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

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

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

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:25 Elan's Intro

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

- Appearing on Knowing Animals & Our Hen House

- Working with Kathryn Gillespie

02:42 What's Real?

- Raised mostly #secular

- Dad believed in #reincarnation

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

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

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

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

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

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

- Not spiritual but "a certain sense of wonder"

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

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

17:00 What Matters?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- Peter Singer

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

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

- #consequentialism

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

26:21 Who Matters?

- Beyond #anthropocentrism

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

49:43 How To Make a Better Future?

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

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

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