We are Sentientists
Why are these people considered ‘nearly’ sentientist?
These are people who have been nominated as a Suspected Sentientist, but don’t seem to be Sentientist (yet). This is either because they don’t seem to have a naturalistic worldview (committed to evidence and reason, rejecting supernatural beliefs) or because they don’t seem to grant meaningful moral consideration to all sentient beings.
Thank you for nominating people. If you have further input I’d love to hear it in the comments for each person. If you are one of these people, feel free to correct things and post yourself on our Wall of Sentientists!
Keith Tucker
Find our Sentientist Conversation here on the Sentientism YouTube and here on the Sentientism podcast.
Keith is founder and Executive Director of Hip Hop is Green, a nonprofit organization on a mission to support holistic wellness and transform urban communities environmentally. He has been a visionary and social entrepreneur for over 30 years. He has worked with hundreds of businesses, youth groups and community organizations and many icons in the entertainment business as a creative promoter and an ambassador for the culture of hip hop.
He is vegan and has at least a sentiocentric moral scope. He says “I am not Christian or religious today…. but I am very spiritual and I believe in god.”
Hip Hop is Green
@hiphopisgreen
HHIG on Instagram
Jimmy Videle
Find our Sentientist Conversation here on the Sentientism YouTube and here on the Sentientism Podcast.
Jimmy Videle is a farmer, naturalist (in the sense of working to understand nature scientifically), and researcher. He is the author of The Veganic Grower’s Handbook: Cultivating Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs from Urban Backyard to Rural Farmyard and the co-founder of NAVCS-Certified Veganic. His writing has appeared in many publications including CounterPunch, Countercurrents, and LA Progressive.
He uses a naturalistic epistemology in his work but also has some supernatural aspects to his worldview. He is vegan and has, at least, a sentiocentric moral scope.
Jimmy’s YouTube Show
Jimmy on Facebook
The Veganic Grower’s Handbook
Jimmy Videle – Observatory
Publications – The Humane Herald
La Ferme de L’Aube
Jimmy’s Boileau Biodiversity Reserve Crowdfunder
North American Veganic Certification
Arin Greenwood
Find our Sentientist Conversation on the Sentientism YouTube here and the Sentientism Podcast here.
Arin describes herself as an animal writer, novelist and lawyer. Her young adult book “Your Robot Dog Will Die” was published in 2018. Arin was animal welfare editor for The Huffington Post and now writes about dogs, cats, and other animals for The Today Show, The Dodo, The Washington Post, Slate, Creative Loafing, the American Bar Association Journal and many other publications.
Arin has a sentiocentric moral scope in theory. She has a broadly naturalistic worldview while being open minded about the possibility of the supernatural.
Michael Hauskeller
Michael is head of philosophy at the University of Liverpool. His current work spans transhumanism, death and meaning. He has written on whether non-human animals can have meaningful lives and What It Is Like to Be a Bot. He says of his work: “As a philosopher, I am a generalist, which is a nice way of saying that I have done many different things and I am not really an expert on anything in particular. Most people would probably tag me as an ethicist, but this is only true in a very broad sense. Figuring out what is right and what is wrong, permissible or impermissible, does not hold much interest for me. It seems to me that when people are debating these questions they are actually arguing about something else, namely who we want to be and in what kind of world we want to live. For me, doing philosophy is ultimately a sustained attempt to get to grips with this “deeply puzzling world” (to borrow an expression of Mary Midgley’s), to understand it and to understand our place in it. Philosophy is not business; it’s personal, more akin to therapy than to science. It’s about finding out what is actually going on and what we are doing here. Can philosophy provide an answer to these questions? I don’t know. All we can do is keep on trying. Perhaps what matters is not that we find an answer, but that we keep the question alive.”
Michael is an atheist and has a broadly naturalistic worldview. He has a sentiocentric moral scope but is working towards putting that into practice.
Find our Sentientist Conversation here on the Sentientism podcast and here on the Sentientism YouTube.
