Macken is a writer and science educator. He hosts a weekly podcast about animals, Species, recommended by both Apple and BBC’s Wildlife magazine. He is currently studying anthropology at the University of Oxford. He has written a children’s book about animal symbiosis, Animal SideKicks.

*Content Warning - description of violence*

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 

01:54 Macken's Intro: Species podcast, writer, grad student

03:19 What's Real?

- Never exposed to the supernatural so "I never really had occasion to believe in it"

- Dad is a Pastafarian pastor

- Raised by two atheists (who were raised Protestant & Catholic in Northern Ireland during The Troubles)

- "Their first impression of religion in life was one that was related to needless violence... seeing someone get shot for their religious affiliation"

- "I've never seen even a slightly good reason to believe in any of that stuff..."

- Culturally still Christian (Santa!)

- Is spiritual but not religious... "trying to have your cake & eat it too?"

- Are those who grew up religious more likely to end up anti-religious than those who didn't?

- Odd that atheism requires such focus vs. arguing against the existence of Santa

- The risks of patronising deference to religion re: sexism, homophobia, bigotry

- Losing religious belief might harm some people

- Why is using evidence & reason the best approach? What if "I just don't like it"

- Different forms of evidence & reasoning

- Biases, denial, gullibility & skepticism

25:40 What Matters & Who Matters?

- Utilitarianism in theory & nihilism in practice

- Vegan "If I wasn't vegan I'd feel super guilty all the time"

- "I wasn't really raised with a moral framework... there was one rule... from my dad... 'don't be a dick'"

- My mum gave me a list: "One girlfriend at a time... never get a grade below a B..."

- Evolved ethical intuitions

- "We're an altruistic, really prosocial species... we're also a really evil, horrible species"

- A pre-disposition to moral strictness "I didn't swear for years... I basically haven't lied at all (maybe this is a bit of a lie)."

- Testing utilitarian on thought experiments "but if you followed me around all day I'd be acting very much the same way as my ancestors (except veganism)... family first, friends second, everyone else when I can & it's easy"

- Effective Altruism

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

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Thanks Graham.