Sentientism

This episode is a bonus cross-post of a salon session about Sentientism with the American Ethical Union back in February 2022 hosted by Hugh Taft-Morales. Amy Halpern-Laff and I (Jamie Woodhouse) presented the Sentientism worldview and we had a great Q&A session with the group.

If you prefer video you can watch the session on the AEU YouTube channel here.

Find out more about the AEU on their website here.

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

The Sentientism worldview answers those questions with a commitment to "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings."

Find out more at ⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Tania is the Arthur W. Marks Professor of Psychology at Princeton University. She oversees the Concepts and Cognition Laboratory, which uses the empirical tools of cognitive psychology and the conceptual tools of analytic philosophy to study the human mind. Their research focuses on topics including explanation, learning, causal reasoning, and folk epistemology.  Tania is the recipient of numerous early-career awards including the Stanton Prize from the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, the Spence Award from the Association for Psychological Science, a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation and a James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award in Understanding Human Cognition. She blogs about psychology, philosophy, and cognitive science at Psychology Today and for NPR’s 13.7: Cosmos & Culture.

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

- #interdisciplinary human #cognitivescience

- Links to #epistemology & #ethics "I came to cognitive science from a background largely in philosophy of science & epistemology"

- Questions at the boundary of empirical psychology & philosophy "how can we know things, what is knowledge, what does it mean to understand, how do we acquire understanding, how can we make the correct decisions"

- "We can learn a lot from #philosophy "

- What makes a compelling explanation & why we are so motivated to explain

03:57 What's Real?

- "Because I am a psychologist I'm deeply sceptical of my own introspective sense"

- Growing up in a #Jewish household and "I still identify as Jewish"

- Jewish identity, community, ritual... "at the same time I feel like theistic beliefs just played pretty much no role in that at all"

- Prayers: "They certainly talk about god, they certainly talk about occurrences that seem very, very implausible... but that just seemed to me to be not deeply connected to what was valuable or important about that religious identity growing up"

- "That sounds somewhat foreign to many people I know from other religions where belief is really at the core of what it means to have a particular kind of a religious identity"

- Not speaking Hebrew "you're able to get to a certain point where something might have meaning for you... before you actually know what it means"

- "I definitely had experiences of actually reading the translations and being taken aback by them... this is what I've been saying?"

- Hebrew School "I told my parents that it I thought it was a waste of time and I didn't want to keep going"

- In high school "sought out Jewish education on my own... I discovered I was the only person there whose parents hadn't forced them to be there... it was a miserable class"

- "I had a Jewish wedding... one of the conversations that we had with our Rabbi was that we didn't want god to be mentioned"

- "Threading that needle... preserve some elements of a tradition that's meaningful... how to do it in a way that's consistent with other values that I hold."

- "I think I'm a straightforward boring naturalist"

- "I have no doubt that I routinely employ all sorts of background assumptions that I have not subjected to scrutiny & that I could not give good evidence based arguments for..."

What Matters?

Who Matters?

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.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Jamie talks to actress, singer/song-writer, author and activist Carole Raphaelle Davis about Sentientism, what she believes and what matters morally.  If you prefer reading to listening, we've posted an article based on this conversation here.

You can watch the video of our conversation here on our Sentientism YouTube channel. Why not subscribe there as well as to this podcast?

Carole Raphaelle Davis is an actress, recording artist, writer and activist best known for her roles in Sex and the City and Madam Secretary and her songwriting with Prince. See more at caroleraphaelledavis.com.

Sentientism is "Evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings." You can find out more about it at sentientism.info. 

Everyone interested, whether Sentientist or not, is welcome to join our global communities. Our main group is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism.

Many thanks to Graham Bessellieu for his post-production work on the video and audio. Go follow him (and maybe work with him!) at @cgbessellieu.

Jared is a researcher at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Until the summer of 2023 he was a lecturer at the University of Washington School of Computer Science. While there he created a class on the philosophy of AI and created and taught an ethics course as well as teaching technical artificial intelligence courses. His satirical novel "The Strength of The Illusion" was published in the summer of 2023. Previous Sentientism guest Mark Solms called it "extraordinary".

