knowledge, what does it mean to understand, how do we acquire understanding, how can we make the correct decisions"

- "We can learn a lot from #philosophy "

- What makes a compelling explanation & why we are so motivated to explain

03:57 What's Real?

- "Because I am a psychologist I'm deeply sceptical of my own introspective sense"

- Growing up in a #Jewish household and "I still identify as Jewish"

- Jewish identity, community, ritual... "at the same time I feel like theistic beliefs just played pretty much no role in that at all"

- Prayers: "They certainly talk about god, they certainly talk about occurrences that seem very, very implausible... but that just seemed to me to be not deeply connected to what was valuable or important about that religious identity growing up"

- "That sounds somewhat foreign to many people I know from other religions where belief is really at the core of what it means to have a particular kind of a religious identity"

- Not speaking Hebrew "you're able to get to a certain point where something might have meaning for you... before you actually know what it means"

- "I definitely had experiences of actually reading the translations and being taken aback by them... this is what I've been saying?"

- Hebrew School "I told my parents that it I thought it was a waste of time and I didn't want to keep going"

- In high school "sought out Jewish education on my own... I discovered I was the only person there whose parents hadn't forced them to be there... it was a miserable class"

- "I had a Jewish wedding... one of the conversations that we had with our Rabbi was that we didn't want god to be mentioned"

- "Threading that needle... preserve some elements of a tradition that's meaningful... how to do it in a way that's consistent with other values that I hold."

- "I think I'm a straightforward boring naturalist"

- "I have no doubt that I routinely employ all sorts of background assumptions that I have not subjected to scrutiny & that I could not give good evidence based arguments for..."

What Matters?

Who Matters?

A Better Future?

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Sep 13, 202301:11:38
2: Being a Vegan Atheist activist and actress in Hollywood - "Sentientism feels like home!" - Sentientist Conversations - Carole Davis #1

2: Being a Vegan Atheist activist and actress in Hollywood - "Sentientism feels like home!" - Sentientist Conversations - Carole Davis #1

Jamie talks to actress, singer/song-writer, author and activist Carole Raphaelle Davis about Sentientism, what she believes and what matters morally.  If you prefer reading to listening, we've posted an article based on this conversation here.

You can watch the video of our conversation here on our Sentientism YouTube channel. Why not subscribe there as well as to this podcast?

Carole Raphaelle Davis is an actress, recording artist, writer and activist best known for her roles in Sex and the City and Madam Secretary and her songwriting with Prince. See more at caroleraphaelledavis.com.

Sentientism is "Evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings." You can find out more about it at sentientism.info

Everyone interested, whether Sentientist or not, is welcome to join our global communities. Our main group is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism.

Many thanks to Graham Bessellieu for his post-production work on the video and audio. Go follow him (and maybe work with him!) at @cgbessellieu.

Sep 05, 202355:29
167: What kind of relationships do we want with AI and other sentient beings? - Novelist and AI Researcher Jared Moore - Sentientism

167: What kind of relationships do we want with AI and other sentient beings? - Novelist and AI Researcher Jared Moore - Sentientism

Jared is a researcher at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Until the summer of 2023 he was a lecturer at the University of Washington School of Computer Science. While there he created a class on the philosophy of AI and created and taught an ethics course as well as teaching technical artificial intelligence courses. His satirical novel "The Strength of The Illusion" was published in the summer of 2023. Previous Sentientism guest Mark Solms called it "extraordinary".

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Clips!

00:56 Welcome

02:23 Jared Intro

- AI research, teaching philosophy, AI ethics and AI tech

- "What are the right things to do and how do we bring those things about"

- "AI is a sandbox... to test out these ideas"

- Jared's philosophical novel, "The Strength of the Illusion" "A timely meditation on what happens when artificial intelligence clashes with human stupidity"

- "#philosophyofmind ... what it means to think, to learn..."  

05:12 What's Real?

- "I grew up with a father that derided religion"

- A "very atheistic upbringing... in some parts I regret" vs. "more religious community centred upbringings"

- Not convinced re: god or spirituality but "that's not to say that I want to discount the feelings of religious experiences"

- William James

- Irish grandmother "she hates the #catholic church with a passion"

- Father is a doctor encountering lots of "anti-science"

- Joining a gospel choir at University "I'm not religious but it's a really fun and enlivening way to approach life"

- "It's not been my life to combat religion... the 'Four Horsemen'... Dan Dennett, Sam Harris..."

- "I think there's value in being kind to each other when you talk about this [religion]"

- "Few people are willing to actually debate the tenets of their beliefs... that's the tension between science and religion"

- "The unwillingness, by design, to accept alternative hypotheses and test their views is what perpetuates religion"

- Spirituality: "I haven't been drawn... it seems a bit like #mysterianism... an appeal to mystery before the facts are out."

- "Could we not explain consciousness, morality... I think that we can eventually explain those things through rigourous science"

- Rejections of the possibility of explaining consciousness: Searle's Chinese Room, Nagel's "What Is It Like To Be A Bat?"... "These appeals are in a sense spiritual... they're appealing to some sort of mystery"

- "That explanation does not need to be a let down -just because we can explain the illusion doesn't mean that the illusion doesn't exist"

- "There's a degree of bad blood"... history of scientists denying or avoiding or deriding things because the evidence isn't yet there to enable study (e.g. #behaviourists ignoring mental states)

- "Scientists are imperfect and can be mean"

- Do AIs have epistemology - JW: "are they learning, can they know things?"

- #llms (large language models)  like OpenAI's #chatgpt "Do they understand language?"

- "They... seem to be able to use language OK... they make errors but humans make errors too"

21:25 What & Who Matters?

44:24 Who Matters?

01:09:25 A Better Future?

Follow Jared:

- https://jaredmoore.org/

- https://twitter.com/jaredlcm

- https://jaredmoore.org/the-strength-of-the-illusion

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Sep 01, 202301:22:11
166: "An Aligned AGI would end factory farming" - Kat Woods - EA Charity Co-Founder - Sentientism

166: "An Aligned AGI would end factory farming" - Kat Woods - EA Charity Co-Founder - Sentientism

Kat is an effective altruist who co-founded Nonlinear (incubating artificial intelligence extinction risk non-profits), Charity Entrepreneurship (helping people start new, effective charities), and Charity Science Health. She describes her main focus today as trying "to make transformative artificial intelligence go well instead of poorly."

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:56 Kat Intro

- "The biggest thing I care about is preventing suffering risks [#S-risks] the risk of causing astronomical amounts of suffering... We're already in one"

- "We're a super-intelligent species compared to pigs and chickens and it's not going great... the worst thing that has ever happened in history as far as I can tell"

- "Right now we're just racing towards making a species that is much, much more intelligent than us - that hasn't gone well in the past"

- "I really want to make sure that it goes well not just for us - but also for all sentient beings - and also future sentient beings"

- "How we play this in the next while could be the difference between... the best invention that every happened... or we could all die, like everybody, including all the animals... or be stuck in a factory farming thing where there's no escape... like there's no chance for chickens escaping from factory farming"

- Trying to get more people working on this to make sure it goes well

- From #passiveincome #4hourworkweek to #passiveimpact and helping people

- Nonlinear: mentorship, seed funding, helping other people start things

- "Prioritise ideas, make the ideas happen"

 06:20 What's Real?

- Growing up on Canadian West Coast

- "Religion just wasn't talked about"

- "The only time I heard about Christianity was in my history class... and english class"

- "When I actually found out that people really did believe these things I was like 'holy shit... maybe I could go to hell... that sounds bad'"

- Delving into Islam, Wiccanism. Christianity "too boring"

- Graduating at 17 & taking a gap year in India & reading Dawkins' "God Delusion"

- "At the beginning I just thought it was clearly bad... I hadn't interacted with anyone who was really religious"

- "It's really easy to demonise somebody that you haven't met"

- Staying with a family in Rwanda "an extremely religious country"... "At first I was worried... I ended up telling everybody... I'm an atheist" but doing humanitarian work, not "eating babies"!

- Epistemology: "I was very hard-core - do RCTs [randomised controlled trials] for everything..."

- Reading a psychology paper on "willpower" every day... "my first ever experience of real science... this is crap"... small effect sizes, exaggerated abstracts...

