Marc is profesor emeritus of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has published  31 books, won many awards for his research on animal behavior, animal emotions, compassionate conservation, & animal protection, has worked closely with Jane Goodall, & is a former Guggenheim Fellow. Marc's latest books are "Canine Confidential: Why Dogs Do What They Do" & "Unleashing Your Dog: A Field Guide to Giving Your Canine Companion the Best Life Possible" (with Jessica Pierce) & he also publishes regularly for Psychology Today. Marc & Jessica have recently written "A Dog's World" about what the world will be like for dogs as & when humans disappear (Princeton University Press, 2021). In 1986 Marc won the Master's age-graded Tour de France. His homepage is https://marcbekoff.com/.

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

Sentientism is "evidence, commitment & compassion for all sentient beings."

The video of our conversation is here on YouTube, along with full show notes.

We discuss:

- Growing up in Brooklyn & not being a strong student in high-school

- Talking to a companion goldfish & the neighbourhood animals

- Imagining perpectives of non-human animals: "Minding animals"

- Seeming bizarre to question the sentience of non-human animals

- Selling records, undergrad degree, then a career using animal play behaviour as a window into the animal perspective

- Michael Fox's work with canids & becoming his grad student

- Nagel's "What is it like to be a bat?"

- Donald Griffin's "The question of animal awareness" & "Animal Minds"

- Animal protection as a lifelong focus

- Getting academics out of the clouds and into helping

- Growing up in a culturally Jewish home with Russian Jewish immigrant grandparents, but being an atheist from day one

- "I never doubted that non-human animals had feelings" (Luna barks in agreement)

... and much more!

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. Follow him: https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu