Sentientism

Victoria (https://www.victorialynn.me/ & https://twitter.com/incertaspecie) is an actress, film producer, writer, voiceover artist and animal activist. She has appeared in Netflix's "Haunted", the Comedy Central show "Nathan for You", in various theatre productions & in the video game "Kingdom Come: Delieverance". Victoria is an animal rights activist. She co-founded the production company Quantum Kitten. Look out for Victoria's new Cosmic Creature app (https://www.victoria-hogan.com/cosmic-creature. In these 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 (subscribe!) https://youtu.be/VKhii84yh5E. We discuss: - Victoria's life in the performing arts & animal activism - Holding the concept of reality lightly - Our own experience as central to our reality - We're not fully conscious of much that we do - Growing up Christian. Believing in god, praying - Ditching religion at 10-11 yrs - Being an angry, anti-Christian atheist in early teens - Rejecting the homophobia & freedom restrictions of Christianity - Exploring spirituality, Wicca, Buddhism, Hinduism and holding them all as loosely true or real - Re-visiting some Christian concepts and finding it less troubling, while still rejecting where it conflicts with equality - The risks of solipsism. Giving up on knowing - Being sceptical even of our own perceptions and rationality - Can people have separate personal "truths" and still understand each other and collaborate? - The path from formal religion to "angry atheism" to a broader spirituality or a more humble naturalism - Is there "A divine source we are working our way towards"? - Does a broader spirituality warp compassionate ethics less than the idea of god as a being? - The role of intuition - "Most people I encounter are kind" - The bizarre admission of: "Without religion - what's stopping us from looting and murdering?" - "Is religion really all that keeps you from murdering?" - How much wrong comes from ignorance rather than intention (e.g. animal farming) - Most religious people are more compassionate than their gods or religious books. Which is why most don't follow the books - Maybe religion doesn't influence ethics that much for good or ill - Grounding morality in the experiences of others (or something else)? - Having a very intense, ineffable psychedelic experience using DMT: The universe is relatively indifferent. Nature is sometimes cruel and sometimes kind. The universe values creation (e.g. having a child). The universe wants to exist. Suffering leads to destruction. Nurturing leads to life, flourishing and new creation - And more (see Sentientism.info for full show notes) Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join our "wall" https://sentientism.info/wall/ using this form: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist. Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome to join our groups. Our main one is on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism. Thanks, Graham for the post-production: https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu.

Julie is an author, artist and animal activist. In these 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 (with Luna barking in the background): - Growing up reading the Children's Encyclopaedia - Julie's life in public service & social work - Studying Judaism, Christianity and Buddhism - Spirituality & inter-connectedness & diversity - Naturalistic and mystical versions of awe, wonder and inter-connectedness - "There's some spirit in everything" - Being comfortable not knowing. Humility and open-mindedness - "I've always had more questions than answers" - Starting every day in prayer and meditation to god, but not a god defined by any established religion - "god" as an energy in the universe - "Humans are like ants in a big machine" Our perceptions are limited - Being a freethinker. Interested in all cultures and all religions - Shifting from being focused on human issues to becoming a non-human animal advocate - Albert Schweitzer's reverence for life - Having ancestors that profited from animal exploitation - Hating injustice, oppression and abuse - Bertrand Russell's analytic philosophy - Being a teacher and educator. The importance of a holistic education about all aspects of life - An experience with a stray dog. Being talked into looking after it - Seeing a council worker take the perspective of non-humans seriously - Visiting an egg farm and seeing the hens crammed in to cages - Reporting the egg farm to the RSPCA and being told "it's legal" - The danger of a reverence for nature leading to excuses about animal product consumption "life consumes life..." - Experiencing unconditional love as a child - Patterns of abuse - The importance of animal law and regulations - The range of ways individuals can drive change, both personally and through our roles influencing and driving institutions - Are we at the beginning of a huge movement for non-human animals? - The power of social media to help us drive change - The influence of education and indoctrination - The influence of films and fiction. Dominion, Gunda, Seaspiracy, books - "Within one generation - everything will be very different" - Millions of animals are exploited, tortured and killed in research & testing - "If it was ethically justified they would't need to hide it." "Most people don't want to needlessly cause suffering & death". - Tapping in to latent decent human ethics? - Fighting indifference. Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join our "wall" https://sentientism.info/wall/ using this form: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist. Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome to join our groups. Our main one is on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism. Thanks, Graham for the post-production: https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu.