- "Science is terrible... but it's better than your gut most of the time... the only way we see that is because we have ways to evaluate"

- "My confidence interval around what is true got wider and wider... more and more uncertain"

- Experiencing epistemic angst "I can't know anything... nobody knows anything... I'm just going to go be a hippy in the woods, make some art, do some drugs... but I just kept caring about stuff that was happening in the world... I just have to keep going"

- Astrophysicist Katie Mack episode

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Aug 25, 202301:20:18
165: "I don't believe that people are born bad" - Alexandra Paul - Actress and Activist - Sentientism

165: "I don't believe that people are born bad" - Alexandra Paul - Actress and Activist - Sentientism

Alexandra is an actress, activist and health coach. She has appeared in more than 100 feature films and television programs starring alongside actors including Tom Hanks, Pamela Anderson, Pierce Brosnan, Kevin Costner and Dan Ackroyd. She is internationally recognized for her 5-year starring role in the tv series Baywatch.

Alexandra has been a lifelong and often award-winning (and arrested!) activist, spanning causes including animal liberation, environmentalism, human population, peace, voting rights and LGBTQ rights. She competes in long distance swimming and Ironman races, including the World Ironman Championship in Hawaii.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube.

We discuss:

00:00 Clips & Welcome

- Crystal Heath episode (thanks for the intro!)

02:30 Alexandra's Intro

- Acting, #baywatch , marriage, activism

- "I am an actress by trade but I feel like I'm an activist - that's the thing that feeds my soul... gives me purpose & meaning"

- Human population, animals

- Moving to Oregon

- #YesOnIP13 ballot initiative & David Michelson episode

 04:55 What's Real?

- Growing up in a Christian #protestant household. Church every sunday.

- Boarding school with church every morning

- "It drives me crazy when our President swears on the Bible because I thought there was separation of church & state..."

- Confirmed into the church at 12 yrs old "When in doubt do what Jesus would do - the kindest thing"

- Midnight mass at 17 yrs old "A pastor said 'we're all born with sin'... I just thought 'that's not true'... that was pretty much the end of me and religion"

- "I also felt that religion didn't deal with the things that needed to be done on earth - like the environment"

- "So I never went back to church after that"

- "The tenet about Jesus doing the kindest thing has evolved into Ingrid Newkirk's... 'be kind, be kind, be kind'" Ingrid episode

- "I personally don't have a god"

- "I've got a lot of work to do on earth... I'm not even going to deal with religion because it's just a waste of time.. I need to fix things on earth... I don't consider myself a spiritual person."

- Visiting the Vatican "horrified at the riches in that place"

- "Also the anthropocentric view of the bible - that humans are the centre and we have dominion over everything else... and very male-dominated"

- Protesting the Iraq war & being arrested with the Catholic Workers "They put into practice what is talked about in the Bible about loving your fellow man"

- The meaning, solace & community some get from religion and how activism can provide the same

- "I will not join a religion because of the exclusiveness & the hierarchy... and humans are at the centre"

- "I don't believe that people are born bad... circumstances can twist them... humans get damaged"

- #Moralluck , blame and retribution. #Sentientistjustice https://sentientism.info/sentientism-in-action/sentientist-justice

- "How good a person would I be" if I'd been born in different (tougher) circumstances

- "I worried that my character was weak... I think that's one of the reasons I've become an activist... I remember being afraid that I was a bad person underneath."

30:21 What Matters?

34:25 Who Matters?

54:37 A Better Future

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Aug 18, 202301:25:50
164: Talking about Sentientism on "Knowing Animals" with philosopher Josh Milburn - a cross-post bonus episode

164: Talking about Sentientism on "Knowing Animals" with philosopher Josh Milburn - a cross-post bonus episode

This episode is a bonus cross-post of my conversation about Sentientism with Josh Milburn on his Knowing Animals podcast, founded by the late and much loved Siobhan O'Sullivan, as part of their Protecting Animals series.

Make sure you subscribe to Knowing Animals wherever you listen. Of course Josh has also been my guest on Sentientism back in episode 50. You can find it here on the Sentientism YouTube (don't forget to subscribe and click the bell!) and here on the Sentientism Podcast.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what (and who) matters?”

The Sentientism worldview answers those questions with a commitment to "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings."

Find out more at ⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Aug 15, 202338:52
163: "It was a huge wake-up call... I felt like I'd been living a lie" - Lawyer Delci Winders - Sentientism

163: "It was a huge wake-up call... I felt like I'd been living a lie" - Lawyer Delci Winders - Sentientism

Delci is an animal protection lawyer, scholar, teacher and programme builder. She is an associate professor of law and Director & Founder of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at Vermont Law and Graduate School. The Institute is committed to training animal advocacy leaders (e.g. masters degrees and programmes, Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic) and serving as a resource hub.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

- Elan Abrell episode

02:30 Delci's Intro

- A non-traditional path, straddling academic & activism

- Pragmatic idealism "I was there to help animals"

05:38 What's Real?

- "My mom grew up in a fundamentalist, fear-based #cult"

- "She really didn't want us to experience that - so we didn't go to church at all"

- Mom still had strong religious beliefs "but she didn't force them on us", #agnostic dad

- "I grew up... naturalistic and being critically minded and making decisions based on what I observed in the world"

- "I probably have disappointed my mum in that I'm an #atheist"

- "I was just born argumentative... always pushing back and asking questions"

- Hearing about the trauma of family because of the cult "it gave me a critical lens on religion... what is the agenda here? Who is this serving?"

- "I've always had a really strong moral compass... why would someone in a position of authority create terror and suffering in children?... an early anti-authoritarian"

- "I do have a tremendous respect for evolution... for systems that have evolved over millennia"

- #meditation & secular #buddhism "There is a whole lot we don't know"

12:19 What Matters?

- "For as long as I can remember  have had a very strong moral compass that is not based on any external... religious document... fear of punishment..."

- "Just a deep sense of #justice in my core... and as sense of needing to speak up about that"

- Shyness, social anxiety "but there are times when something just bubbles up in me and I need to speak out... do something about it"

- Featuring in #OphrahWinfrey 's "O" magazine as "The Crusader"

- "I have this very strong conviction of what's right and wrong"

- "Fairness... not causing unnecessary suffering"

- Being pragmatic, so considering specific situations but "informed by an overlay"

- Authoritarianism, harming others for profit, lacking transparency

 16:29 Who Matters?

- A traumatic experience at 14 yrs. Raising two pigs from birth as companions then "they were unexpectedly slaughtered"

- "I loved animals before then... but that really set me on a journey... I just started reading about factory farming, animal rights... Peter Singer's Animal Liberation"

- Ep: 156 with Peter Singer

-  "It resonated with me very much that sentience mattered... that has been a fundamental touch-point for me... I've added complications to it over the years"

- Precautionary principle re: assessing sentience

- "My focus tends to be on individuals & sentience... overlaid with a respect for systems... and interconnectedness"

- "I loved eating meat and didn't really think about the connections to animals"

- "It was a huge wake-up call for me... I felt like I had been living a lie... I had been betrayed... there was all of this awfulness & corruption in the world that I had been totally unaware of"

A Better Future?

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Aug 04, 202301:09:39
162: "What I learned from that power was that I didn't want it" - Jo-Anne McArthur - Photojournalist - Sentientism

162: "What I learned from that power was that I didn't want it" - Jo-Anne McArthur - Photojournalist - Sentientism

Jo-Anne McArthur is a photojournalist, public speaker, animal rights activist and author. She is best known for her We Animals Media project, a media agency and photography project documenting human relationships with animals. Jo-Anne offers presentations about human relationships with animals in educational and other environments and provides photographs and other media for those working to help animals.

Jo-Anne was the primary subject of the 2013 documentary The Ghosts in Our Machine, directed by Liz Marshall, and with Keri Cronin, she is the founder of the Unbound Project, which aims to celebrate and recognize women animal activists. Her first book, We Animals, was published in 2013; her second, Captive, was published in 2017; and a third, Hidden, which featured a foreword by Joaquin Phoenix, was published in 2020. Jo-Anne has been awarded a range of commendations for her photography and activism, including several commendations in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards and joint first place in the COP26 photography competition.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

2:23 Jo's Intro

- Striving to be open, active, helping, empathic, compassionate, humble

- Founding We Animals Media "What was once me with camera is now me & 15 staff & over 100 contributing photographers globally"

- "My own ethos about being generous in the world"

3:57 What's Real?

- #catholic background but not very religious family

- "Know the stories, know the moralistic tales... which are largely quite good & translate across many religions... do unto others... take care of one another"

- "I am personally #atheist / #agnostic atheist... I do have a very #spiritual sense of the world... did I just contradict myself? I don't think so."

- "Everything is interconnected... I am from the earth and will go back to the earth."

- "It's a beautiful system this earth has evolved over billions of years... I am in awe of that."

- "If I have a spiritual leaning it's towards reference for the earth"

- "My dad commented... I seemed like an earth worshipper... indigenous ideology? pagan ideology?"

- "I go through the world in awe of what is around me"

- "You protect what you love... I do love the plants... trees, birds in the trees & the old dog I adopted & other people..."

