Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Announcing The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness, published by Sofia Fogel on April 22, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum.

The last ten years have witnessed rapid advances in the science of animal cognition and behavior. Striking results have hinted at surprisingly rich inner lives in a wide range of animals, driving renewed debate about animal consciousness.

To highlight these advances, the

NYU Mind, Ethics and Policy Program and

NYU Wild Animal Welfare Program co-hosted a conference on the emerging science of animal consciousness on Friday April 19 at New York University. This conference also served as the launch event for

The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness.

This short statement, signed by leading scientists who research a wide range of taxa, holds that all vertebrates (including reptiles, amphibians, and fishes) and many invertebrates (including cephalopod mollusks, decapod crustaceans, and insects) have a realistic chance of being conscious, and that their welfare merits consideration.

We now welcome

signatures from others as well. If you have relevant expertise (for example, a graduate education or the equivalent in science, philosophy, or policy), you can send an email to

[email protected] from your institutional email address, say that you wish to sign, and list your title and institution as they should appear.

Day-one media coverage of the conference and declaration included articles at

Nature,

NBC,

Quanta,

The Hill, and

The Times. We also recorded the event, and our team will post videos on

the declaration website in the near future.

If you have questions or comments, feel free to send an email to [email protected] or [email protected].

Thank you to NYU Animal Studies, the NYU Center for Bioethics, and the NYU Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness for supporting this event.

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