Joan Slonczewski is a microbiologist at Kenyon College and a science fiction writer who explores biology and space travel. Their books have twice earned the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel: "A Door into Ocean" and "The Highest Frontier". Their latest novel is "Minds in Transit". With John W. Foster and Erik Zinser, they coauthor the textbook, Microbiology: An Evolving Science.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 Clips00:51 Welcome03:10 Joan's Intro- Catholic Italian/Polish immigrant background "I project that into my thinking about the world... we're all immigrants one way or another"- Molecular microbiology at Kenyon College- Quakerism "quite consistent actually with the experimental world"- #scifi writing and Minds in Transit "the protagonist is an artist whose mind is filled with sentient microbes" & machine minds "she has to negotiate with her house as an intelligent entity"- The Mike Levin Sentientism episode & multiple levels of organisation, intelligence, analysis- "What is intelligence... on multiple levels"- Studying individual microbes / bacteria "organs for sensing and response"- "How do we know what they [the microbes] might be thinking or feeling"- "The microbial communities of our gut act as part of our brain... contribute to how our own brains think and feel"- Writing Brain Plague "That's my science fiction universe... but it's almost become real... we think of microbial communities as part of our brain"- Challenging our concept of intelligence: "What does it mean that a part of our intelligence and response is determined by a community of microscopic bacteria?"- Catholic parents "they did not practice religion at all but I think they inherited a strong sense of righteousness and justice from the Catholic tradition"- "A strong materialist tradition"... Father an IBM physicist, nominated for the Nobel prize re: work on magnetism- Mother a violin teacher- "I grew up with a sense of science and music... largely as a material worldview"- "Before I could read and write I knew I that I was going to be a scientist like my father"- Writing a first "scientific paper" in crayon- "There was never a question that I viewed the world in scientific terms... anything, to be true had to be recognised byexperiment"09:46 What's Real?27:00 What and Who Matters?01:14:57 A Better World?01:31:45: Follow Joan:- Minds in Transit at Bookshop.org- Joan’s Home Page- Joan at Kenyon College- Joan on Wikipedia- Quakers in the UKAnd 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!
Michelle St. John is the founder and director of VinE (Veganism in Education). VinE aims, through education, to encourage the development of empathy, critical thinking and ethical decision making, She has background in law, having worked as a Crown Prosecutor, a Magistrate and as guest lecturer on English Law at the Jagiellonian University, Krakow.Heather Marshall is a Senior Lecturer and Religious Education PGCE Course Leader at Edge Hill University . She is a specialist in #religiouseducation pedagogy but also has interests spanning diversity in learning environments, the impact of digital technologies on teaching, teacher identity formation, education policy, and effective assessment strategies. She is a VinE ambassador.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 Clips00:53 Welcome03:00 Heather's Intro- Teaching kids, now teaching teachers and research- Richard Twine episode04:11 Michelle's Intros- Polish & English parents- Social anthropology- Law (barrister and magistrate), human rights and justice- Vegan at 50 "that was the big change... human rights, animal rights, hand in hand"- "Education was a key for change... because in my owneducation I hadn't been given that opportunity to explore the moral status of animals"- Marc Bekoff, Melanie Joy episodes- Founding VinE "This is where we begin"- Launching resources with Angela Hill from RE Today @re-today-services - Ethical veganism as a worldview (featuring religious andnon-religious ways in like #Sentientism)- Spirited arts competition with the @animalinterfaithalliance- Partnering with The Vegan Organic Network@GrowingGreenVideos 07:53 What's Real?Heather- Not brought up spiritual but a deep interest in religion and society- "I've got quite a secular worldview... but I understand the importance of religion... the impact... why people might want to be involved in that"- Critical thinking & questioning "I am quite scientific"- As a social scientist "I do recognise that things are beyond the physical as well"- Interested in psychology and how the brain works- Not so concerned about the metaphysical e.g. "whathappens after death"- "That probably seems a bit weird for someone that teaches RE (Religious Education)... I'm interested in other people's beliefs and why they might believe it... but I'm not that interested in exploring it for myself"17:31 What and Who Matters?50:02 A Better World?01:27:00 Follow Heather and Michelle:- VinE- VinE on Insta- VinE on LinkedIn- Heather at Edge HillAnd 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!
Tom Cledwyn describes himself as the "chief emailer" at Drop Dead Generous (he's actually the co-founder). Inspired by Chris Anderson's (of TED) book, "Infectious Generosity", Tom and his co-founder John Sweeney set up DDG as an experiment in sparking creative, fun, hopefully infectious generosity. They're giving away half a million dollars in $500 chunks to people who want to do something kind for someone else (whether human or not).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 Clips01:15 Welcome- Our introduction by Zoe Weil. Her two Sentientism episodeshere and here04:00 Tom's Intro- @dropdeadgenerous "It is a little left-field"- Background in advertising, design and creative roles "A marketing guy"- Working at Meta "for my sins" in Singapore and London- Doing "silly boy experiments... self-discovery... in the direction of service and doing good and trying to make adifference"- Now bringing marketing & creative skills directly into the space of social good- "Championing kindness, generosity and giving... my heart and head have fallen into alignment for the time being"06:04 What's Real?- Family and community "that didn't really hold religion particularly closely", despite attending church schools- Shifting from apathy about religion to "I became a quite aggressive #atheist "- If someone had asked Tom as a child "Do you believein God"... "I would have thought you were referring to Le God, who is Matthew Le Tissier, Southampton's best ever football player... now, unfortunately, a very strange conspiracist"- "I don't think I really asked myself those questions... I felt totally detached from it [religion]"- "The history of war. How often it seemed, and stillseems, that religion plays a big part in what people are fighting for or against... I found that very hard"- Reading the story of Prometheus stealing fire from Zeusand giving it to the people, then being eternally punished- "That story really framed what I felt... religion wasa real was also a real shame... it seemed to give people an opportunity to put, through faith, whether their accountability, responsibility or hope in the hands of something other than themselves"- "Angry teenage years"- Moving to London "A big place to be lonely in... Ihave a history of depression"18:40 What Matters?42:45 Who Matters?01:02:20 A Better World?01:24:42 Follow Tom:- Drop Dead Generous project- @Dropdeadgenerous- Tom on LinkedIn - Tom@dropdeadgenerous.org- The DropDeadGenerous ideas voicemail podcastAnd 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!