- "Perhaps that reverence has led me to be a full time activist for others"

- "There were no clashes (with supernatural religious beliefs)... it just seemed to me that the scientific experiment is what holds truest to me... how biology works... how the cosmos works... I just gravitated towards that"

- "3 of my 4 parents are very religious now... we don't talk about it very much because we disagree on some major things"

- "They feel that I will go to hell if I don't find Jesus so they pray for me... yet we have a gorgeous, wonderful, close relationship"

- "We disagree on these things but we can still love one another"

- "It was quite a religion free zone at my house. I was free to develop my worldviews."

- "My parents guided me but also took a back seat to the things that were apparently precious to me... protecting others"

14:22 What & Who Matters?

34:42 A Better Future?

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Jul 25, 202301:09:42
161: India has a rich history of pro-animal thought. So why aren't we using that in our advocacy (instead of global north narratives)? - Varda Mehrotra - Sentientism

161: India has a rich history of pro-animal thought. So why aren't we using that in our advocacy (instead of global north narratives)? - Varda Mehrotra - Sentientism

Varda Mehrotra is an animal advocate and movement builder, exploring intersectional solutions. Most recently, she founded Samayu to undertake intersectional work and apply a systems approach for issues surrounding justice and animals in food systems. Under her decade-long leadership, FIAPO - India’s federation for animal organisations - was recognized as one of the most effective animal charities. She has spearheaded several large-scale undercover investigations, campaigns for farmed animals, companion animals and wild animals and was the architect of India’s largest plant-based advocacy network which has created many animal advocate leaders in the country. Prior to that, she spent several years organising within the grassroots animal advocacy movement in Scotland.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:41 Varda's Intro

- "An activist first"

- Scotland, India, US

- Advocating for farmed, wild, companion animals

- Policy work, mobilisation, vegan advocacy, corporate engagement

- Intersectional thinking "in practice" "a bigger picture approach... correcting the omission of animal interests in the broader discourse around our planetary crisis

- Co-founding Samayu "working with the inter-linkages" https://samayu.org/

3:45 What's Real?

- A Hindu religious upbringing

- "All our holidays were spent in the forest... the value of the natural world... you hold it in wonder"

- Mum researched Buddhist philosophy "a lot of Buddhist concepts mixed in [with traditional Hinduism]"

- As a rebellious teenager "I was a staunch atheist for a while... Now the question of atheism has almost disappeared... ceased to matter"

- "I just didn't see any evidence... there was just no way I could relate to faith on its own... and the dogmatic side of religion... that I still strongly disagree with. I wasn't convinced then and I'm not convinced now."

- "My worldview has shifted - I don't believe in the single or multiple male gods"

- "I just identify as a nothingist"

- "That was one of the many things I was talking about doing differently... at a very young age I said 'I'm not OK doing that' [eating meat]"

- "Exploring modalities... #meditation, #yoga... evidence for a general sense of connection... empathy... acknowledging everything is interconnected"

- "I don't think there is anything 'greater than'... but certainly there is a fundamental interconnection that goes beyond transactional relationships... that grounds me."

- Naturalistic and supernatural versions of #spirituality

- The ethical risks of spiritual, supernatural & religious worldviews (#cults #alternativemedicine harsh punishments, authoritarianism...) "There's a huge difference if they are taking actions from those beliefs or not."

- "Buddhist monasteries are still serving meat and dairy"

- "Any belief system can easily become dogmatic"

- "Spirituality can be equally dark... as organised religion"

21:30 What & Who Matters?

- "Everybody matters... all human and non-human beings matter"

- "Each of us are on our journey to be able to put that into action"

- "Sentience is the scientific basis of including beings in our moral compass"

- "Looking at nature... and including that... within that moral compass"

- "Intrinsic value... Every animal exists with his or her own interests"

33:23 Making a Better World

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Jul 13, 202301:08:40
159: Should non-sentient agents matter too? - Philosopher Nicolas Delon - Sentientism

159: Should non-sentient agents matter too? - Philosopher Nicolas Delon - Sentientism

Nicolas is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies at the New College of Florida. In Fall 2023, he will join the College of Charleston as Assistant Professor of Philosophy.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:55 Nico's Intro

- Philosophy PhD in France (the moral status of animals - a #relational theory)

- PostDoc @nyuanimalstudies2689

- Chicago Uni Law School w/ #MarthaNussbaum

- Asst. Prof @NewCollegeofFL

- #Vegan, dad, runner

03:17 What's Real?

- "I'm a pretty strong naturalist"

- A non-religious family - #protestant parents "a minority in France & in Belgium"

- Religion classes in Belgium: Segregated into #Catholic, Protestant & "the others"

- Father's ethos: "Self discipline, a sense of integrity... and he hated the Pope... but he didn't really believe in god... some higher order of things that he was not sure about... an #agnostic more than a #theist "

- No particular revelation, but didn't believe in god after 12-13 yrs old

- "A strong distrust of religious authorities"

- Studying philosophy, drawn to #spinoza and #nietzsche

- "#nietzsche has really stuck with me"

- As a pre-teen "I remember thinking... nasty things about god then feeling very guilty..."

- "The world just made more sense for me without a supernatural entity that would be its creator & legislator"

- There's so much we don't understand... because of a strong commitment to epistemic humility... I'm not in the habit of ruling out a priori the existence of things that we think don't fit the current worldview. That being said... I don't believe in a god... supernatural entities... ghosts."

- #Meditation & #psychedelics "I think there is such a thing as mystical experiences but... don't reveal really anything that is possibly hidden from a broadly naturalistic understanding of the world"

- "The naturalistic framework makes you enquire about the world... in constant revision"

11:15 What Matters?

- "Anti-realist on many issues... I'm not a moral realist"

- "I don't think there are real mind-independent facts about morality"

- "A Protestant integrity"

- "I grew up with #punkrock... gave rise to some of my commitments with respect to #animalrights "

- Talking about #anarchism with dad: "I disagree with them politically... but some of the most moral people I've ever met are anarchists"

- "Whether or not you believe in god... you can still have a commitment to right & wrong"

- "What I think I took from punk rock & in part from Nietzsche... is that people come up with their own values... and have to get along somehow."

- "There's room for moral talk - I wouldn't be an ethicist otherwise"

- If anything is going to be right or wrong... it's going to be... the result of some form of constructive/deliberative/expressive process"

- "Of course I was tempted by #nihilism" & #relativism

- Having a "robust commitment to justice" while rejecting hierarchy/authority is arguably more moral? (why dad respected anarchists)

- "Nihilism was the big worry for Nietzsche at the end of the 19th Century"

- "Some values are worth promoting but we have to think about which values... but they don't have a bedrock that's independent"

- Even without moral realism we have "tools to criticise other communities' moralities"

- Descriptive vs. normative assessments

29:53 Who Matters?

1:15:11 Making a Better World?


...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Jun 27, 202301:34:27
158: "A Philosophy for the Science of Animal Consciousness" - Walter Veit - Sentientism

158: "A Philosophy for the Science of Animal Consciousness" - Walter Veit - Sentientism

Walter is an inter-disciplinary philosopher. He works primarily on the Philosophy of Cognitive and Biological Sciences, the Philosophy of Mind, Applied Ethics and particularly in the intersections of those fields. Much of his recent work has focused on animal minds, welfare, and ethics, as well as evolution. His new book ‘A Philosophy for the Science of Animal Consciousness‘ integrates this research into a coherent whole. It is being launched today (16th June) with Routledge.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Taster clips!

01:02 Welcome

02:22 Book Launch: A Philosophy for the Science of Animal Consciousness

03:40 Walter's Intro

- Peter Godfrey-Smith & Paul Griffiths

- Heather Browning

- "An evolutionary, non-anthropocentric approach"

- "A lot of the denial of pain [e.g. fish, crustaceans, octopuses] has rested on a very #anthropocentric position"

- Some animals have different eyes vs. humans but that doesn't mean they can't see. The same applies re: the architectures underpinning consciousness

- "what animal lives are like... what kinds of subjective experiences would be useful for them to have from a #Darwinian perspective"

- Studying consciousness "as a natural phenomenon... rather than... as a human phenomenon"

- Did human social contexts (barter, trade, co-operation, agreements) lead to us having more abstract cognitive facilities?

- Modern discoveries re: advanced cognitive and social capabilities in non-human animals (e.g. corvids, octopuses)

10:53 A Darwinian Perspective

- Daniel Dennett "Complexity matters - but what kind of compexity"

- IIT & HigherOrderTheory

- Brain hemispheres operating more independently. Two separate streams of experience?

- Theories of consciousness that are untestable or fail to make predictions

- Panpsychism, illusionism

- "The Darwinian bottleneck"

- "Philosophers very rarely ask the question 'where does the mind come from?'"