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 Clips!

00:56 Welcome

02:23 Jared Intro

- AI research, teaching philosophy, AI ethics and AI tech

- "What are the right things to do and how do we bring those things about"

- "AI is a sandbox... to test out these ideas"

- Jared's philosophical novel, "The Strength of the Illusion" "A timely meditation on what happens when artificial intelligence clashes with human stupidity"

- "#philosophyofmind ... what it means to think, to learn..."  

05:12 What's Real?

- "I grew up with a father that derided religion"

- A "very atheistic upbringing... in some parts I regret" vs. "more religious community centred upbringings"

- Not convinced re: god or spirituality but "that's not to say that I want to discount the feelings of religious experiences"

- William James

- Irish grandmother "she hates the #catholic church with a passion"

- Father is a doctor encountering lots of "anti-science"

- Joining a gospel choir at University "I'm not religious but it's a really fun and enlivening way to approach life"

- "It's not been my life to combat religion... the 'Four Horsemen'... Dan Dennett, Sam Harris..."

- "I think there's value in being kind to each other when you talk about this [religion]"

- "Few people are willing to actually debate the tenets of their beliefs... that's the tension between science and religion"

- "The unwillingness, by design, to accept alternative hypotheses and test their views is what perpetuates religion"

- Spirituality: "I haven't been drawn... it seems a bit like #mysterianism... an appeal to mystery before the facts are out."

- "Could we not explain consciousness, morality... I think that we can eventually explain those things through rigourous science"

- Rejections of the possibility of explaining consciousness: Searle's Chinese Room, Nagel's "What Is It Like To Be A Bat?"... "These appeals are in a sense spiritual... they're appealing to some sort of mystery"

- "That explanation does not need to be a let down -just because we can explain the illusion doesn't mean that the illusion doesn't exist"

- "There's a degree of bad blood"... history of scientists denying or avoiding or deriding things because the evidence isn't yet there to enable study (e.g. #behaviourists ignoring mental states)

- "Scientists are imperfect and can be mean"

- Do AIs have epistemology - JW: "are they learning, can they know things?"

- #llms (large language models)  like OpenAI's #chatgpt "Do they understand language?"

- "They... seem to be able to use language OK... they make errors but humans make errors too"

21:25 What & Who Matters?

44:24 Who Matters?

01:09:25 A Better Future?

Follow Jared:

- https://jaredmoore.org/

- https://twitter.com/jaredlcm

- https://jaredmoore.org/the-strength-of-the-illusion

...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.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Kat is an effective altruist who co-founded Nonlinear (incubating artificial intelligence extinction risk non-profits), Charity Entrepreneurship (helping people start new, effective charities), and Charity Science Health. She describes her main focus today as trying "to make transformative artificial intelligence go well instead of poorly."

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

01:56 Kat Intro

- "The biggest thing I care about is preventing suffering risks [#S-risks] the risk of causing astronomical amounts of suffering... We're already in one"

- "We're a super-intelligent species compared to pigs and chickens and it's not going great... the worst thing that has ever happened in history as far as I can tell"

- "Right now we're just racing towards making a species that is much, much more intelligent than us - that hasn't gone well in the past"

- "I really want to make sure that it goes well not just for us - but also for all sentient beings - and also future sentient beings"

- "How we play this in the next while could be the difference between... the best invention that every happened... or we could all die, like everybody, including all the animals... or be stuck in a factory farming thing where there's no escape... like there's no chance for chickens escaping from factory farming"

- Trying to get more people working on this to make sure it goes well

- From #passiveincome #4hourworkweek to #passiveimpact and helping people

- Nonlinear: mentorship, seed funding, helping other people start things

- "Prioritise ideas, make the ideas happen"

 06:20 What's Real?