This episode is a bonus cross-post from The Conscious Basket Show where I talked to Samantha McCord (https://twitter.com/ConsciousBasket) about Sentientism. Samantha has founded Conscious Basket (https://www.consciousbasket.com/) as a marketplace for people trying to take more ethical decisions about the products they buy. In her companion podcast and Youtube she interviews all sorts of people working to make the world a better place. Why not visit and subscribe to her channels? Sentientism: sentientism.info Sentientism Facebook 🍎https://apple.co/391khQO 👂https://pod.link/1540408008 📺https://www.youtube.com/c/Sentientism

Amy Wilson (https://twitter.com/Ms_AmyPWilson) is an Animal, Human & Earth Rights Lawyer. She founded the Animal Law Reform & Animal Law Africa NGOs. She works as the Aquatic Animal Law Initiative Fellow at the Center for Animal Law Studies and volunteers with a number of other organizations in South Africa, across Africa and in the USA. In South Africa, Amy has leadership roles with the Coalition of African Animal Welfare Organisations and the Humane Education Trust. Throughout Africa, she works with Lawyers for Animal Protection in Africa. In these 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 https://youtu.be/p--DwudERgQ on Sentientism YouTube. We discuss: - Social justice & taking integrated approaches to animal, human & even earth rights - Growing up in post-apartheid South Africa - Attending convent school as a Presbyterian (non-Catholic) christian. Feeling excluded & "lesser" - Reading the Bible: "Revelations was my jam!" - Realising the inconsistencies in religion - Encountering homophobia "Am I somehow damned to hell" for being bi-sexual? - "Everything kind of feels sinful" - The fear around questioning. Asking even the uncomfortable questions - Learning about other religions. Commonalities & rigidity - Moving from religion to spirituality. Universal compassion for all beings. Still exploring. - Moving away from religion because of evidence/reason & warped ethics - The "dominion over animals" concept  - The pre-human origins of morality - The use of religion as a weapon of oppressive colonial power - Being open-minded about whether we are part of a broader universal consciousness - Gaia and spirituality. Does consciousness create matter? - The power of never being completely sure of anything - The risks of religious & scientistic dogmas & arrogance - "Morality isn't linked to religion" - The Golden Rule - Everything is connected, every one matters - Going vegetarian then vegan. "It took a long time for me to connect the dots. I loved animals so much & I didn't realise eating them was wrong" - The "aha moment" while eating an animal - and much more... full show notes on Sentientism.info. Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join our "wall" https://sentientism.info/wall/ using this: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist. Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome to join our groups. Our main one is on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism. Thanks, Graham for the post-production: https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu

Jessica Pierce (https://www.jessicapierce.net/) is a bioethicist & writer. Her work focuses on human-animal relationships & interconnections between ecosystems & health. Her "All dogs go to heaven" blog at Psychology Today is here https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/all-dogs-go-heaven. In these 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 on the Sentientism Youtube here: https://youtu.be/mUg6gWbCo1U We discuss: - Training in philosophy & religious studies - How ethics intersects w/biomedical science - Working for 10 years in medicine - Medicine can damage and enable health - Shifting to focus on non-human animal ethics - Companion animal relationships & the experience of losing Ody - The parallels between non-human animal & human care/ethics - Breaking the default assumption that "humans are the raw materials of ethics" - Growing up in an "outdoorsy" family in the Sierras & Colorado - Attending Buddhist temples, synagogues, churches. A wide variety of religions - Finding kernels of truth in every tradition but "you don't want to get stuck in one" - Studying religion from undergrad to phd - "How is someone with a phd in religion an atheist?" "When you study religion it turns you that way." -  Not rejecting the theist traditions, but also not embracing them - If there is some "god" (with a small "g") then it's in nature and if there's a "heaven" then its a state of mind, a state of being in harmony and peace. - "Humans are not the centre of the universe" - Our attitude that we can just exploit and use the world is an offense - "I would put myself in that camp of naturalism" - The appeal of pantheism - The trap of human arrogance (both scientists and religious people seeing humans as "like gods") - And much more (visit Sentientism.info for full show notes)... Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join our "wall" https://sentientism.info/wall/ using this form: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist. Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome to join our groups. Our main one is on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism. Thanks Graham for you post-prod work: https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu.

