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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"That system will be history... Our job is just to speed that up" - Thom Norman of FarmKind.giving - Sentientism 215
Episode 215
Saturday, October 5, 2024 • Duration 01:12:04
Thom Norman is the co-founder of FarmKind, a new non-profit focused on raising money for some of the best farmed animal charities. FarmKind is designed to help donors both have a big impact for animals and donate to the organisations they care about most. It allows users to split donations between an expert-recommended super-effective charity and their favourite charity, then provides a bonus on both.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the most important questions: “what’s real?”, “who matters?” and "how can we make a better world?"
Sentientism answers those questions with "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
- "What's the thing I can do best... to tackle the
issue of factory farming?"... "We believe the single biggest thing... is to donate to the right charities... we help people to do that"
- Finding charities that do great work and making donating to those charities super-easy
03:44 What's Real?
- A very, very religious family "church is an integral part... of their worldview... also social structures"
- "Broadly a positive thing"
- Anglican, Church of England Christian
- Asking philosophical questions that "hit up against some bible verse or god - and that's the end of the conversation"
"The Farm Bill is corrupted, spoiled, rotten" - Robert Grillo of Free from Harm - Sentientism 206
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the most important questions: “what’s real?”, “who matters?” and "how can we make a better world?"
Sentientism answers those questions with "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
00:00 Clips!
00:55 Welcome
- Free from Harm's "Humane Farmer" transfarmation
stories: https://freefromharm.org/humane-farmer/
117: Intro to Sentientism (30 mins) "Evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings"
Episode 117
Tuesday, June 14, 2022 • Duration 01:17:49
This episode is a recording of my presentation about Sentientism to the Terra.do climate change platform & community. Many thanks to Adam and the team for inviting me. My core presentation runs for about 30 minutes - the rest is an open conversation with the group. Drop me an email at hello at sentientism dot info if you'd like a copy of the slides - or you can see them on the YouTube of my presentation.
Terra.do is the world’s first online climate learning platform and community for professionals looking to pivot their career towards climate solutions. Their goal is to get 100 million people, in all sectors of society, working on climate change by 2030. They run cohort-based online programs for talented individuals that teach them everything about climate, plug them into a network of mentors and expose them to full-time/part-time/entrepreneurial work opportunities in the space.)
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."
Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!
116: "As people who are harmed - how can we possibly perpetrate harm?" - LoriKim Alexander - Sentientism
Episode 116
Wednesday, June 8, 2022 • Duration 01:10:55
LoriKim (she/her/we/our) describes herself as an educator, organiser, activist, conservationist, abolitionist, naturalist & healer. Originally from Jamaica & now living in the Bronx, USA, LoriKim has dedicated her life to working for social & environmental justice specifically organizing around LGBTQIA+, Black, Brown & Indigenous communities. LoriKim’s work in anthropology & her training as a biologist has helped her work against environmental racism, in providing environmental education for People of Color & in working towards decolonialism & liberation through veganism for over 25 years. LoriKim works as a founder, facilitator and organiser with organisations including BlackVegFest https://blackvegfest.org/ & The Cypher.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?”
Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
- "Black liberation practice" with "a queer & vegan lens"
02:38 What's Real?
- Growing up in Kingston, Jamaica
- "Being a Black country... what that means is that we had to really hold tight to our traditions, our histories that were muddled, were removed... because of slavery"
- "Missionaries saw opportunity to come in and bring their various and sundry versions of the truth"
- Synchronising traditions into Christianity as the only way they could survive
115: Sentientist Economics - Nicolas Treich - Sentientism
Episode 115
Wednesday, June 1, 2022 • Duration 54:19
Nicolas is a research associate at INRAE (L’institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement) and the Toulouse School of Economics. His work focuses on risk and decision theory, environmental economics, benefit-cost analysis and, more recently, on animal welfare. He has published scientific papers on subjects including the precautionary principle, the value of statistical life, and climate policy. He has organized several international conferences and written numerous articles for the general public, as well as reports on risk policy issues.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?”
Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
We discuss:
00:00 Welcome
01:31 Nicolas' Intro
- Economics, risk, environment, psychology, now non-human animals
- "Trying to include animal issues into mainstream economics"
- From anthropocentrism to sentientism in every field?
04:40 What's Real?
