Recently I had a great chat with Jamie Woodhouse on the Sentientism podcast where we talked about a lot of different topics (listed below). This interview was unique for me as Jamie asked a lot of questions I had never thought about the answer to before, in particular relating to my transition from Catholic to atheist. I hope you’ll enjoy the discussion.
We discuss (from the show notes):
Michael’s PhD (pending) in space mining, terraforming, colonisation and asteroid deflection
Effective Altruism. Earning to give to do good vs. doing good directly
Peter Singer’s TED talk
Leaving industry for a full time PhD and becoming an Animal Justice Party politician
Michael’s Morality is Hard podcast, blog and Vegan Space Scientist YouTube
Growing up Catholic and attending a very religious school
Taking the Christian god, hell and heaven for granted. Being told every day it was true
Struggling with the fear of death without an afterlife. The comforting fiction of heaven
The painful realisation at 19 yrs that “not any of it was true” and becoming an atheist
The centrality of our own experience and the difficulty of conceiving of not existing
Searching for meaning after religion. Exploring and identifying with utilitarianism and consequentialism
“The only things sentient minds can value are suffering and wellbeing”. Everything else we think we value is a means to an end or we’re tricking ourselves
Our common evolutionary history with other sentient beings
Panpsychism and whether atoms are sentient/conscious
If electrons are “conscious” it must be very boring and they’re still not sentient
Caring for companion animals but eating other animals as a child
Going vegetarian for environmental reasons, becoming more open to ethical veganism, then switching
Insect, digital mind and alien sentience
“Sentientism just captures everything and its future proof”
CosmicSkeptic grudgingly identifying as Sentientist: “The term has absolutely no wit about it”
Is Sentientism the only moral discrimination?
It’s a solid bet to focus on spreading good values, naturalism and expanding our moral circle, when we’re in a world of moral uncertainty and epistemological complexity
Are all human-caused problems due to poorly founded beliefs and/or moral consideration exclusions?
Veganism is becoming more mainstream, but more farmed animals and fish are suffering & dying
Plant-based & clean-meat animal product alternatives
Sentientist Politics. Representing non-humans in politics & law
Resisting animal agriculture industry resistance
Shifting incentives (subsidies, regulation, transparency)
Latent public support for ending factory farming & even slaughterhouses
Just Transitions for impacted communities – Iain M. Banks’ “The Culture” as a potential sci-fi post scarcity future
Does sci-fi help us re-focus on our core values and future potential
Longtermism & existential risk
If we can’t improve our values, let’s at least work to improve our policies, laws, regulations and behaviours.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shnZi9x6X7c]