- "In order to understand how it works we'll need to understand why it evolved"

- "We can only understand what consciousness is by understanding how it evolved"

- Evolution & development processes

- Epiphenomena

- Marian Dawkins

- "This attitude that anything goes in the literature... it doesn't seem like we're making any progress... we're just creating new outlandish views without having any means of trying to filter them out... like panpsychism"

- JW: "It's very common for people to say 'we know nothing about consciousness' which I find a bizarre statement"

- "We've made so much scientific progress"

- "There are some mental properties that are unique to humans but it's very unclear those are the ones that matter for moral purposes"

20:31 The Origins of Sentience & Consciousness

- "It is adaptationist... very complex phenomena don't just appear out of nowhere... They almost always have a functional role. They're not just spandrels..."

- "Consciousness is just far to complex and evolutionarily fine tuned for that to happen"

- "In our own experience we can see how well it helps us... even if it sometimes can misfire"

- The mistaken view that consciousness must be sharp-edged & binary, on or off

- "If you can't explain how it can gradually come into existence you must believe that it has always been there" #panpsychism

- Wanting to apply crisp well bounded concepts (baldness, life, health, consciousness) to a messy reality


...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Jun 16, 202301:50:00
157: “This is a critical decade… the calm before the storm” - Anita Krajnc & Nicola Harris from Plant Based Treaty - Sentientism

157: “This is a critical decade… the calm before the storm” - Anita Krajnc & Nicola Harris from Plant Based Treaty - Sentientism

Anita is Executive Director of the Plant Based Treaty initiative and the Animal Save Movement, a worldwide network of Save groups bearing witness to farmed animals & promoting veganism & love-based, grassroots activism. She describes herself as an animal rights and an environmental activist. She is the co-author of the book "The Secret Lives of Pigs".

Nicola is Director of Communications for the Plant Based Treaty initiative and works on the Animal Save Movement's communications team. She has over 20 years of experience in pressure campaigning in the UK.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

02:22 What's Real?

- NH:

- Raised #atheist with strong values & morals "be open-minded & critical & follow my heart & dreams... encouraged to find my own way." "My journey to #veganism has led me to question everything."

- Being told a cow is "beef"... "I was horrified". "You'll have to eat it or you'll die... we only eat the animals when they die of old age... no harm done."

- Becoming #vegetarian then #vegan... breaking the brainwashing

- #Punk, #hardcore & DIY "You can't go to a punk gig without coming hope with some pamphlets." Moby's Punk Rock Vegan Movie

- #Paganism & earth based religions

- Grounded in own experiences (e.g. taking people on excursions to chicken farms & bearing witness)

AK:

- Dogmatic #Catholic household "my journey was always trying to rebell against that... it didn't seem very authentic... the same performance every week... I didn't find it interesting or convincing"

- Parents from the former Yugoslavia

- Seeing "The Animals Film"

- Discovering #CarlSagan and #Cosmos "that rang true with me"

- Rejecting the sexism / discrimination often found in #christianity

- "We had very different worldviews from my parents"

- "I sort of like to think that animals have souls" #leotolstoy 's "Calendar of Wisdom"

- "Treat others as you'd like to be treated... we all know it applies to animals... also love thy neighbour... they're universal principles... if there's life on another planet... they apply"

- "I don't believe in the dogma of religion... or miracles... but there's something very special about life"

19:26 What & Who Matters?

AK:

- Regan Russell's Anglican upbringing

- "It wasn't difficult to move away from the [Catholic] world that I was living in"

- Peace & conflict studies, environmentalism, animal ethics at university

- "I was human centric... it didn't even occur to me to think about other animals"

- "When I saw the [Animals] film... it completely changed my world-view... it became a core value for me"

- #feminism & animal agriculture

- Studying environmental thought: "Does a tree have standing, does the Grand Canyon matter?... it opened my world"

- Going beyond sentience. Protecting trees for their own sake "Nature is incredible - it's such a gift... trees and this forest have rights in and of themselves - they're not just a utility to us or animals or sentients"

- "Sentience is absolutely important"

NH:

- A human-centred upbringing but "my mum used to take me over to the animal rights stalls... sign the petitions against fox-hunting & fur..."

- Family time in nature

- "The Hidden Life of Trees" - "It's blown my mind... they work as a community... you want to protect them"

- "I do absolutely extend my moral scope to the environment around us - we are all connected"


...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Jun 12, 202301:18:15
156: "Animal Liberation Now!" - Peter Singer - Sentientism

156: "Animal Liberation Now!" - Peter Singer - Sentientism

Peter Singer is often referred to as the “world’s most influential living philosopher.” He is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics, approaching the subject from a secular, naturalistic, utilitarian perspective. He wrote the books "Animal Liberation", Why Vegan? and "Animal Liberation Now!" (launched on the same day as this episode! - speaking tour here), in which he argues against speciesism and for a shift to plant-based food systems and veganism. He also wrote the essay "Famine, Affluence, and Morality" and the books "The Life You Can Save" & "The Most Good You Can Do" which argue for effective altruism - using evidence & reasoning to do the most good we can for all sentient beings both human and not. In 2004 Peter was recognised as the Australian Humanist of the Year by the Council of Australian Humanist Societies. In 2005, the Sydney Morning Herald placed him among Australia's ten most influential public intellectuals. Singer is a cofounder of Animals Australia & the founder of The Life You Can Save.In 2021 he received the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture. Peter donated the $1 million prize money to the most effective organizations working to assist people in extreme poverty and to reduce the suffering of animals in factory farms.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

- Animal Liberation Now! - why now?

- Sentientism's links to ancient naturalistic, sentiocentric themes of thought & Peter's work

- Sentientism's 1) naturalism, 2) sentiocentrism & ethical pluralism, 3) implications of not needlessly harming or killing

- "What needlessly killing amounts to... is a question... that could have a lot of discussion"

- "In terms of what really matters in itself I agree that Sentientism is the right view"

- The challenges of the words speciesism & sentientism - too many syllables!

- Peter's entry on our "I'm a Sentientist" wall

06:12 What's Real?

- Non-religious Jewish parents "they came to Australia as refugees from the Nazis, leaving Austria"

- Mother "a fervent agnostic... there isn't reason to believe in a god or a supernatural being or life after death"

- "In some parts of the United States it's almost necessary to belong to a religion to have a community"

- Rabbi cousin in Mobile, Alabama "When I say god I mean whatever it is in the universe that is a force for good... (e.g. some human beings)"

- "I kind of thought of them as fairy stories"

- Childhood meeting with Catholic kids "don't ask him any more questions - he'll only blacken his soul & go to hell... I wasn't in the least frightened"

- Negative aspects of religions: Religious wars & "very often a conservative force against what I see as progressive reforms"

- "If there were no religious teachings against #abortion I don't think the US would be divided over the issue"

- Why religious organisations get social licence to continue #sexism , #homophobia , #transphobia

- "[Religious] teachings about sex which have been a very negative influence... making people feel guilty"

- Previous guest Lisa Kemmerer


26:25 What Matters?

38:58 Who Matters?

01:10:05 How Can We Make A Better Future?


...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

May 23, 202301:41:56
155: Dogs and pigs have meaningful lives! - Philosopher Michael Hauskeller - Sentientism

155: Dogs and pigs have meaningful lives! - Philosopher Michael Hauskeller - Sentientism

Michael is head of philosophy at the University of Liverpool. His current work spans transhumanism, death & meaning. He has written a vast range of topics, including on whether non-human animals can have meaningful lives & "What It Is Like to Be a Bot". He says of his work: "As a philosopher, I am a generalist, which is a nice way of saying that I have done many different things & I am not really an expert on anything in particular."

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:42 Michael's Intro

- What it means to be human, to live a good life, a meaningful life

- Transhumanism & human enhancement

- Meaning & life & death

- When dealing with foundational, broad questions: "It is very difficult to be precise... I hardly ever feel that 'now I've got it'"

06:06 What's Real?

- "It's much easier to point at something & disuss whether that is real"

- "If you can name something then in some sense it must be real"

- Raised #Christian & sent to Sunday school & Bible classes & regular confessions to the village priest

- "I sort of believed there was a god when I was little"

- A god watching me "a means of controlling me... Big Brother in heaven... it was just oppressive... a punishing god, a critical god"

- "I didn't feel the presence... I just believed that there was something because I was told there was something"

- "Very quickly I dropped my religious beliefs... as soon as I started to think for myself I became an #atheist"

- "It just faded away... it was always superficial"

- "Some people take me for a Christian because I share some of the intuitions religious believers have"

- "I'm not entirely comfortable with calling myself a naturalist although I don't believe in anything supernatural"

- "Naturalism is also very programmatic & ideological"

- "There are a lot of things in this world that we cannot understand...& some naturalists are very confident that we can understand everything & that's there's no mystery... there is a lot of mystery."