- Growing up in SW France
- Catholic parents, but "religion was not very important"
- Attending church
- Not anti-religion but not a positive view either
114: "Humility should underpin our efforts to understand" - Journalist Marina Bolotnikova - Sentientism
Episode 114
Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Duration 01:02:36
Marina is a journalist, currently focusing on factory farming and the criminalization of activists who fight it. Marina has written for Vox, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Intercept and many other publications. She used to be an editor for Harvard Magazine. Before that, she wrote and edited for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Toledo Blade and The Harvard Crimson.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what 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 Marina's Intro
- Zeroing in on animal-focused journalism
03:20 What's Real?
- Raised by a single mum
- Jewish but not v.religious (like many Soviet jews)
- Emigrating from Belarus to the USA at 3yrs old
- Growing up in St. Louis
- Orthodox Jewish school to 8th grade but "feeling like an outsider"
- "I was sceptical of the religious stuff from a pretty young age"
- Updating "my religion" on FaceBook as "The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" in middle school
- Gender segregated classes
- Hearing anti-Arab racist statements in class
- "A profound sense of justice"
113: "We are reflective animals - which comes with responsibility" - Susana Monsó - Sentientism
Episode 113
Sunday, May 22, 2022 • Duration 01:26:30
Susana is an assistant professor based at the Department of Logic, History, and Philosophy of Science of UNED, working on animal ethics and the philosophy of animal minds. She holds a BA in Philosophy from Complutense University of Madrid, an MA in Global Ethics and Human Values from King’s College London and a PhD in Philosophy from UNED, Spain. She has been a post-doc fellow at the University of Graz and at the Messerli Research Institute in Vienna. Susana describes her research interest as focusing on “what animals are capable of feeling, thinking, and doing, and what this means for the sort of treatment that we owe them.”
Susana led the project “Animals and the Concept of Death” which culminated in her book, “La Zarigüeya De Schrödinger” or “Schrödinger’s Possum”.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what 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 Susana's Intro
- Vienna & Madrid cultures re: animals & veganism
03:57 What's Real?
- Growing up in a 100% atheist household. Unusual for 1980's Spain
- "I used to think of god as a woman" but "I never had it as a belief"
- No religious education... "It's a little bit sad"
- "It's always been very natural to not have god as part of the explanation"
112: "Ought flows from sentience" - neuropsychologist & "Hidden Spring" author Mark Solms
Episode 112
Monday, May 16, 2022 • Duration 01:38:31
Mark is a psychoanalyst and neuropsychologist, best known for his discovery of the brain mechanisms of dreaming and his use of psychoanalytic methods in contemporary neuroscience. He holds the Chair of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital and is the President of the South African Psychoanalytical Association. He is also Research Chair of the International Psychoanalytical Association. Mark has received numerous awards, notably Honorary Membership of the New York Psychoanalytic Society, the American College of Psychoanalysts and the American College of Psychiatrists. He has published more than 250 articles and book chapters, and 6 books. His second book, The Neuropsychology of Dreams, was a landmark contribution to the field. His 2002 book (with Oliver Turnbull), The Brain and the Inner World was a best-seller and has been translated into 13 languages. His latest book, on the hard problem of consciousness, is The Hidden Spring.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what 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 Mark's Intro
- The brain as the organ of the mind
- Breaking from behaviourism
- Studying psychoanalysis (first person) alongside neuroscience (studying from the outside)
- The value of interdisciplinary studies of consciousness
- Artificial intelligence perspectives
06:08 What's Real?
111: "The basis of all value is sentience" - Steve Sapontzis Take #2 - Sentientism
Episode 111
Friday, May 13, 2022 • Duration 01:22:30
Steve is a philosopher and professor emeritus of philosophy at California State University, East Bay who specializes in animal ethics, environmental ethics and meta-ethics. He was co-founder in 1985 of the journal Between the Species: A Journal of Ethics and served as its initial co-editor. Steve was a member of the board of the American Philosophical Quarterly (1991–1994). In 1983, Steve founded, with his wife Jeanne, the Hayward Friends of Animals Humane Society. They now operate Second Chance, Helping the Pets of People in Need, in California. Steve wrote Morals, Reason, and Animals, in 1987, Subjective Morals, in 2011, and edited Food for Thought: The Debate over Eating Meat; published in 2004.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?”
Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
We discuss:
00:00 Welcome
01:34 Steve's Intro
- Getting out of the ivory tower "Put the values you espouse into effect & help the animals"
- A seminal early voice in animal ethics
6:05 What's Real?
- Growing up in Salt Lake City
- Immigrant parents from war-torn Europe "focused on making sure they could make a living"
- Greek Orthodox & Methodist Christian parents
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- Conversations with some Christians about animals:
"Humans are made in the image of god... we are above other animals... that is kind of the end of the conversation"
- "As someone who increasingly... took the suffering of
animals very seriously... I don't think that's where the conversation should end... and for many Christians that's not where it ends"
- "You can think that humans matter more than animals
and still think that animals do matter"
- "We can still agree on basic things like 'suffering
is bad'... 'animals suffer'... 'if there are things we can do to prevent suffering'... 'then it seems obvious that that's a good thing'"
- The people working within religious communities to
emphasise more universal sentiocentric compassion... #ahimsa, #stewardship, care and compassion, mercy
- Reading religious apologetics and secular points of view
- "I don't know what I think... a pragmatic pragmatism?... what version of the world do I see that allows me to operate... to move through it... even if epistemically or ethically that's not 100% perfectly logically sound"
- Humility... "We need to be clear that we're not sure that we're right"
- Donating to the most effective charities "is not the only thing people care about"... so FarmKind allows donation splitting... head and heart donations
- The tension between different values... more rational and
more intuitive / personal
- "It's very important we don't disregard those emotional reasons"
- Free from Harm's mission: "advance a #plantbased food
system and challenge the dominance of animal agriculture through bold and innovative grass-roots action."
- Evolving from an on-line resource to "on the ground
activism"
05:16 What's Real?
- At 10 yrs old father passed away. Creative, jazz,
painting, architecture
- Exploring dad's library... ways of thinking, ethics
- "He was a non-believer - not a spiritual person"
- Mother also non-religious
- Ordinary middle-class upbringing
- "I was definitely an outsider... I didn't really fit in... now I embrace it... causes me to question... being open to new ideas and scepticism... I feel like it's a strength"
- The risks of scepticism spilling over into conspiracism
- "Sometimes it's a small group of people that sense an
injustice... that mainstream society doesn't... that's the role of activism... awakening and triggering of popular support to bring justice."
- JW: Why epistemology matters "it's not just a
popularity contest..." it's the weight of evidence
- Spirituality / supernatural / transcendent?: "We have
so much to deal with here that I don't have time for that stuff... I'm not seeking it out at this point in my life"
12:56 What Matters?
- Experiencing father's suffering and death as a child. "I developed a sense of empathy"
- "I didn't really come into an understanding of the
suffering of other animals... until much later in life"
- Emotional (e.g. empathy, care) vs. intellectual (utility, justice, rights) moral influences
- Sympathy, empathy & compassion
17:28 Who Matters?
- The risks of care/empathy in narrowing our moral scope
- "I came to realise what the real conditions were for
the animals that suffer in our food system... their suffering was like our suffering."
- Watching documentaries and @mercyforanimals investigative footage
- Going vegetarian at 11 yrs old "if we don't have to kill animals... then it's wrong to do that"
- School-mates "did not understand vegetarianism... god gave us dominion over animals... they're happy to be killed & give us sustenance."
- Secular, progressive high-school, but "I wouldn't say that people's attitudes... were particularly different... different reasons... protein, animals not intelligent..."
- Moving to veganism
- "I see everything through an animal liberation lens"
- Secular/scientific/naturalistic worldviews don't guarantee good ethics either
- "I feel a profound connection to alll of life on earth, particularly animals & sentient life... it's something I can't express in material terms"
- Animal ways of understanding can transcend what humans are capable of. Birds navigation, dog smell capability...
- "Respect for non-human life & epistemological humility should underpin our efforts to understand the world - rather than the assumption that humans have the right to manage & dominate"
- "I still identify as Jewish... an important part of who I am"
- Atheists/agnostics within religious communities
- "The way I feel about life & animals can definitely be described as spriritual"
- Human dominionism "is totally at odds with my worldview"
- The harms that can come from religious or naturalistic worldviews
- "Science is responsible for a lot of evil stuff too"
24:00 What Matters?
- Justice
- "I reject any form of violence... & that's what animal agriculture is"
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