Ep. 140: Jamie Woodhouse - On Sentientism, Science, and A Bit of Blade Runner

Jul 10, 2020

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This episode takes on a topic we’ve not tackled before – sentientism. My guest is Jamie Woodhouse. Jamie is an advisor, campaigner and a former colleague of mine (he was a partner at Accenture). For the purposes of this episode however, he is a sentientist. Sentientism is an ethical philosophy that uses reason and evidence to consider all sentient beings – that is, beings that can experience suffering or flourishing.

Jamie runs a website on the topic, campaigns and provides thought leadership on this topic. This is a conversation that is increasingly relevant given Covid19 and our relationship with the natural world. It is also relevant because it isn’t possible to discuss this topic without discussing reason, evidence and science.

In this episode, we cover:

What sentientism is and arguments for it;
How it differs from ethical veganism;
Why secular humanism (which embraces human reason and ethics as the basis for morality and decision-making) needs an overhaul;
Tribalism and why many of us don’t change our minds in light of evidence contrary to our views;
Sentientism and artificial intelligence – which led us to the film Blade Runner of course;
Much more

Show notes:

Sentientism.info;

Sentientism on Twitter;

Sentientism Facebook Group;

The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity by Toby Ord

Solipsism

Blade Runner