- Max More's #transhumanism ... pits science vs. religion

- Origins of the universe & life & consciousness "we don't know!" Science might figure it out - it might not

- "... whatever there is is part of nature"

- Over-confidence vs. humility

- The subjective & the objective

- Plato & Parmenides: "being is more real than becoming"... "but we live in a world of becoming... how can that be less real?"

- The "normative use of reality"... to "declare something else as not real... a term to deny something else its reality"

- The denial of animal suffering "not so common any more" & the #cartesian model

- "If you see an animal in pain you know it is in pain... it takes a lot of willful blindness not to acknowledge..." - "One of the reasons... why animals could not possibly feel any pain... because it would then be far too horrible how we treat animals... god wouldn't allow it!"

- "If we assume the world is good & we see all the apparent suffering... then it cannot be... A moral reason behind denying the suffering of animals"

- JW "An echo of a religious mode of thought that's then re-built in a humanist mode of thought"

- "If we have evolved naturally... there's no reason to assume our brains are capable of understanding the universe... what possible use can it have?"

- "A naturalistic perspective should actually teach us humility"

29:03 What Matters?

...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

May 16, 202301:35:08
154: "With great power comes great responsibility" - Elan Abrell - Cultural Anthropologist & Author - Sentientism

154: "With great power comes great responsibility" - Elan Abrell - Cultural Anthropologist & Author - Sentientism

Elan is a cultural anthropologist focusing on human-animal interactions, environmental justice, and food politics. He is assistant professor of the practice in environmental studies and coordinator of the animal studies minor at Wesleyan University. He is the author of the Gregory Bateson Prize winning book: "Saving Animals: Multispecies Ecologies of Rescue and Care". He also contributed a chapter called "The Empty Promises of Cultured Meat" to the book "The Good it Promises, the Harm It Does: Critical Essays on Effective Altruism".

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:25 Elan's Intro

- Cultural anthropology and teaching animal studies "my favourite thing to teach!"

- Appearing on Knowing Animals & Our Hen House

- Working with Kathryn Gillespie

02:42 What's Real?

- Raised mostly #secular

- Dad believed in #reincarnation

- At 12yrs old becoming aware of major religions & thinking "probably none of them are right"

- "Materialist with a small 'm', empiricist with a small 'e'"

- "Probably when we die, we die... that just makes our lives more poignant & important"

- Being given a bible stories book by a #jehovahswitness "this god person is really cruel... like a villain"

- "Reassuring in a humbling kind of way... I'm a tiny part of this vast universe... we're no less important for that"

- "Mildly #agnostic... I know that I don't know"

- Not spiritual but "a certain sense of wonder"

- An #ayahuasca retreat. Most others talked of "spiritual" experiences. "I felt pretty in touch with the particles of the universe... I don't have any anthropomorphic encounters to explain I just felt deeply in touch with creation and appreciative that I'm a part of it... that went down like a lead balloon."

- Ego dissolution... "the seed of #sentience ... that I share... with other animals"

17:00 What Matters?

- #comics : "#spiderman was my favourite super-hero... with great power comes great responsibility" (vs. #judgedredd and "law and order" :) )

- "We have an obligation to help each other when we can"

- Fairness: "Some people's extra benefit isn't really worth anybody else's suffering"

- "I don't have a #utilitarianism perspective of maximising pleasure... but for each individual who experiences the world they deserve to have minimal suffering & maximal enjoyment of life"

- Understanding bad actions that may be a response to trauma or desperation - not bad ethics

- "An openness to understanding what might be motivating people even in conflicts"

- Neil Levy: "Why bad beliefs happen to good people"

- Peter Singer

- Ethical pluralism: #care/#virtue/#deontological/relational ethics as long as all sentient beings get to count "that's exactly right"

- #elonmusk & the ethics of self-driving cars "it's deeply flawed if you can take individual lives & throw them away without their consent because you think it will actually benefit more people in the long run"

- #consequentialism

- Risks of utilitarianism: aggregating, offsetting, replacement, maximisation, ends justifying means, epistemic / ethical uncertainty & risk

26:21 Who Matters?

- Beyond #anthropocentrism

- Growing up "having relationships with members of other species"

49:43 How To Make a Better Future?


...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

May 10, 202301:22:29
153: "Just dive in and meet people where they're at" - Ashley Byrne - PETA Outreach Director - Sentientism

153: "Just dive in and meet people where they're at" - Ashley Byrne - PETA Outreach Director - Sentientism

Ashley is Director of Outreach for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). She has led a broad range of PETA’s campaigns and has been interviewed about her work to promote animal rights by the LA Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and in many other publications.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:33 Ashley Intro

- 16 years at #PETA: public campaigns, celebrities... "enjoying every minute of it"

03:18 What Matters

- #ChristianScience "there was never a divide... this is science & this is god... a lot of spirituality"

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Science (see risks re: prayer vs. medicine)

- Father "a non-practising Catholic... not a religious person but was very supportive of... that part of my mother's life"

- Personal relationship with god "connect directly with this spiritual part of your life"

- More a spiritual, all-pervasive god than a "judgemental, human figure"

- Rejecting "we judge everything based on a human worldview"

- Universally accessible rather than in/out-group based

- "Not telling you what to do"

- Religious vs. scientific views of reality "It never occurred to me that those things could be incompatible"

- Spiritual rather than literal interpretation of the #bible

- "#spiritually I really still do identify with these ideas & these values"

- "Macro spiritual concepts of love... that bring us out of what's right in front of us"

- "Isn't so much of science trying to go bigger & deeper"

- Science that we don't yet understand that can sometimes be anticipated by mystical/spiritual thinking

- Ontological (what's real?) & epistemological (how should we work it out?) naturalism

- Risks of wishful thinking

- #faith vs. #naturalism "I'm the latter... the evidence"

- Is there evidence that would lead you to reject Christian Science? "it's more of a spiritual practice"

- "#spirituality ... it is a scientific pursuit... our ideas of science are too limited"

- Risks of dogma / harmful & discriminatory ethics in religious/supernatural worldviews

- "If you have an ethical question about the world you should be going back & working it out with these spiritual tools"

- Growing up in #losangeles

- One 8th grade term in a Southern #Baptist school "pamphlets in the office that told you why every other religion in the world was wrong & sinful - mine was in there"

- "You're going to hell!"

- "I was constantly being told 'be quiet, sit down, stop asking questions'... I remember the word 'obey' was used a lot"... "I didn't get it... why can't you answer these questions?"

- The #trauma caused by religious beliefs (e.g. threat of hell)

- Secularism & kids learning about multilple worldviews

41:08 What Matters?

- "My parents really laid the foundation... for my sense of ethics... each coming from their own respective backgrounds... two extremely ethical, thoughtful, kind, intelligent people."

- You don't need an old book to be a good person... universal goods

- "Goodness is something more primal than that [#divinecommandtheory]"

45:30 Who Matters?

- "I grew up in an animal loving household... unquestionably family members"

- The family dog: "She loved me and I loved her"

- "There was never any idea that these weren't individuals"

01:16:33 How Can We Make A Better Future?


...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Apr 27, 202301:48:19
152: Conspiracism, misinformation & disinformation in the vegan movement - with Nick Pendergrast & Adam Cardilini - Cross-post bonus episode from 3CR's Freedom of Species

152: Conspiracism, misinformation & disinformation in the vegan movement - with Nick Pendergrast & Adam Cardilini - Cross-post bonus episode from 3CR's Freedom of Species

This episode is a bonus cross post of my conversation with Nick Pendergrast⁠⁠ and Adam Cardilini on their 3CR Freedom of Species podcast about conspiracism, misinformation and disinformation in the vegan and animal advocacy movements and how to communicate effectively with those caught up in them. Of course, we also talk about Sentientism⁠⁠'s commitment to naturalistic epistemology via "evidence and reason".

You can subscribe to 3CR's ⁠⁠Freedom of Species wherever you listen. ⁠3CR is a community radio station based in Melbourne⁠⁠, Australia. Nick, Adam and the other co-hosts have a fascinating range of guests, conversations and also music with a message.

Both Adam and Nick have been guests on Sentientism too - have a listen to episode 106 and ⁠episode 88⁠⁠ if you'd like to hear their thoughts about what's real, who matters and how can we make a better world. You might also want to check episode 55 with Christopher Sebastian and episode 92 with Lee McIntyre as we discuss their research and writing here. Here is Christopher's Euronews piece about "What do veganism and conspiracy theories have in common?"