Michael at the University of Liverpool
Michael on Academia.edu
Ashley Byrne
Ashley is Director of Outreach for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). She has led a broad range of PETA’s campaigns and has been interviewed about her work to promote animal rights by the LA Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and in many other publications.
Ashley is a Christian Scientist but has a broadly naturalistic epistemology, using evidence & reasoning. She is vegan and has a sentiocentric moral scope.
Find our Sentientist Conversation here on the Sentientism YouTube and here on the Sentientism Podcast.
Bel Jacobs
Between 1999 and 2014, Bel was Style Editor for Metro. The fall of Rana Plaza in 2013 forced a re-assessment; today, she is a writer, speaker and activist with a focus on animal rights, the climate emergency and the toxic fashion system. Bel has taken part in and moderated numerous panels for brands and organisations and has been interviewed about her work in activism, alternative systems in fashion and culture change.
Bel is vegan and has a sentiocentric moral scope. She describes herself as spiritual, not religious and, in our conversation below, says “my god is the natural world”.
Find our Sentientist Conversation here on the Sentientism YouTube and here on the Sentientism podcast.
BelJacobs.com
@bel_jacobs
Bel on FaceBook
Bel on Instagram
The Empathy Project
Islington Climate Centre
Paige Parsons Roache
Paige is Communications Director for the streaming platform UnchainedTV. After initially going vegan “for the environment” Jane became an ethical vegan after attending her first vigil with LA Animal Save. Paige later became a Contributor for JaneUnchained News where she reported on vigils, PETA protests, VegFests, book launches, Cubes of Truth & vegan conferences. Paige then became Booker for LunchBreakLIVE, a daily cooking show & Senior Booker for JaneUnChained News. Now, as UnchainedTV Comms Director & co-producer/co-host of the Plant Based In the ‘Burbs show, Paige brings inspiration, humor & humbleness to the kitchen, showing simple swap outs & easy recipes to inspire people to bring more plants on their plates. She also works with Gwenna Hunter who launched the first vegan food bank in Southern California.
Paige is vegan and has a sentiocentric moral scope. She describes herself as “spiritual more than religious”.
Find our Sentientist Conversation here on the Sentientism YouTube and here on the Sentientism podcast.
Paul Bloom
Paul is a psychologist. He is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor Emeritus of psychology and cognitive science at Yale University and Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto. His research explores how children and adults understand the physical and social world, with special focus on language, morality, religion, fiction, and art. His books include “Against Empathy” (making the case for rational compassion), “The Sweet Spot” (about the “pleasures” of suffering) and “Just Babies” (on the origins of good and evil).
Paul has published extensively on compassion and morality, including this paper “Children prioritize humans over animals less than adults do” co-authored with previous Sentientism guest Matti Wilks. His moral scope is unclear and he doesn’t yet seem to have boycotted consumption of sentient animal products. He is an atheist and has a naturalistic worldview, rejecting supernatural beliefs.
Sandra Nomoto
Sandra describes herself as a vegan foodie, content writer & editor and wife on a mission to empower others to make small, meaningful decisions and actions that will help make the world a better place. She is co-host of VEG Networking Canada, a place where plant-based and vegan companies connect and collaborate. Sandra is the author of the book “Vegan Marketing Success Stories“.
Sandra does hold some supernatural and spiritual beliefs but is aware of the risks that come from those types of worldviews having experienced, then leaving, the NXIVM cult. Sandra is vegan and has, at least, a sentiocentric moral scope.
Find our Sentientist Conversation here on the Sentientism YouTube and here on the Sentientism podcast.
sandranomoto.com
@SandraNomoto
Sandra on Instagram
Sandra on YouTube
Sandra on FaceBook
Sandra on LinkedIn
Jackson
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Latest work
“We’re like babies running around with machine guns” – Mike Berners-Lee – on Sentientism ep:224
Baroness Natalie Bennett “You’ll have less stuff in your life but you’ll have far more life!” on Sentientism ep:222
“We don’t need to wait for a Star Trek future”