- Growing up on Canadian West Coast

- "Religion just wasn't talked about"

- "The only time I heard about Christianity was in my history class... and english class"

- "When I actually found out that people really did believe these things I was like 'holy shit... maybe I could go to hell... that sounds bad'"

- Delving into Islam, Wiccanism. Christianity "too boring"

- Graduating at 17 & taking a gap year in India & reading Dawkins' "God Delusion"

- "At the beginning I just thought it was clearly bad... I hadn't interacted with anyone who was really religious"

- "It's really easy to demonise somebody that you haven't met"

- Staying with a family in Rwanda "an extremely religious country"... "At first I was worried... I ended up telling everybody... I'm an atheist" but doing humanitarian work, not "eating babies"!

- Epistemology: "I was very hard-core - do RCTs [randomised controlled trials] for everything..."

- Reading a psychology paper on "willpower" every day... "my first ever experience of real science... this is crap"... small effect sizes, exaggerated abstracts...

- "Science is terrible... but it's better than your gut most of the time... the only way we see that is because we have ways to evaluate"

- "My confidence interval around what is true got wider and wider... more and more uncertain"

- Experiencing epistemic angst "I can't know anything... nobody knows anything... I'm just going to go be a hippy in the woods, make some art, do some drugs... but I just kept caring about stuff that was happening in the world... I just have to keep going"

- Astrophysicist Katie Mack episode

...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.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Alexandra is an actress, activist and health coach. She has appeared in more than 100 feature films and television programs starring alongside actors including Tom Hanks, Pamela Anderson, Pierce Brosnan, Kevin Costner and Dan Ackroyd. She is internationally recognized for her 5-year starring role in the tv series Baywatch.

Alexandra has been a lifelong and often award-winning (and arrested!) activist, spanning causes including animal liberation, environmentalism, human population, peace, voting rights and LGBTQ rights. She competes in long distance swimming and Ironman races, including the World Ironman Championship in Hawaii.

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 Clips & Welcome

- Crystal Heath episode (thanks for the intro!)

02:30 Alexandra's Intro

- Acting, #baywatch , marriage, activism

- "I am an actress by trade but I feel like I'm an activist - that's the thing that feeds my soul... gives me purpose & meaning"

- Human population, animals

- Moving to Oregon

- #YesOnIP13 ballot initiative & David Michelson episode

 04:55 What's Real?

- Growing up in a Christian #protestant household. Church every sunday.

- Boarding school with church every morning

- "It drives me crazy when our President swears on the Bible because I thought there was separation of church & state..."

- Confirmed into the church at 12 yrs old "When in doubt do what Jesus would do - the kindest thing"

- Midnight mass at 17 yrs old "A pastor said 'we're all born with sin'... I just thought 'that's not true'... that was pretty much the end of me and religion"

- "I also felt that religion didn't deal with the things that needed to be done on earth - like the environment"

- "So I never went back to church after that"

- "The tenet about Jesus doing the kindest thing has evolved into Ingrid Newkirk's... 'be kind, be kind, be kind'" Ingrid episode

- "I personally don't have a god"

- "I've got a lot of work to do on earth... I'm not even going to deal with religion because it's just a waste of time.. I need to fix things on earth... I don't consider myself a spiritual person."

- Visiting the Vatican "horrified at the riches in that place"

- "Also the anthropocentric view of the bible - that humans are the centre and we have dominion over everything else... and very male-dominated"

- Protesting the Iraq war & being arrested with the Catholic Workers "They put into practice what is talked about in the Bible about loving your fellow man"

- The meaning, solace & community some get from religion and how activism can provide the same

- "I will not join a religion because of the exclusiveness & the hierarchy... and humans are at the centre"

- "I don't believe that people are born bad... circumstances can twist them... humans get damaged"

- #Moralluck , blame and retribution. #Sentientistjustice https://sentientism.info/sentientism-in-action/sentientist-justice

- "How good a person would I be" if I'd been born in different (tougher) circumstances

- "I worried that my character was weak... I think that's one of the reasons I've become an activist... I remember being afraid that I was a bad person underneath."

30:21 What Matters?

34:25 Who Matters?

54:37 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.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

This episode is a bonus cross-post of my conversation about Sentientism with Josh Milburn on his Knowing Animals podcast, founded by the late and much loved Siobhan O'Sullivan, as part of their Protecting Animals series.