Lynda (https://twitter.com/LMKorimboccus and http://www.korimboccus.com/) is an anthrozoologist, sociologist & philosopher who teaches sociology in Scottish Further Education. She is also a musician, songwriter, writer and artist. Lynda is Editor-in-Chief of the Student Journal of Vegan Sociology (http://www.vegansociology.com/journal/). Lynda’s recent paper, “The Peppa Pig Paradox”, was published in the Journal for Critical Animal Studies (http://journalforcriticalanimalstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JCAS-Vol-17-Iss-5-October-2020-1-FINAL.pdf).   In these 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 audio is also on our Podcast - subscribe here: https://apple.co/391khQO & all the other platforms https://pod.link/1540408008. The video of our conversation is here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_YjyCRc4ym8 We discuss: - Being an activist academic - The "Peppa Pig Paradox" and cognitive dissonance - Critical Animal Studies and Vegan Sociology - Multi-disciplinary perspectives spanning psychology, sociology, anthrozoology and philosophy - "There's no such thing as an amateur philosopher" - Being a child philosopher - Growing up Methodist Christian with an ex-Muslim father who converted to Christianity, then later went back to Islam - Drifting away from the church - Being a "weak atheist" or agnostic - Bible stories were only ever stories. Never believing they were true - Reasons why people leave religions - "I don't like labels". Having the freedom to choose what makes sense - Compassion as a common theme running through, and pre-dating religions - Religious sectarianism and violence in Scotland - If we strip religious ethics back to universal compassion we don't need the supernatural beliefs as justifications - Compassion, kindness, social justice and veganism as the central elements of Lynda's ethics - Taking decisions to minimise harm - The danger of socially constructed categories re: gender, race, species. Pets vs. farmed animals - The risks of a human-centred perspective, even in our understanding of and use of sentience - And much more (see YouTube or sentientism.info for full show notes) Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join Lynda on our "wall" https://sentientism.info/wall/ using this: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist. Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome to join our groups. Our main one is on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism. Thanks Graham for the post-prod: https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu

Michael Dello-Iacovo (http://www.michaeldello.com/ and https://twitter.com/MichaelDello) is a PhD candidate in space science, looking at off-Earth exploration, mining & asteroid impact risk. Michael hosts the Morality is Hard podcast where he examines ethical questions and argues that everyday ethical choices are harder than we think they are. He is currently on the New South Wales state committee for the Animal Justice Party and is a committee member of the party’s youth wing. Michael has dedicated his life to giving back and making the world a better place for all. To that end, in 2016 he pledged to donate all of his income above AUS$45,000 each year to the most effective charities and causes, a pledge which he will uphold with his parliamentary income, if elected. Michael was previously the CEO of Effective Altruism Australia.  In these Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." Our conversation is also on the Sentientism YouTube Channel - don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell for notifications. We discuss: - Michael's PhD (pending) in space mining, terraforming, colonisation and asteroid deflection - Effective Altruism. Earning to give to do good vs. doing good directly - Peter Singer's TED talk - Leaving industry for a full time PhD and becoming an Animal Justice Party political candidate - Michael's Morality is Hard podcast, blog and Vegan Space Scientist YouTube - Growing up Catholic and attending a very religious school - Taking the Christian god, hell and heaven for granted. Being told every day it was true - Struggling with the fear of death without an afterlife. The comforting fiction of heaven - The painful realisation at 19 yrs that "not any of it was true" and becoming an atheist - The centrality of our own experience and the difficulty of conceiving of not existing - Searching for meaning after religion. Exploring and identifying with utilitarianism and consequentialism - "The only things sentient minds can value are suffering and wellbeing". Everything else we think we value is a means to an end or we're tricking ourselves - Our common evolutionary history with other sentient beings - Panpsychism and whether atoms are sentient/conscious  - If electrons are "conscious" it must be very boring and they're still not sentient - Caring for companion animals but eating other animals as a child - Going vegetarian for environmental reasons, becoming more open to ethical veganism, then switching - Insect, digital mind and alien sentience - "Sentientism just captures everything and its future proof" - CosmicSkeptic grudgingly identifying as Sentientist: "The term has absolutely no wit about it" - Is Sentientism the only moral discrimination? - And much more! Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join Michael on our "wall" https://sentientism.info/wall/ using this form: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist. Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome to join our groups. Our main one is on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism. Thanks Graham for the post-prod: https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu.

Zoe (https://twitter.com/ZoeWeil) is the co-founder & president of the Institute for Humane Education (https://humaneeducation.org/). She is considered a pioneer in the comprehensive humane education movement. She has authored seven books both for adults & children, including Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World & Meaningful Life. Zoe writes the Becoming a Solutionary blog at Psychology today. She has made numerous TV & radio appearances and has given six TED talks, including “Extending our Circle of Compassion.”  In these 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 audio is also here on YouTube - with full show notes. We discuss: - Humane Education: Human rights, animal protection, environmental sustainability - Growing up non-religious in New York but with Jewish heritage - Having the label "Jew" but not knowing what it meant - Taking courses on Orthodox Judaism at NYU. Finding the questioning & debate fascinating, but the "proofs of god didn't seem like proofs" - Taking a sense that "what you do mattered more than what you believe" - Semester at Sea, staying on an ashram, visiting Israel & Japan. Exploring religion & meaning making - Choosing to study religion rather than a scientific veterinary track - Doing a Masters in Theological studies at Harvard Divinity School, focusing on what religions taught about animals & environment - "I still don't believe in god - the way god is described in most religions" - "The mystery of the universe is awe-inspiring". Calling it "god" feels like it's narrowing something huge into something small - Is religion restricting wonder rather than revelling in it? - Does religion constrain the concept of god as the "universe" into something that looks remarkably like a human male? - Awe and wonder and connection within a naturalistic worldview - Unitarian universalism & the power of numinous, communal experience - And much more...  Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join our "wall" https://sentientism.info/wall/ using this form: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist. Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome to join our groups. Our main one is on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism. Thanks Graham for the post-prod: https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu

Glenn Edney (https://oceanspirit.org/) is an Ocean ecologist, underwater naturalist, sailor and professional diver. He has been exploring the Ocean and interacting with Ocean life for more than 30 years. He has an MSc in Holistic Science from Schumacher College and Plymouth University UK. His research is focused on understanding the Ocean as a living system and the role she plays as the primary life support system for our planet. He has a strong interest in bringing together traditional indigenous Ocean knowledge and modern scientific ecological understanding. For the past four years he has been collaborating with OceansWatch.org in working with communities in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands to develop community based, qualitative assessment methodologies to monitor the health of local reefs. He has written three books, including "The Ocean Is Alive". In these 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 and full show notes are here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9GAvks4BKJA. We discuss: - Ocean ecology - The ocean as a "living" interconnected system - First experiencing the ocean at 3 years old and the pervasive presence of the ocean in Aotearoa (New Zealand) - Growing up in a conservative, farming area - A dog best friend - Running away from Sunday School at 5 yrs old. Not being able to get straight answers - What we think of the natural world has often been heavily modified by humans - Moving from the country to suburban Auckland. "An environment just for humans". Sensing the separation of humans. - Studying fundamentalist Christian churches at university - Visiting the tomb of St. John the Baptist - Transcendent experiences of connectedness and continuity, even within a naturalistic worldview - The physical and spiritual experiences as distinct or as one - The distinction between reality and the categories we apply to it - The limits of science - Collective minds and memory - The "evolution" of a living ocean as a whole system - Degrees or levels of sentience - "Life has always been communal" - Living things have always communicated sense data about the world (chemically or via other mechanisms). The early origins of sentience - ...and much more (show notes here https://youtu.be/9GAvks4BKJA)! Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join our "wall" https://sentientism.info/wall/ using this form: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist. Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome to join our groups. Our main one is here on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism. Thanks to Graham for his post-prod work: https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu.

Dr Diana Fleischman is an evolutionary psychologist & an author. Until recently she was a senior lecturer at the University of Portsmouth. Her field of research includes the study of disgust, human sexuality, hormones & behaviour. She is involved in the effective altruism & animal welfare movements & identifies as a feminist and a Sentientist. Diana's 2018 Darwin Day Lecture, hosted by Humanists UK, was part of the inspiration for our work developing & raising awareness of Sentientism. You can find Diana at https://twitter.com/sentientist (yes!) & https://dianaverse.com/. Why not join her on our "I'm a Sentientist" wall? https://sentientism.info/sentientist-pledge/diana-fleischman. In these 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 available here on YouTube. Don't forget to subscribe and click the bell for notifications. We discuss: - Evolutionary psychology - Effective Altruism - Diana's Darwin Day talk to Humanists UK - Whether Humanists are more likely to be ethical vegans - Whether "carnism" is socialised or a state of nature - Diana's father's German Jewish & Polish family history during WWII & since - "They fell in love because he fed her a lot of food" - Diana's Catholic mother. Being baptised in Portugal - Going to synagogue with Diana's grandfather & Catholic Sunday School - After first communion "I don't like it & I don't believe it" - Going atheist at 9/10 yrs after brother did at 7 - Being fascinated by evolution - "I carried The Evolution Book around like a teddy bear" - Being teased as "Monkey Girl" for believing in evolution. The worst bullies seemed to be the most religious kids - Being told in the early 1990's by a teacher "evolution is controversial - it's not a settled idea" - We skipped the evolution chapter in the Biology textbook - Becoming stridently anti-religious - "I thought we couldn't really understand human beings without understanding that humans are animals" - I met so many wonderful religious people in the vegan movement & became much less aggressively anti-religion - Religious arguments for why we should be compassionate are wrong but that compassion can still have good outcomes - Diana's Hen Do turns into a witches coven - Weeping after being blessed by a minister & being moved by ritual - "I am exactly the kind of person who could fall into religious fervour" - Sam Harris: "Religions shouldn't have a monopoly on reverence" - "Nature is a horrible place" - & much more... (full show notes on YouTube & sentientism.info) Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join Diana on our "wall" https://sentientism.info/wall/ using this form: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist. Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome to join our groups. Our main one is here on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism. Thanks to Graham for his post-prod. Follow him: https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu