Close

Carl Sagan

Carl was an astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author and science communicator. He had a robustly naturalistic worldview. He said: “I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking.”
He counselled against anthropocentrism (centring too strongly on the human species). He called on humans “to extend our ethical perspectives downward through the taxa on Earth and upwards to extraterrestrial organisms, if they exist.”However, he was not vegan or even vegetarian, implying that, in practical terms, he didn’t extend meaningful moral consideration to sentient farmed animals.
Article: “Sciences vast cosmic perspective eludes religion”
Carl on Wikipedia

Latest work

Upper body shot of Joan Slonczewski sitting in a desk chair in an office, smiling towards the camera. Pin-board and computer screen in the background.

MurderBot, Non-violent Protest & Microbial Minds

Joan Slonczewski is a microbiologist at Kenyon College and a science fiction writer. A Sentientism worldview conversation about what's real, who matters and how to make a better world.
More

MurderBot, Non-violent Protest & Microbial Minds

Joan Slonczewski is a microbiologist at Kenyon College and a science fiction writer. A Sentientism worldview conversation about what's real, who matters and how to make a better world.
More

Teaching Compassion

Michelle St. John is founder and director of VinE (Veganism in Education). Heather Marshall is a Senior Lecturer and Religious Education PGCE Course Leader at Edge Hill University. A Sentientism conversation about what's real, who matters and how to make a better world.
More

Sentientism Meet-Up 25 Oct 2025 (and some other updates)

An invitation to the second ever Sentientism meetup and some updates about our education work and a potential book!
More

Join our mailing list and stay up to date

Sentientism

Handcrafted with ♥ by Cage Undefined