Jack Waverley is a senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Manchester. He uses marketing and consumer research to protect and promote the interests of all animals, including humans. Jack teaches on a range of BSc and MSc courses in the Fashion, Business, and Technology (FBT) group. He also supervises a number of PhD and dissertation students. He is an academic expert member of the Academy of Marketing and a member of the Vegan Society's Research Advisory Committee.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 Clips00:52 Welcome- Jack's talk at VARC 2025- "The VARC conference is like being in the future...where we want to get to... it really does feel like you've jumped forward 10 years"02:49 Jack's Intro- A marketing consumer researcher... focusing both onconsumption of animals and consumption for animals- "Markets as a system of morals... material objects moving around... infrastructures"- "How we move from one system to another"- The AI question "I very much adopt a sentiocentric or Sentientist perspective"- "The reason I'm concerned about animals is because they are sentient"- "If AI were to become sentient... then of course they would fall within... my moral circle"- "Most people think about 'what can AI do for me... for humans?... How does AI affect humanity?'"- "I'm much more interested in 'what can we do for AI?'... our responsibilities for AI... how can AI help post-humanity, more than humanity, all sentient beings."- "I've ended up in this... very anthropocentric tradition... marketing and consumer research... but bringing in animals and bringing in AI"- A new field of #SentientistMarketing ?05:14 What's Real- Growing up in "a nominally Christian household... but we never went to church... more agnostic"- "There was never an explicit framework of... this is why these things are good or bad"- A liberal, progressive upbringing "live and let live"- "It wasn't quite a blank slate [re: moral thinking] but it was as close as you probably get"- "Broadly naturalistic is my baseline... interested in biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics... scientific ways of approaching the world"- "I didn't really go out looking for any kind of revelation... [or] any strict rules... [or] some sort of authority figure"- "I didn't mind other people having religion but for me it just didn't make sense... I was naturalistic"31:44 What and Who Matters?35:50 A Better World?01:21:40 Follow Jack:- Jack at Manchester University- Jack on LinkedIn (please get in touch)And 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!
Keith Frankish is a philosopher and writer, British-born but now living in Crete, Greece. He is an Honorary Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Sheffield, a Visiting Research Fellow with The Open University, and an Adjunct Professor with the Brain and Mind Programme at the University of Crete. He is also editor of the Cambridge University Press series Elements in Philosophy of Mind. He spent many years thinking about the nature of belief and reasoning, developing a ‘two-level’ view of the human mind that he set out in his 2004 book, Mind and Supermind. Now he focuses mostly on Philosophy of Mind and says "I now spend much of my time defending the unpalatable but salutary view that phenomenal consciousness is an introspective illusion."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 Clips00:52 Welcome03:15 Keith's Intro- "By the way I don't think sentience is an illusion"- "I'm best known as a person who thinks consciousness is an illusion... I don't think that"- "I spend most of my time thinking about the human mind"- "I suppose I have a sort of campaigning streak"- "The state of consciousness science is unsettled... a revolutionary state"- "It's important for science... for philosophy... for knowledge... ethical implications too"- "Trying to invite people to look at things a different way"- Moving from UK academia to Greece "I moved more tothe edges... I think it freed me... to spend more of time doing I think are important... devote energies to things that perhaps wouldn't have got so well rewarded in the formal academic structures"08:23 What's Real?- Working class family- "Religion was present but in a very watered down typically sort of English way... I was baptised... go to church... Sunday School"- "It was never oppressive"- Uncle "... a wonderful example of the compassion and... the commitment to social justice that can come with religion"- Reading an encyclopaedia about the scientific scepticismabout the soul "Oh right, there's no soul then... and that was it!"- "I had a very strong inclination to trust science... certainly against religious interpretations of the world"- "...there's another world in which I would have become a scientist."- "You can't really educate yourself in science but you can educate yourself in philosophy... philosophy can only be taught by self-education."01:04:55 What Matters?01:15:10 Who Matters?01:47:26 A Better Future?01:58:12 Follow Keith:- keithfrankish.com - Keith on BlueSky (“I do not post on Twitter any more”)- Keith on Mastodon - Keith on Wikipedia And 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!