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠Sentientism.info⁠. Join our ⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠ via ⁠this simple form⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠here on FaceBook⁠. Come join us there!

Apr 24, 202301:00:51
151: "I went vegan finally when I fell in love with one" - filmmaker and writer Jay Shapiro - Sentientism

151: "I went vegan finally when I fell in love with one" - filmmaker and writer Jay Shapiro - Sentientism

Jay Shapiro is an award winning filmmaker, writer, & podcaster. He directed the film Islam & the Future of Tolerance, based around a post 9/11 conversation between Sam Harris & Maajid Nawaz. He produces and creates a wide range of content, writes on his "What Jay Thinks" blog & hosts the Dilemma podcast - I had the pleasure of being his guest for a Dilemma hangout about Sentientism back in 2020. He loves thoughtful deep dives into philosophy, psychology, & political analysis.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:54 Jay Intro

- The Essential #samharris series

- Documentary & narrative film-making

- "I really want to understand ideas... and transmit those to an audience... even if I totally disagree with the idea"

03:16 What's Real?

- Growing up in a secular #Jewish household

- "Post-holocaust American judaism is it's own brand... a very ethical & political tribe more than a religious one"

- "Never again becomes the holiest prayer"

- Psychologist dad, guidance counsellor mum

- "I'm a boring naturalist but... I love analogies for what it feels like to exist"

- Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five "Oh... This is what I like"

- An over-active imagination as a kid... "my scientists", The Truman Show, solipsism, Philip K Dick & #scifi

- #Meditation, #psychedelics, religious experiences... "scrambles the dials"

- Donald Hoffman's "The Case Against Reality"

- How evolution shapes our construction of experiences of reality

- Psychedelics help us "catch it in the act" of reality construction

- "There's much more out there" e.g. non-human sentient experiences

- "It reminds you of the expansiveness of reality rather than show you a new one"

- The National High School Ethics Bowl

- Anil Seth's "How your brain hallucinates reality" @TED

- Annika Harris's exploration of consciousness theories re: "The Hard Question"

- "Reality is awesome enough - who needs magic" (I mis-spoke!)

- Epistemological tests?: atheism, veganism, spherical earth...

- Writing about Sam Harris, not for him

- Object-oriented ontology

- #psychology "I don't think we're the rational animal... we're the rationalising animal"

- How people respond to #cognitivedissonance (Leon Festinger) "they really don't like it"

- Criticising #consequentialism "you can justify anything... wait long enough and the consequences will work out... where do you stop the clock... too easy to find an out"

- #Virtueethics "Secular virtue" (vs. religious views of virtue)

- What happens after noticing the cognitive dissonance. More about psychology & values more than epistemology?

- Coping mechanisms. Consequentialism, capitalism, economics... give people outs to "quiet these voices in their heads"

- Neil Levy "people are more rational than you think" https://youtu.be/Tp40ga1cXEc

- Qanon, Goop products... everyone selects evidence/sources to suit themselves

- Believing unfounded things can be a "rational" response to existential crises / the discomfort of cognitive dissonance

37:45 What Matters?

- "There is no grounding (to ethics)"

- David Hume's "unbreachable" is-ought chasm

- "If you hate Sam (Harris) I think you'll like a lot of what I do there" (the Foundations of Morality episode of The Essential Sam Harris

- There is a relationship between is and ought but "It's up to us to define that relationship"

58:50 Who Matters?

01:50:49 How Can We Make A Better Future?


...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Apr 19, 202302:19:35
150: Should Effective Altruism Take Abolitionism More Seriously? - Dhruv Makwana - Sentientism

150: Should Effective Altruism Take Abolitionism More Seriously? - Dhruv Makwana - Sentientism

Dhruv is a PhD student at the Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge. He has interests in psychology, philosophy and animal advocacy.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠here on YouTube⁠.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:33 Dhruv Intro

02:25 What's Real?

- Born in India, moving to Scotland "A mix of two cultures"

- Hindu temple at home, outside was "classic western materialism, science..."

- @OfficialDerrenBrown 's "Tricks of the Mind". Magic, charlatanism, #homeopathy , #religion, #GMO scepticism (e.g. Golden Rice)

- Reading Michael Shermer's "Why People Believe Weird Things" at 12 yrs old

- Finding school academically easy but socially hard "immigrant children willl know... feeling like half and half and the halves don't really mix"

- Culturally universal values: "There was this value of transcendence that was just missing... it would be really nice if god was real... I switched back and forth"

- Celebrating #diwali when visiting India "I could see the appeal... but I couldn't see any reason or logic"

- "It's not like the western materialists have any really great answers on how to live..."

- Experiencing clinical #depression at Cambridge University

- Discovering #stoicism & #nietzsche "a very positive nihilism"

- The @philosophizethispodcast and @theschooloflifetv "self-directed, exploratory learning"

- Existentialism "I couldn't really follow the continental philosophers". Camus' "The Plague" made more sense during #covid19

- A personal situation "which just did not seem amenable to being logiced out of"

- A talk by @akalamusic

- Going back to Indian religion & philosophy "there might be something here"

- Reading the #mahabharata to understand the context for the #bhagavadgita

- #arjuna , #krishna roles & responsibilities "why should I act if the fruits of my acts are not my own?"

- Encountering #buddhism Graham Priest's "Paraconsistent logics" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Priest

- 2 weeks at a Buddhist monastery in Scotland "everyone had their own story... so much suffering... worse than mine"

- Values of patience, generosity, loving

- Practising #meditation & #mindfulness

- "Let me just try things that seem to work"

- The wisdom of hunter-gatherer cultures

- Not dismissing or reifying any culture

- "I accidentally moved to New Zealand"

- Going #vegan (after growing up #vegetarian ) mainly for environmental reasons

- Trying vegan pizza "this is fine"

- @SimonAmstellNumb 's #Carnage documentary https://youtu.be/6dXG0_yr7HE

- @ed.winters Watching #EarthlingEd

- Ethical & epistemological journeys developing in parallel

- Meeting an activist community

- Reading Peter Singer's "The Life You Can Save" and #effectivealtruism

- Sam Harris' "Waking Up"

- Identity & Derek Parfit

- Physicist Carlo Rovelli's "The Order of Time" & intepretations of quantum physics

- "I have 4 extremely diverse points of view pointing to this very strange thing about notions of identity... the Buddha takes things one step further... his is one of the reasons you're upset"

- "Being troubled by open metaphysical questions is not because you don't have an answer... it's because you expect the answer"

- A local #yoga group

- "I stopped being bothered by these big existential questions"

- Exploring from the outside & the inside (e.g. via meditation)

- Cravings & suffering

Also what matters, who matters, how we can make a better future...

...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠Sentientism.info⁠. Join our ⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠ via ⁠this simple form⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠here on FaceBook⁠. Come join us there!

Mar 23, 202301:54:45
149: "Why is it so hard to talk about meat?" - Cross-post bonus episode with Jenny Splitter from her FutureFeed substack talking to Jamie Woodhouse

149: "Why is it so hard to talk about meat?" - Cross-post bonus episode with Jenny Splitter from her FutureFeed substack talking to Jamie Woodhouse

This episode is a bonus cross-post of my conversation about "Why is it so hard to talk about meat?", and of course Sentientism, with Jenny Splitter for her FutureFeed substack - make sure you go and subscribe! Jenny is managing Editor for Sentient Media. She is an award-winning journalist and contributor to outlets like Vox, Everyday Health, Popular Mechanics, The Guardian and others. She’s one of the founding members of, and a contributor to SciMoms. I was also lucky to have Jenny as my guest on Sentientism episode 64.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what (and who) matters?”

Sentientism answers those questions with a commitment to "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings."

Find out more at ⁠Sentientism.info⁠. Join our ⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠ via ⁠this simple form⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠here on FaceBook⁠. Come join us there!

Mar 17, 202301:10:11
148: "Vegan pets... They're enjoying their lives more & they're living longer" - Dr. Andrew Knight - Professor and Dog & Cat Vet - Sentientism

148: "Vegan pets... They're enjoying their lives more & they're living longer" - Dr. Andrew Knight - Professor and Dog & Cat Vet - Sentientism

Andrew is Professor of Animal Welfare & Ethics & Founding Director of the University of Winchester Centre for Animal Welfare. He also holds many other academic and veterinary positions.

Ever since helping launch Australia’s campaign against the live sheep trade to the Middle East in the early 1990s, he has advocated on behalf of animals. For nearly a decade prior to 2012 he practiced veterinary medicine, mostly around London. In 2013 – 2014 he directed the Clinical Skills Laboratory and taught animal ethics, welfare, veterinary practice management and surgical and medical skills at one of the world’s largest veterinary schools in the Caribbean.