Make sure you subscribe to Knowing Animals wherever you listen. Of course Josh has also been my guest on Sentientism back in episode 50. You can find it here on the Sentientism YouTube (don't forget to subscribe and click the bell!) and here on the Sentientism Podcast.

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

The Sentientism worldview answers those questions with a commitment to "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings."

Find out more at ⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Delci is an animal protection lawyer, scholar, teacher and programme builder. She is an associate professor of law and Director & Founder of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at Vermont Law and Graduate School. The Institute is committed to training animal advocacy leaders (e.g. masters degrees and programmes, Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic) and serving as a resource hub.

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

- Elan Abrell episode

02:30 Delci's Intro

- A non-traditional path, straddling academic & activism

- Pragmatic idealism "I was there to help animals"

05:38 What's Real?

- "My mom grew up in a fundamentalist, fear-based #cult"

- "She really didn't want us to experience that - so we didn't go to church at all"

- Mom still had strong religious beliefs "but she didn't force them on us", #agnostic dad

- "I grew up... naturalistic and being critically minded and making decisions based on what I observed in the world"

- "I probably have disappointed my mum in that I'm an #atheist"

- "I was just born argumentative... always pushing back and asking questions"

- Hearing about the trauma of family because of the cult "it gave me a critical lens on religion... what is the agenda here? Who is

- "I've always had a really strong moral compass... why would someone in a position of authority create terror and suffering in

- "I do have a tremendous respect for evolution... for systems that have evolved over millennia"

- #meditation & secular #buddhism "There is a whole lot we don't know"

12:19 What Matters?

- "For as long as I can remember  have had a very strong moral compass that is not based on any external... religious document... fear of punishment..."

- "Just a deep sense of #justice in my core... and as sense of needing to speak up about that"

- Shyness, social anxiety "but there are times when something just bubbles up in me and I need to speak out... do something about it"

- Featuring in #OphrahWinfrey 's "O" magazine as "The Crusader"

- "I have this very strong conviction of what's right and wrong"

- "Fairness... not causing unnecessary suffering"

- Being pragmatic, so considering specific situations but "informed by an overlay"

- Authoritarianism, harming others for profit, lacking transparency

 16:29 Who Matters?

- A traumatic experience at 14 yrs. Raising two pigs from birth as companions then "they were unexpectedly slaughtered"

- "I loved animals before then... but that really set me on a journey... I just started reading about factory farming, animal rights... Peter Singer's Animal Liberation"

- Ep: 156 with Peter Singer

-  "It resonated with me very much that sentience mattered... that has been a fundamental touch-point for me... I've added complications to it over the years"

- Precautionary principle re: assessing sentience

- "My focus tends to be on individuals & sentience... overlaid with a respect for systems... and interconnectedness"

- "I loved eating meat and didn't really think about the connections to animals"

- "It was a huge wake-up call for me... I felt like I had been living a lie... I had been betrayed... there was all of this awfulness & corruption in the world that I had been totally unaware of"

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.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Jo-Anne McArthur is a photojournalist, public speaker, animal rights activist and author. She is best known for her We Animals Media project, a media agency and photography project documenting human relationships with animals. Jo-Anne offers presentations about human relationships with animals in educational and other environments and provides photographs and other media for those working to help animals.

Jo-Anne was the primary subject of the 2013 documentary The Ghosts in Our Machine, directed by Liz Marshall, and with Keri Cronin, she is the founder of the Unbound Project, which aims to celebrate and recognize women animal activists. Her first book, We Animals, was published in 2013; her second, Captive, was published in 2017; and a third, Hidden, which featured a foreword by Joaquin Phoenix, was published in 2020. Jo-Anne has been awarded a range of commendations for her photography and activism, including several commendations in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards and joint first place in the COP26 photography competition.

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

2:23 Jo's Intro

- Striving to be open, active, helping, empathic, compassionate, humble

- Founding We Animals Media "What was once me with camera is now me & 15 staff & over 100 contributing photographers globally"

- "My own ethos about being generous in the world"

3:57 What's Real?