Steven Rouk is founder of the non-profit Connect For Animals, a platform that connects people who want to end factory farming and bring about a more anti-speciesist world. He also helps high-positive-impact organisations implement technology and artificial intelligence solutions.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 Clips01:02 Welcome- Will we DESTROY! each other in this conversation?03:07 Steven's Intro- Math, music and writing, then data science and programming- Philosophy and "what does it mean to lead a good life?"- Animal ethics... footage from a farm investigation- Dabbling in vegetarianism & veganism "caring about animals more seriously"- "This is a huge problem... what would it look like for me to devote more of my life..."- Full time animal advocacy... volunteering, bringing data & tech- Working for Mercy for Animals - Seeing people struggling to get active and "plugged in" & stay engaged- "I don't think we've been doing a very good job of capturing this people power"- Founding Connect For Animals "Get them connected... stayconnected... get active for animals... accelerate the end of factory farming"08:40 What's Real?- Growing up in Georgia, USA in a religious, Christian family (half Methodist, half Baptist, several pastors)- "It was a very large part of my life growing up... church Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening, summer mission trips, choir."- "That meaning... came from the Christian church"- Specific beliefs, some fundamentalism, Bible literalism- "I remember thinking that the Earth was 6000 yearsold and evolution was a hoax... carbon dating wasn't real"- "There was also this deep caring for others side... family... people who didn't have what you have... sick... bad things happened to them..."- "My mum... someone who just cares so deeply for others"- At a science & maths focused high school "There came to be these little questions... things are not squaring up right"- "For a while... what I've been taught from religion is true... I just need to work out how to make it square with these otherfacts... maybe the people who believe in evolution are completely mistaken... an anti-religious, anti-spiritual conspiracy?... scientists trying to destroy religion?"- "Learning about the conspiracy... a mistaken or misguided or bad worldview" vs. learning the actual facts48:59 Who Matters?01:07:42 A Better World?01:29:30 Follow Steven- Connect For Animals (Create an account, sign up for the newsletter and explore!)- Steven on Insta- Steven on LinkedIn- Steven on Twitter- Stevenrouk.comAnd 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!
Elizabeth MeLampy is an author and a Harvard-educated lawyer, with experience in animal law and environmental law. While in law school, she worked on issues related to farmedanimals, wild animals, and captive animals with Harvard’s Animal Law & Policy Clinic. She was also in the inaugural cohort of Emerging Scholar Fellows with the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, where she worked onanimal law scholarship. After two clerkships—with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the Federal District Court in Arizona—Elizabeth litigated with one of the top environmental nonprofits in the country. Her firstbook, Forget The Camel: The Madcap World of Animal Festivals and What They Say About Being Human, was published in 2025.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 Clips01:15 Welcome- Mark Bekoff episode https://youtu.be/-pwfNH-KgWI- Kim Stallwood episode https://youtu.be/5-8vYRhJvaU03:25 Elizabeth''s Intro- "Sentient creatures matter"- Forget the Camel "Animal festivals... I study them as microcosms of our relationships to non-human animals"- "Try to make sense of how we treat so many animals differently"- The Rattlesnake Roundup "They beheaded and killed rattlesnakes in public... then made bloody handprints"- A Jumping Frog contest- The real Groundhog day- "There's a lot more that ties those events togetherthan separates them even though you're killing animals in one context and not in another"- "The overarching paradigm of human superiority applies to them all"06:10 What's Real?- "I have both backgrounds very strongly... the religious spiritual side and the more scientific, naturalistic side"- Grandfather and mum church ministers, grandmother aveterinarian and an anthropologist, father a software engineer- "Core pillars of my upbringing... Thinking about the world really critically, really analytically... on one side... on the other side... a Protestant Christian upbringing in the Church"- "Core values, more than religious dogmatism, ofcompassion, of kindness, of generosity, of sacrifice... key Christian values... open hearted, open minded, compassionate lens"- "I was really lucky to be raised in a version of the Christian church that prioritises those things"- "The two sides [religion and science] work so closely together... it's not 'you believe in god or you believe in science'"- "The mysteries of the world... things you could explore with a variety of disciplines... read the Bible... do a science experiment... all sorts of ways to figure out what is going on"- Grandparents lived on an animal farmAnd 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!
Seb Alex is an animal and human rights activist, as well as a lecturer, photojournalist and author. He is Founder of the Middle East Vegan Society. Seb has run animal rights advocacy workshops for over 1300+ activists across Europe, the Middle East and Australia. He has given lectures in over 2/3 of universities in The Netherlands and more than 55 universities and schools in Canada, the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Portugal, reaching more than 6000 students. In 2020 and 2021, Seb collaborated with Lebanese Vegans in opening the world’s first animal rights and Vegan support centre that still operates today in the heart of Beirut, Lebanon.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 Clips01:23 Welcome03:00 Seb's Intro- Born and raised in Lebanon, originally Armenian- Activism (for human and non-human animal rights) since 15-16 years old- "There's a very important moral urgency"- Addressing a regional gap re: animal advocacy in the Middle East "Maybe I shouldn't complain and I should start doing something"- "There are grass roots groups within the Middle East"05:01 What's Real- Armenian community and the role of Christianity- "I was not really raised religious"- Attending an Armenian school founded by an atheist"but we had some historical religious courses"- Praying and church "I did feel Christian up until 12-13 years old"- Asking for a sign "I was really disappointed that no one showed up... you're a kid and you really believe in these things... then you get slapped in the face"- Becoming more agnostic over time "leaning more to I believe in what I see... no faith whatsoever"- Attending 3 Vipassana Buddhist meditation retreats"for 10 days you don't talk to anyone... you have to meditate for at least 10 hours a day... gives you a lot of back pain... at least my back pain is true!"- "It wasn't religious... it was a scientific way of meditating which I really enjoyed"- Finding a big interest in religion again recently... religious history... watching the Christspiracy Film documentary- Launching the Vegan Islam initiative "This is quite powerful... I didn't expect this from Islam... I straight away bought a Quran"- "You can make a very strong case for animal rightsusing religion"- "How people can go through so much pain and still believe in god..."- "I'm very well educated in it but I still don't find any faith in me"32:08What Matters?37:27 Who Matters?58:10 A Better World?01:28:50 Follow Seb:- Sebalex.org (reach out for lectures!)- @seb.alex- Middle East Vegan Society - VeganIslam And 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!