Andrew's books include The Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare (2023) and The Costs and Benefits of Animal Experiments (2011). He has published widely for both public and academic audiences including papers in New Scientist, the British Medical Journal USA and PLoS One. Andrew has been honoured with 14 awards for his research, his advocacy and for his teaching.

sustainablepetfood.info - includes details of all the research discussed.

andrewknight.info

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:33 Andrew's Intro

03:57 What's Real?

- Questioning his life after being unlucky in love

- Following the tradition of "gurus going to mountain tops"... hiking up a mountain & fasting

- A beautiful mountain view at dawn... "Please god - if there's anything out there - let me know now!"

- "The sun came up... I got my answer clear as day... there was absolutely nothing... I had to go back down the mountain... carry on and do the best I could... without any advice or clues from above... that's been my guiding inspiration since... what are we going to do with this opportunity?..."

- "I was very pleased because I could finally eat some food" :)

- Australia's secularism

- Veterinary education focused on science & evidence.

11:11 What Matters?

- "Try to do the most good you can and the least harm that you can."... without letting that turn you into a grim and uninspiring person

- Enjoying your life & not burning out (tough for caring professions & activists)

- "Don't forget to look after ourselves"

- "That's why it's [doing good, avoiding harm] such a good baseline principle... It's a simple clear message... something we can all aspire to"

15:32 Who Matters?

29:46 How Can We Make a Better Future?

...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Mar 11, 202301:16:27
147: "Animal research... much harm with very little benefit" - Neuroscientist Dr Katherine Roe from PETA - Sentientism

147: "Animal research... much harm with very little benefit" - Neuroscientist Dr Katherine Roe from PETA - Sentientism

Katherine is chief of Science Advancement and Outreach (SAO) at PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). SAO aims to change the paradigm of biomedical research by promoting the development & implementation of cutting-edge strategies in biomedical research & training & eliminating the use of animals in experimentation. Katherine earned her bachelor’s degrees in biology psychology from Syracuse University and her Ph.D. in experimental psychology and cognitive science from the University of California–San Diego. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, she went on to become a research fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health, where she stayed for eight years. Over the course of her research career, she studied the neural correlates of linguistic, spatial, & memory processes, working with children with early focal brain injury, adults & children with schizophrenia, and individuals with Williams syndrome and related genetic disorders. Katherine has more than 20 years of experience conducting brain and neuroimaging research with humans and is an expert at experimental design and data analysis. She has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and has presented her findings at national and international industry conferences.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:29 Katherine's Intro - from neuroscience and the NIH to PETA

- "About half of biomedical research... involves very invasive procedures with animals"

- "It became clear to me that that assumption... that the harms we were doing were justifiable... fell apart... the harms were much greater than I realised but also... there's a lot of species differences that make data from these labs difficult to translate into benefits for humans."

- "Then the question becomes... well what are we doing?"

- "Trying to make sure people realise how sentient these animals really are... they have their own needs & wants & desires"

- Previous episodes with Ingrid Newkirk https://youtu.be/M7Ac2Ba2jbM & Aysha Akhtar https://youtu.be/EZ_gh0ldzpo

04:55 What's Real?

- "Religious but not deeply religious" parents - Anglican, episcopalian Christians

- "It never really took"

- Not needing external reasons for "wanting to cause as little harm as possible and to live in harmony with the world around us"

- Learning about animals through science "started to change the way I viewed them"

24:54 What & Who Matters?

46:49 How Can We Make a Better Future?


...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Mar 05, 202301:26:40
146: Bursting "The Reality Bubble" - Ziya Tong - Science broadcaster and author - Sentientism

146: Bursting "The Reality Bubble" - Ziya Tong - Science broadcaster and author - Sentientism

Ziya is a television presenter, producer, author and board member. She was the co-host of Discovery Channel’s long-running primetime science magazine, Daily Planet. In 2019 she wrote the book “The Reality Bubble“. Ziya serves on the boards of a range of NGOs and charities, including PEN Canada, We Animals Media and WWF International.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:46 Ziya's Intro 

- Science broadcasting  @discoverycanada  

- Author of "The Reality Bubble" exposing human blind-spots

- NGO board roles including  @WeAnimalsMedia  (animal photojournalism led by Jo-Anne McArthur)

- Tweeting about earthlings: https://twitter.com/ziyatong

03:32: What's Real?

- "Being a bi-racial person gives you a sort of split view... Chinese... Eastern European"

- Communism & capitalism, eastern & western

- "I never really... took one true dogmatic reality"

- "I consistently shed layers of what I previously thought of as reality"

- Yoda: "You must unlearn what you have learned"

- A science journalist career "naturalistic in one sense"

- "With science you can reveal a lot... the whole book [The Reality Bubble] is about that... but it always puts a lens between you and the subject"

- Black holes & mites on our eyelashes

- "The humanities are much more subjective"

- Polymaths spanning humanities & the sciences "that blend is what's interesting to me"

- "Indigenous perspectives... have so much to share with us about how we perceive reality"

- Swimming sea wolves in British Columbia "new to science - but indigenous peoples had known about these wolves for their entire histories"

- The Consilience Model: Science and indigenous perspectives "Two eyed seeing"

- Plant medicines like #ayahuasca "which open up an entirely new door to reality"

- "I don't believe reality stands on firm ground... I'm happy to run around the ice flow as it shifts... reality should never be solid"

- Science & indigenous perspectives "are both based on observation"

- "To a neutrino this mug wouldn't be here at all"

- "We have to question our every-day common sense notions of reality"

- Humilty & error-correction

- Risks of dogma within science "we looked at animals as if they were machines"

- Brought up Roman #catholic , dabbled with #buddhism  / #sufiism 

- Rumi: "There's a hundred ways to kiss the ground"

- #Vipassna #meditation  - a 10 day silent retreat "you are really guided by yourself"

- Feeding ants & saving an ant "I promised not to kill anything" as part of the 10 Buddhist precepts

...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Feb 27, 202301:20:06
145: A US Constitution For All Sentient Beings - Maybe Sooner Than We Think? - Michael Dorf - US Constitutional Law Professor - Sentientism

145: A US Constitution For All Sentient Beings - Maybe Sooner Than We Think? - Michael Dorf - US Constitutional Law Professor - Sentientism

Michael is a law professor and scholar of U.S. constitutional law. He is the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell Law School. In addition to constitutional law, Michael has taught courses in civil procedure and federal courts. He has written/co-written/edited six books, including Beating Hearts: Abortion and Animal Rights (co-written with his wife, Sherry Colb), as well as scores of law review articles about American constitutional law. He is also a columnist for Verdict. Michael is a former law clerk to Justice Anthony Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Michael has appeared in American news media as a legal expert and has been interviewed by and/or quoted in, for example, The New York Times, CNN, National Public Radio and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (another suspected sentientist).

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

02:02 Michael's Intro

- Studying physics, then the law

- Clerking then legal scholarship

- Blogging @ Dorf On Law

- #vegan since 2006

- Animal work in partnership with Mike's wife, Sherry Kolb "we agreed on nearly everything, but not quite everything"

04:44 What's Real?

- Growing up in New York, raised #jewish "but mostly culturally"

- "My father never went to synagogue unless it was somebody's wedding... he was not at all religious but he was the most ethical person I knew"

- "Religion is not necessary and certainly... not sufficient to make someone an ethical person"

- "That personal aspect... overshadowed anything I was being taught"

- Dad's library: "the answers that the religious folks were giving to deep philosophical questions... barely scratched the surface... whereas if I went into my dad's study... Bertrand Russell's "History of Western Philosophy"... Lao Tse..."

- Teaching: "what I really value is engagement with hard questions"

- "The sorts of answers that religion gives stop asking the questions just when they become interesting... god made the world... god thus commanded it... it leaves lots of further questions unasked"

- "Nearly all of the spiritual or supernatural beliefs I've encountered, whether religious or otherwise, strike me as ridiculous"

- "If that happens [god appearing] then I'll adjust my views... but that will be in response to evidence... that itself would be a kind of naturalism."

...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Feb 21, 202301:33:55
144: “How do you find meaning in a universe that’s doomed?” - Astrophysicst Dr. Katie Mack @AstroKatie - Sentientism

144: “How do you find meaning in a universe that’s doomed?” - Astrophysicst Dr. Katie Mack @AstroKatie - Sentientism

Katie is a theoretical cosmologist who holds the Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication at Perimeter Institute. Her academic research investigates dark matter, vacuum decay and the epoch of reionisation. Katie is also a popular science communicator who participates in social media and regularly writes for Scientific American, Slate, Sky & Telescope, Time and Cosmos. She is the author of the book “The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:58 Katie's Intro

- #cosmology  & #astrophysics 

- "The study of the universe from beginning to end from the smallest to the largest scales" 

- #darkmatter, the beginning of the universe & the end of the universe

- Research & public engagement

03:33 What's Real?

- Growing up going to church & youth group & #bible study

- United Church of Christ... liberal & open-minded #socialjustice #lgbtq rights

- Useful guidelines for life but "I never really understood how faith works... believing things without evidence"

- Exploring different religious traditions e.g. #judaism "attending church on Sunday mornings and synagogue on Friday nights"

- "I always wanted to believe something... there's a fundamental urge most humans have to connect with the divine... #spirituality of some kind... the problem was I didn't believe in anything"

- Connecting with religious songs, prayer, rituals about forgiveness & bettering yourself... 

- Being told "just believe"... "I don't know how to do that!"

- "I believe things if I see evidence for them... if I have some reason"

- A scientifically curious kid

- "The way I relate to the world... is through evidence"

- "I don't fundamentally grasp the concept of choosing your perceptions... choosing your beliefs. I don't think I can do that"

- Ontological & epistemological naturalism

- "I haven't had a spiritual experience... I assume I would write it off as something explainable through psychology and physics... but I can't say for certain"

- Enrolling in a #theology seminary school after graduating in physics: "wanting to understand religion... why people believe in things... I dropped out after 6 months"

- "I've done everything... went to every service... went to seminary... I did all the things and still god has not appeared to me in any way... I was a little bit jealous... that certainty, that feeling of peace... you are loved by the most powerful being in the cosmos... that sounds really cool... sign me up"

- "I could follow all the rules... I couldn't believe"


...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Feb 12, 202301:27:27
143: "Why bad beliefs happen to good people" - Philosopher Neil Levy - Sentientism

143: "Why bad beliefs happen to good people" - Philosopher Neil Levy - Sentientism

Neil is a professor of philosophy with research interests spanning philosophy of mind, psychology, free will, moral responsibility, epistemology & applied ethics. He is Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics & professor of philosophy at Macquarie University, Sydney. From 2010, he was head of neuroethics at the Florey Institutes of Neuroscience in Melbourne. He has written many papers & books, including “Bad Beliefs: Why They Happen to Good People“.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

- Is Neil a #Sentientist ?

02:05 Neil's Intro

- Perpetual winters between Oxford & Sydney

- Philsophy of applied ethics, free will, epistemology

- Neil's episode on #DecodingTheGurus re: intellectual virtue signalling

03:55 What's Real?

- Brought up #jewish "very much a cultural thing... synagogue twice a year" in #southafrica Africa

- Jewish Saturday school

- Moving to #Australia & attending religious school

- At 11-12 "This doesn't make much sense to me - this god business. I've been a convinced #atheist ever since"

- "Being religious can be perfectly reasonable"

- Subjective rationality "how well are you processing your evidence given where you are?"

- "People are much more rational than we think... even #QAnon supporters... they're completely wrong... but if they believe what they're saying... they're rational given where they start"

- #Trolling & #bullshit

- "We've got lots of evidence people don't believe what they're saying"

- #Determinism & #freewill & "the epistemic condition on responsibility"... "nobody does have that kind of control over their beliefs... they've done the best they can with the evidence available to them"

- "Criticism comes cheap... so does praise"

- "Luck explains so much" constitutive & present luck

- "It gives us more to do... of the sort of things philosophers aren't good at"

- Teaching critical thinking, logic, fallacies "people get better... but they don't get better at using it outside the classroom"

- "In the classroom I give you evidence... they stipulate it... you just accept it"... "But in the real world you're faced with the continual problem... should I trust the evidence?"

- A key reason people don't update beliefs given new evidence is because "they just don't trust the evidence in the first place... and you can formally model why they shouldn't... given what they already believe"

- The "capital punishment views" experiment

- "If somebody shows me a prima facie plausible study showing that... all dogs have 5 legs... I'm going to think... that it's bullshit"

- Bayesianism

- Gullibility, dogmatism, #skepticism

- #QAnon , #Antivaxx , #homeopathy

...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Feb 09, 202301:02:18
142: "Veterinarians are merchants of doubt for animal ag" - Dr. Crystal Heath - Founder of Our Honor - Sentientism

142: "Veterinarians are merchants of doubt for animal ag" - Dr. Crystal Heath - Founder of Our Honor - Sentientism

Crystal is a veterinary practitioner, a journalist and an activist. She is the co-founder of Our Honor, a charity aiming to create an organized network of veterinary professionals who are able to challenge unethical institutionalised systems and amplify the voices of those who have been marginalised.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

- "I'd love for these sorts of conversations to be had in #veterinary schools"

- "Should all vets maybe adopt a #Sentientism philosophy?"

03:21 Crystal's Intro

- "A veterinarian who kind of recently joined the animal rights movement"

- "This movement has kind of taken over my whole life"

- Full-time veterinary practice & founding Our Honor

- Empowering vets to "speak their conscience & confront systems of violence"

- Countering bullying & retaliation

- Compassionate Bay working on Californian legislation

- The California fur ban & global impact

- "It's quite astonishing - the resistance in the veterinary community to animal rights"

- The founding of veterinary practice in animal exploitation

- "They actively keep out anybody with an animal rights agenda from entering the profession"

06:36 What's Real?

- Growing up in an agnostic family on a farm

- Celebrating Christmas

- "What are you, Christian or Jewish?... like those were the only two options"

- Asking what happens when chicks die... "their soul goes to heaven"

- Young people's encounters with death "shocking & terrifying" "but I don't have that same sense of trauma from it... they're being released from this faulty body"

- "I have a very scientific mindset"

- Reading the Bible... being fascinated

- Arguing about organ donation

- Weddings: "the wife had to obey & submit... that didn't seem like something I could jump on board with"

-  @ellendegeneres  #ellendegeneres coming out & being attacked by religious homophobes

- Religion: maintaining hierarchy & power structures vs. people treating each other better

- "What if agnostics & atheists organised themselves - would they end up trying to oppress others?"

- "There are some big unanswered questions... why am I here... where does consciousness come from? Once you die, lights out... really?"

- "...consciousness is a supernatural thing? I don't know"

- Ontological & methodological / epistemological #naturalism 

- "All models are wrong but some are useful"

- Sentience vs. consciousness

- Panpsychism & Luke Roelofs episode...


...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Feb 09, 202301:33:46
141: "All suffering matters morally" - Eva Hamer of Pax Fauna - Sentientism

141: "All suffering matters morally" - Eva Hamer of Pax Fauna - Sentientism

Eva is the operations lead for the startup non-profit Pax Fauna. Pax Fauna exists to design a more effective social movement for animal freedom in the U.S. Eva has been organizing in the animal freedom movement since 2015 when she started working with Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) in Chicago, where she focused on building community, writing protest music, and compiling the movements’ songs into an online songbook used by advocates around the world. She started working full time as DxE’s legal coordinator in 2018, managing the organization’s many legal cases, organizing trainings, and orchestrating large artistic demonstrations. Building on a background in Kingian nonviolence, Eva is a dedicated student of #nonviolentcommunication and is committed to bringing NVC’s repertoire of creative problem-solving tools to the work of building a better culture in the animal movement.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:39 Eva's Intro

02:48 What's Real?

- "Growing up I definitely loved the supernatural... ghosts... god... mystical things"

- Raised #episcopalian, baptised, church "I remember really enjoying that"

- Considering confirmation but "starting to feel a little bit sceptical"

- 5th grade: Debating people online about religion

- "A sudden realisation... I don't actually believe all of this"

- Looking for purpose

- Identifying as an #atheist & focusing on the harms of religion (unaccepting, destructive, family rejections)

- "I still don't believe in anything that can't be falsified"

- "I'm really connected to the needs that can be met by religion..." working in an end of life hospice

- "My own spirituality... characterised by #nonviolence" a Kingian perspective, nonviolent communication

- Meeting the needs (community, morality)... without the supernatural

- Valuing acceptance & care for others led to hostility vs. some religious ethics

- #yoga & #meditation then finding "a more secular form of meditation"

- Using supernaturalism as a metaphor

- Naturalistic "spirituality"... "a felt sense of purpose"

13:20 What Matters?

- Non-violence: Getting away from black & white "right and wrong" thinking to "thinking about needs"

- Finding creative alternatives to meeting needs without violence

- Needs & strategies to meet them

- More fundamental needs: safety, sustenance, freedom from suffering

- #maslow 's hierarchy, Scott Barry Kaufman's sailboat @ThePsychologyPodcast  

- Protective use of force. Justifiable force. "Nonviolence is definitely not #pacifism "

- Mourning unmet needs


...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Jan 26, 202301:17:14