- #catholic background but not very religious family

- "Know the stories, know the moralistic tales... which are largely quite good & translate across many religions... do unto others... take care of one another"

- "I am personally #atheist / #agnostic atheist... I do have a very #spiritual sense of the world... did I just contradict myself? I don't think so."

- "Everything is interconnected... I am from the earth and will go back to the earth."

- "It's a beautiful system this earth has evolved over billions of years... I am in awe of that."

- "If I have a spiritual leaning it's towards reference for the earth"

- "My dad commented... I seemed like an earth worshipper... indigenous ideology? pagan ideology?"

- "I go through the world in awe of what is around me"

- "You protect what you love... I do love the plants... trees, birds in the trees & the old dog I adopted & other people..."

- "Perhaps that reverence has led me to be a full time activist for others"

- "There were no clashes (with supernatural religious beliefs)... it just seemed to me that the scientific experiment is what holds truest to me... how biology works... how the cosmos works... I just gravitated towards that"

- "3 of my 4 parents are very religious now... we don't talk about it very much because we disagree on some major things"

- "They feel that I will go to hell if I don't find Jesus so they pray for me... yet we have a gorgeous, wonderful, close relationship"

- "We disagree on these things but we can still love one another"

- "It was quite a religion free zone at my house. I was free to develop my worldviews."

- "My parents guided me but also took a back seat to the things that were apparently precious to me... protecting others"

14:22 What & Who Matters?

34:42 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.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

Varda Mehrotra is an animal advocate and movement builder, exploring intersectional solutions. Most recently, she founded Samayu to undertake intersectional work and apply a systems approach for issues surrounding justice and animals in food systems. Under her decade-long leadership, FIAPO - India’s federation for animal organisations - was recognized as one of the most effective animal charities. She has spearheaded several large-scale undercover investigations, campaigns for farmed animals, companion animals and wild animals and was the architect of India’s largest plant-based advocacy network which has created many animal advocate leaders in the country. Prior to that, she spent several years organising within the grassroots animal advocacy movement in Scotland.

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

01:41 Varda's Intro

- "An activist first"

- Scotland, India, US

- Advocating for farmed, wild, companion animals

- Policy work, mobilisation, vegan advocacy, corporate engagement

- Intersectional thinking "in practice" "a bigger picture approach... correcting the omission of animal interests in the broader discourse around our planetary crisis

- Co-founding Samayu "working with the inter-linkages" https://samayu.org/

3:45 What's Real?

- A Hindu religious upbringing

- "All our holidays were spent in the forest... the value of the natural world... you hold it in wonder"

- Mum researched Buddhist philosophy "a lot of Buddhist concepts mixed in [with traditional Hinduism]"

- As a rebellious teenager "I was a staunch atheist for a while... Now the question of atheism has almost disappeared... ceased to matter"

- "I just didn't see any evidence... there was just no way I could relate to faith on its own... and the dogmatic side of religion... that I still strongly disagree with. I wasn't convinced then and I'm not convinced now."

- "My worldview has shifted - I don't believe in the single or multiple male gods"

- "I just identify as a nothingist"

- "That was one of the many things I was talking about doing differently... at a very young age I said 'I'm not OK doing that' [eating meat]"

- "Exploring modalities... #meditation, #yoga... evidence for a general sense of connection... empathy... acknowledging everything is interconnected"

- "I don't think there is anything 'greater than'... but certainly there is a fundamental interconnection that goes beyond transactional relationships... that grounds me."

- Naturalistic and supernatural versions of #spirituality

- The ethical risks of spiritual, supernatural & religious worldviews (#cults #alternativemedicine harsh punishments, authoritarianism...) "There's a huge difference if they are taking actions from those beliefs or not."

- "Buddhist monasteries are still serving meat and dairy"

- "Any belief system can easily become dogmatic"

- "Spirituality can be equally dark... as organised religion"

21:30 What & Who Matters?

- "Everybody matters... all human and non-human beings matter"

- "Each of us are on our journey to be able to put that into action"

- "Sentience is the scientific basis of including beings in our moral compass"

- "Looking at nature... and including that... within that moral compass"

- "Intrinsic value... Every animal exists with his or her own interests"

33:23 Making a Better World

...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.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!