I recently gave this presentation to a network of Religious Education (RE) teachers from Northumberland in the UK. It's aimed at helping teachers bring the Sentientism worldview and its themes into their classrooms. Feedback and ideas are always welcome. Of course I'd love to help in any way I can too so please reach out in the comments, via the sentientism.info website or via @sentientism on any social media platform.The content is similar to my workshop sessions with:- Church of England's Chester Diocese RE teacher conference- WASACRE (Wales Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE))- Hull SACRE Religions and Worldviews Conference- Tower Hamlets and Hackney RE Network- Wiltshire RE Network- Kirklees/Bradford/Leeds RE Conference- Newnham and Barking & Dagenham RE Network- North East England RE Network- Hull & West Riding RE Network- Northumberland, Hillingdon, Wiltshire, Sefton, Oldham SACRES (committees that define local authority RE curriculums).A big thank you to everyone involved for exploring the Sentientism worldview with me and with your students!00:00 Intro02:00 Non-religious worldviews04:00 What's on kids' minds?06:25 What is the Sentientism worldview?09:14 Where did Sentientism come from?14:30 Sentientism and other 'isms16:45 Teaching the Sentientism worldview27:00 Lesson Idea 1: Single Lesson28:16 Lesson Idea 2: The Quadrant30:54 Lesson Idea 3: Imagining A Sentientist World32:39 Lesson Idea 4: What's True? Who Matters? Now What?44:56 Help and Resources#religiouseducation #RETeach #philosophy #teaching #Epistemology #Ethics #vegan #animal #animalrights #belief #religion #worldview #ai #aiethics #alien #Humanism #Ahimsa #Sentiocentrism #Anthropocentrism #Biocentrism #Ecocentrism #Sentientism #Disinformation #conspiracism
Jeff Sebo is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law, Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, and Co-Director of the Wild Animal Welfare Program at New York University. He is also a Faculty Fellow at the Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy & Land Use Law at the NYU School of Law and an Advisor at the Animals in Context series at NYU Press. Jeff's research focuses on moral philosophy, legal philosophy, and philosophy of mind; animal minds, ethics, and policy; AI minds, ethics, and policy; and global health and climate ethics and policy. His books include The Moral Circle and Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves and he is co-author of Chimpanzee Rights and Food, Animals, and the Environment.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 Clips01:20 Welcome- Our first Sentientist Conversation, episode 26 - Jeff's book The Moral Circle - Endorsements from previous Sentientism guests Barbara King and Peter Singer- Welcome Smokey!02:50 Jeff's Intro- Research and teaching and leading programmes at NYU including the Wild Animal Welfare Programme and the Center for Mind, Brain and Consciousness - Asking "How humans can better interact with the non-human world... who might matter, how much might they matter, what might they need, what might we owe them, what follows for our actions and policies and priorities...?"- Directing the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection "agriculture, farmed animal welfare, #biodiversity, wild animal welfare..."- Directing the NY Center for Mind, Ethics and Policy "Non-human minds... invertebrates and AI systems"04:37 The Moral Circle- JW: "Does it have to be a circle?"- "I was concerned... it implies that humanity is at the centre and that other beings matter or are closer to the centre to the degree that they resemble us"- "We right now at least increasingly agree that all humans and many non-human animals... merit consideration"- "The book asks 'should we go farther?'"08:32 What Makes Us Matter?11:39 Why is Sentience Important?19:16 What About Zero-Valence Consciousness?28:08 Properties vs Relational Approach38:10 So Who Matters?43:28 Do AIs Matter?48:47 Do Photons Matter?56:15 Do Future Beings Matter?01:01:51 How Much Do They Matter?01:14:44 The Role of Epistemology?01:18:26 A Better Future?01:22: 33 Follow Jeff:- Jeff on BlueSky - Jeff on Twitter- "The Moral Circle"- Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves (now open access and free to read!)And 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!
Jonathan Balcombe is an ethologist and author. He lectures internationally on animal behavior and the human-animal relationship. Jonathan’s books include: The Use of Animals in Higher Education; Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good; Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals; What A Fish Knows and SuperFly.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 Clips01:00 Welcome- Links to previous episodes: Jo-Anne McArthur, Marc Bekoff, Claudia Hirtenfelder, Jordi Casamitjana "people who are really thinking about sentience and its importance in the world"03:06 Jonathan's Intro- "I'm Canadian but I'm also American and British"- Biology, ethology, animal behaviour, then non-profit animal protection- "I was always very interested but also concerned about the wellbeing of animals... non-human animals because of course we're animals as well"- "Then I discovered I was pretty good at writing books!"- "Sentience... what animals are thinking, what are they feeling..."- "It's a very exciting time to be an ethologist... scientists are asking questions that were considered taboo... the inner livesof animals... The taboo is gone."- "There's a lot going on between the ears of a hedgehog or an elephant or a fish... not just vertebrates... there's a lot going on in the insides of animals without a backbone... insects, arthropods, crustaceans... octopuses and squids and nautiluses... the darlings of invertebrate sentience"- "Somebody thinking about thinking in non-humans"- JW: "Science has had to catch up with common sense"07:35 What's Real?- Non-religious parents but mum joined the Quakers when pregnant with Jonathan- "As my body was forming inside my mum's womb, religion was coming into her life"- "I go to a Catholic church, not because I'm Catholic but because I sing... it's good for me, it's good for my health and my spirit"- "It's a bit ironic that this atheist, me, goes to a Catholic church every Sunday..."- "My partner is Catholic... when I met her she was a Catholic omnivore and now she's just a Catholic"- "I'm not working on her to try to convert her and she's not trying to convert me... by and large our worldviews are verycompatible"- Quaker principles "Two of them I really like... non-violent and peaceful... open freedom of expression..."- "In the worship... anyone can get up and speak at anytime... "22:32 What (and Who) Matters?41:35 A Better World?01:12:00 Follow Jonathan:- "Super Fly"- "What a Fish Knows"- "Jake and Ava"- Jonathan on Wikipedia- jonathanbalcombe.com (sign up for his newsletter!)And 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!
Mark Rowlands is a writer and philosopher. He is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Philosophy Department at the University of Miami and the author of several books on the philosophy of mind, the moral status of non-human animals, and cultural criticism. His books include Animal Rights, The Body in Mind, The Nature of Consciousness, Animals Like Us, The Happiness of Dogs and a personal memoir, The Philosopher and the Wolf. His latest book is The Word of Dog.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 Clips01:01 Welcome- Previous episode links: Frans de Waal, Marc Bekoff, Jessica Pierce, Michael Hauskeller03:20 Mark's Intro- 20-something books... the mind, moral consideration,animals, environment, the meaning of life...- "The Word of Dog... an exploration of the idea of meaning in life through the ideas provided by a series of dogs"- Luna enters the chat05:25 What's Real?- "We weren't a religious family... I never went to church"- Mother's father was an Anglican vicar "that just puther off formal religion"- "The younger me was hostile [towards religious orsupernatural ideas]... I just didn't buy it... I was just a firm, died in the wool naturalist... we're just physical organism - when we die we die"- "I've come to the view that 'real' is ambiguous"- Two different perspectives: from the outside and from theinside- "...from the outside I'm just an unremarkable being in an unremarkable world who leads an unremarkable life"- "From the inside our lives are hubs of meaning and purpose... we matter... what we want matters deeply to us"- Tom Nagels' paper "The Absurd": "We have these two different views of reality - we know they both can't be true because they're incompatible but we can't bring ourselves to get rid of either one of them... Our existence in this sense is absurd... it doesn't make sense."- #wittgenstein : "Our lives have no limit in the sense that our visual field has no limit"- "We find it very difficult to understand the idea of death... but we know that there is an end"- "Which is more real? [the view from the outside or the inside]... to which do we attach the word 'real'?... It's not clear that there's a straightforward answer..."- JW: Is suggesting that the subjective is just another partof objective reality a potential resolution?27:40 What (and Who) Matters?45:50 Who Matters?01:10:10 A Better World and The Meaning of Life?01:26:20 Follow Mark:- The Word of Dog- Mark on PhilPeople - Mark at the University of Miami - Mark on Wikipedia And 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!
Ronen Bar is a social entrepreneur and the co-founder and former CEO of Sentient, a meta non-profit for animals focused on community building and developing tools tosupport animal rights advocates. He is currently focused on advancing a new community-building initiative, The Moral Alignment Center, to ensure AI development benefits all sentient beings, including animals, humans, and futuredigital minds. For over a decade, his work has been at the intersection of technological innovation and animal advocacy, particularly in the alternative protein and investigative reporting sectors.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 Clips01:11 Welcome02:40 Ronen's Intro- Social entrepreneur "using storytelling to promote reason and compassion for all sentient beings"- Investigative journalism (care homes then slaughterhousesin Israel and abroad)- Leading the Sentient NGO, including using on-animal investigative cameras to "enhance animal storytelling... of particular named animals" not just the story of a slaughterhouse- Alternative protein non-profits- The Moral Alignment Center "making sure that #ai is apositive force for all sentient beings"- "What is good?... I don't think those questions are asked enough in the AI space"- Starting new fields and communities- How the advent of powerful AI forces us to revisit thesefundamental "what's real?", "what matters?" and "whomatters?" questions- The ethical question is neglected in AI, but "it is in the minds of people... Ilya Sutskever... Ray Kurtzweil... Sam Altman..."07:23 What's Real?- Growing up in Israel "a very religious country" but in a secular family- Wider relatives #orthodox and ultra-orthodox- Asking self "what do I know for sure... 100%...? the obvious answer is subjective experiences at this moment"- Being less sure of everything else but "my subjective experience is certainly true"- #illusionism ? "It's funny to think of it [subjective experience] as an illusion because subjective experience is the only information you will ever receive in your life"- "Science is just the discipline... of trying throughrationality to predict the subjective experiences of humans" (even the results of scientific measurements come through our experiences)- JW: "So if it is an illusion it's still all we've got!"- "Starting from your own subjective experiences... itactually brings you more compassion... "29:40 What Matters?36:00 Who Matters?41:03 A Better World?01:33:20 Follow Ronen:- Ronen on the EA forum- Ronen on LinkedIn- Moral Alignment Center on LinkedIn - Alien Journalist Dictionary- Email: ronenbar07@gmail.comAnd 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!
Anders Reagan is a peace entrepreneur, philosopher, academic, and technologist. He is founding director of the Peace and Conflict Science Institute (PACS), an academic think-tank and advocacy organisation with special consultative status at the United Nations that aims to put peace and rights mechanisms on more rigorous, evidence-based foundations. Anders is also an AI Consultant at the University of Oxford.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 Clips01:06 Welcome02:58 Anders' Intro03:58 What's Real?- "My upbringing and emotional impetus for initiatingthe academic journey that I went on... happened because of a clash between a non-theistic, agnostic background and a religious, Christian environment"- Born in Boulder, Colorado "rather liberal"- Agnostic parents, father interested in Buddhist traditions- Moving to Arkansas at 7 yrs old "quite conservative leaning"- "A sudden transition happened with our social relationships... encountering people who had a Christian religious doctrine at such a core place... in their personality"- "Oftentimes the first question you'll be asked is 'what church do you go to?'... and at the time we didn't have any answer"- "It is an ingratiating tactic... These people are so kind and approchable... they're clearly looking for common ground to build off of"- "But when you respond with 'I'm atheist I don't go toany church at all'... the reaction... would be suspicion, confusion..."- "My mum... took the tactic of saying we would 'homechurch'... either indicating that we have no religion at all or we're way more intense than the rest of you" :)- At 7 years old: "That was intense... I didn't haveany concept of god or theism or religion - I'd never heard of any of these things... it was like living through a culture clash even though I hadn't left my own country"- "We eventually did find a home in a Unitarian Universalist fellowship... very welcoming of what they called liberalreligion... people who had found themselves ostracised by other congregations... LGBTQ+... Muslims... the Wicca faith... they would congregate in this space... exchange ideas... trying to find common ground across all of these different religious doctrines... I found that to be very enriching"- "Sunday School programme which offered a survey ofreligions. By the time I finished that programme... I felt like I had a pretty thorough understanding of the full range of religious and spiritual traditions"21:54 What Matters?42:14 Who Matters?01:09:40 A Better World?01:32:30 Follow Anders- Andersreagan.com- PACSInstitute.org - Anders' LinkTree- Anders on LinkedIn- andersjreagan@pm.meAnd 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!
Mike Berners-Lee is Professor in Practice at Lancaster University and director and principal consultant of Small World Consulting. His books include How Bad are Bananas?, The Burning Question and There Is No Planet B and he is a contributing author to The Climate Book created by Greta Thunberg. His latest book is A Climate of Truth.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 Clips01:02 Welcome03:03 Mike's Intro- "A professor of what... I'm not really quite sure... a professor of the future?"- Academic: Climate change, carbon flows, sustainable food systems, AI, technology- Small World Consulting "help organisations to respond to the environmental and wilder polycrisis that we are accelerating towards"- "Trying to create a better world for humans and other beings to live in"- From climate change to "the climate emergency... crisis... breakdown"- From trying to deal with climate change in isolation to..."all these things are just so joined up... climate... nature... food... population... social questions... politics... economics..."- "You can't deal with that separate from questions about what matters, who matters, does truth matter... you have to go deeper and deeper..."- Philosophy "I'm very pragmatic about it."- "It's important to work at all of these levels at once"- "I lose patience [with fellow academics] when they lose contact with everyday reality"- "How much of how we basically think and how we basically run society is fit for purpose... and how much we need to go back to the drawing board?"- The Anthropocene "the era in which suddenly it's humans that are so powerful"- "How we do economics... politics... how we think... it all dates back to a time when we could just expand our activities... the world was a robust playground... we could get away with anything we liked... Now we're right up against the stops... a hard physical boundary"- "We've given ourselves enormous physical power and wejust haven't given ourselves, yet, the wisdom with which to wield that power"- "We're like babies running around with machine guns"09:52 What's Real?- Mathematician parents "they also went to church"- "They asked a lot of questions [about religion]... they were not literalists"...21:53 What Matters?34:00 Who Matters?51:05 A Better World?01:24:30 Follow Mike: - "A Climate of Truth" A very simple guide to what’s going on in the world…"- Mike on BlueSky @mikebernerslee “I’m on BlueSky and I’m not on X… Please do avoid any social media in which you do not trust the owner… please switch right now”.- Mike on Sentientism.infoAnd 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!
Peter Watts (https://rifters.com/) is a Hugo Award winning sci-fi author. His works include the Rifters trilogy (e.g. Starfish) & the Firefall series (e.g. Blindsight). He earned a Ph.D from the Univ of BC Canada. He held several academic positions & worked as a marine-mammal biologist before becoming an author. 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:0:00 Welcome1:30 Peter's Intro - Baptist to biology to sci-fi- A father so confident in Baptist truth that he encouraged questioning "He taught so many people about the word of god but had somehow failed to reach me"- Becoming a marine biologist then fleeing the political bullshit- Becoming a sci-fi author- Including academic references in sci-fi. "I've been published in Nature more than they have because Nature publishes sci-fi stories!"- "One of the coolest things about this gig is that scientists seek me out"4:35 What's real?- Parental default "We're programmed to imitate & imprint"- A "rock star" Baptist minister father who trained other ministers. Seeing him struggle with domestic abuse, dementia & being a "non-practicing homosexual"- "He was the most unjudgmental man I've ever known." "Rolling his eyes at the sin but loving the sinner." Maybe because he was afraid of being judged for being gay. "A tormented, unhappy but wonderful guy"- Starting to question religion by reading sci-fi- Robert Heinlein's 'Stranger in a Strange Land' "introduced me to what an asshole the old testament god was". For some reason this hadn't been mentioned in Sunday school- Interestingly, as a gay minister, dad didn't seem to know about Leviticus- "Learning just enough from sci-fi novels to be an asshole to my dad"- "God doesn't really explain anything"- Being an atheist teenager + later becoming anti-religious- "Religion is basically a biological epiphenomenon"- Snorting oxytocin to improve fidelity- In/out group tribalism- Once you strip away the rhetoric humans act pretty much like any other mammal- "Being right is not as important in survival as having the esteem of your social group"- "Nobody ever achieved exalted social status by saying 'you guys are all fucking morons & here's my evidence'"- More educated people sometimes just have better post-rationalisations- "When you think of people as mammals a lot of stuff that seems bat-shit insane suddenly makes sense"- A soft spot for psionics/telepathy: "Time travelling snuff porn"?- "We kinda don't know everything yet - isn't that what science is about?"- Does being open-minded make us vulnerable to fundamentalists?- "It's easier to fit god than uncertainty onto a bumper sticker"And much more... (see YouTube or Sentientism.info)Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall https://sentientism.info/wall/ here: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist.Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. Main one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism.Thanks Graham: https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu.
Heather Browning is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Southampton. Her primary research interests are animal welfare, ethics, and consciousness.Walter Veit is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Reading and an external member of the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy at the Ludwig MaximilianUniversity of Munich. Much of Walter’s recent writing has been on animal minds, welfare and ethics, as well as evolution.As we've already covered our standard Sentientism "what's real?", "who matters?" and "how to make a better world?" questions in our previous conversations in episodes 48, 54 and 158, here we focus on Heather and Walter's new book "What Are Zoos For?"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.Find our previous conversations with Walter and Heatherhere, here and here.00:00 Clips01:12 Welcome- Heather's episode 54, Walter's episodes 48 & 15802:15 Intros (see bios above)- Heather "How do we study what's happening inside theminds of animals... what the world is like for them... the ethical implications"- Walter "I study the diversity of minds... in animals... neurodiversity... in humans... in AI systems"- "Our zoo book... how should zoos run... take a non-anthropocentric perspective"03:40 What Are Zoos For? And Who Are They For?- The range of human views about zoos: entertainment /conservation / fascination vs. exploitation- Heather's background as a zookeeper and a zoo animalwelfare officer- Combining an understanding of zoos from the inside plusphilosophy- Instead of the zoo industry vs. total animal liberation"a more balanced perspective... from the point of view of the animals and not just human ethics"06:44 Pillars of Human Zoo Justification- Entertainment, conservation, education and research- "There's definitely been a shift over time"- "In the beginning they were very much places of entertainment. The original proto-zoos were owned by rich and powerful people... to demonstrate their power"- "This history... entertainment... domination of animals... leads people to be very concerned about what zoos do"- Monica Murphy & Bill Wasik episode08:35 Types of Zoo Today- "There's a great diversity of zoos... we're not just defending all zoos as they currently exist"- Best practices, improving welfare standards "they should increase"16:15 Challenges to the idea of “good zoos”25:52 Zoos, the wild, agriculture, companions, sanctuaries35:50 Parallels with human situations?44:25 The life histories of zoo animals59:55 Should human animals just leave other animals alone?01:10:12 What can we do?01:11:44 Follow- What Are Zoos For?- Heather Browning- Walter Veit And 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 ourgroups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!
Natalie Bennett is a politician and journalist who was the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2012 to 2016. She was given a peerage (Baroness in the UK House of Lords) in 2019 and is working to abolish her own post bycreating an elected upper legislative chamber. Her journalism in Australia, Thailand and the UK has been published in the Bangkok Post, The Guardian, TheIndependent, The Times and many other newspapers. Her latest book is "Change Everything: How We Can Rethink, Repair and Rebuild Society".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 Clips01:09 Welcome03:03 Natalie's Intro- "Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle for really formal occasions - this is not a formal occasion"- Leading @GreenPartyofEnglandWales & the "Green Surge"- "If we had a democratic electoral system... a fair electoral system... we would have got 40 MPs... democracy would be a good idea"- Journalism @guardiannews @BangkokPostOfficial - "My first politics is #feminism ... I became a feminist at age 5 because I was told 'because you're a girl you're not allowed to have a bicycle'"- "...consistently being told not only could I not do something because I was a girl... I shouldn't even want to do it because I was a girl."- "I swerved close to a PhD several times and then runscreaming in the other direction"... a broad academic background... agricultural science then Asian studies degrees then a masters in mass communications (Donna Haraway, AI- "What we have now, so called generative AI, is notintelligence it is actually big data... we almost had intelligence 20 years ago and we're still at the point of almost having intelligence... I'm very much an AI sceptic"- The environmental impact of AI- Politicians lacking scientific background is "a huge problem"06:59 What's Real?- "I'm very fundamentally... essentially a materialist... but what life generates is very complex"- Attending a church school & then Sunday School"the polite thing to do... the same grandmother... who didn't think I should ride a bicycle because it wasn't ladylike"- Sunday School at 8-9 yrs: "It was really boring... Isaid to my parents I didn't want to go any more and so that was the end of that"20:10 What Matters31:05 Who Matters54:13 A Better World?01:12:58 FollowNatalie:- NatalieBennett.org- @NatalieGreenPeer “I’m absolutely hyperactive on socialmedia“- Natalie’s Change Everything Substack – including a recent article on how the UK government are teaming up with Saudia Arabia on historical preservation as Saudi are working to erase much of their own history- Natalie on WikipediaAnd 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!
Remastered audio! Originally published in May 2021.Christopher Sebastian is the director of social media for Peace Advocacy Network, sits on the Advisory Council for Encompass, is a senior fellow at Sentient Media, is co-founder of VGN, and lectures at Columbia University in the Department of Social Work for the graduate course POP: Power, Oppression, & Privilege. Using a multidisciplinary approach that includes media theory, political science, & social psychology, he focuses on how human relationships with other animals shape our attitudes about race, sexuality & class.https://www.patreon.com/ChristopherSebastianhttps://www.instagram.com/the_christopher_sebastian/https://www.christophersebastian.info/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 the Sentientism YouTube.We discuss:0:00 Welcome1:20 Christopher's Intro - journalism, mass comms, digital research1:40 What's real - From christianity to atheism- Growing up in a religious family (Catholic, African Methodist Episcopalian) in the USA south- Attending Catholic school- Questioning Christianity particularly as a queer person "I knew I was very different from the other little boys"- Asking lots of questions. An early journalistic instinct?- Being shocked when a teacher refused to pray for a child's parent who had committed suicide. Universal compassion & love but "not for her!"- The binary contrast between a benevolent god & the vengeful, vindictive god- "The interia pulls you back to what's safe & comfortable"- Becoming atheist "I couldn't make sense of it", but still following Christian traditions- The social/family challenges of queerness & leaving religion- "Black church is really different - it's fun" music, dancing, sheer jubilation. "You can't avoid being caught up in the energy & fellowship"12:31 What matters morally?- "If you don't believe in god then you're just running around murdering, pillaging & raping like some sort of pirate!"- "We can be moral agents without believing in a higher being"- Without god there's an even greater obligation to treat each other with respect and compassion- If this is the only life we have isn't it even more valuable?16:55 Extending compassion- The more minoritised identities you have, the more aware you are of the need for being just & kind- Race, queerness, femme of centre- "You're aware there's a hierarchy. It requires us to be more benevolent to one another"- Including other animals was "just obvious"- Who gets to be in the club re: "personhood" (like "whiteness"), can move arbitrarily...And much more... (full notes on YT or Sentientism.info)Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall https://sentientism.info/wall/ using this form: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist.Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. Main one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism.
Matthew Halteman is professor of philosophy at Calvin University and a fellow in theOxford Centre for Animal Ethics. He wrote Compassionate Eating as Care of Creationand co-editedPhilosophy Comes to Dinner: Arguments about the Ethics of Eating (with Andrew Chignell and Terence Cuneo). His latest book,Hungry Beautiful Animals: The Joyful Case for Going Vegan, was published in November 2024.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 Clips01:12 Welcome- Our Sentientism guest mutuals: Jasmin Singer, Mariann Sullivan, Christof Koch, Elan Abrell, Christopher Sebastian, John Sanbonmatsu...04:19 Matt's Intro- "A kid from the mid-west - my people are agriculture people"04:30 What's Real- "A Mennonite boy... anabaptist tradition of the Christian faith"- "A group... who focuses much more on... the ethics than the meta-physics"- "I remember being really surprised... to realise that other kids had different versions of the Christian faith..."- "The tradition I grew up in was really focused on... god is love and Jesus said... love god with all your heart... love your neighbour as yourself"- "The question in my tradition... was 'are you loving people'... unconditional love, unconditional grace... are you being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ on the ground"- "My family... the group of Mennonite scholars that gets tapped to write the book about Mennonites... my dad was the Mennonite economist... my aunt was the Mennonite feminist theologian..."- "My uncle... wrote a systematic theology...the Catholics and the Protestants had been doing this for centuries and the Mennonites were always focused on what happens on the ground... being the hands and feet of Jesus showing unconditional love to a suffering world."- "I've always thought that arguments about what is real tend to distract us from the real question... how do we show love to our neighbour... lifts up the people who are suffering... brings the people on the margins to the centre"- "Culture wars... debates over worldviews... have not shown a very impressive track record of success in this regard"- "We spend so much time fighting over what is real that we miss the fact that in a lived experiential way we have way more in common than we disagree about"- "For finite, error-prone creatures like us the really interesting conversations are on the ground where we're grieving, where we're suffering, where we're celebrating..."And more... full show notes atSentientism.info.Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More atSentientism.info. Join our"I'm a Sentientist" wall viathis simple form.Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in ourgroups. The biggest so far ishere on FaceBook. Come join us there!