Sentientism

Peter Watts (https://rifters.com/) is a Hugo Award winning sci-fi author. His works include the Rifters trilogy (e.g. Starfish) & the Firefall series (e.g. Blindsight). He earned a Ph.D from the Univ of BC Canada. He held several academic positions & worked as a marine-mammal biologist before becoming an author. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.We discuss:0:00 Welcome1:30 Peter's Intro - Baptist to biology to sci-fi- A father so confident in Baptist truth that he encouraged questioning "He taught so many people about the word of god but had somehow failed to reach me"- Becoming a marine biologist then fleeing the political bullshit- Becoming a sci-fi author- Including academic references in sci-fi. "I've been published in Nature more than they have because Nature publishes sci-fi stories!"- "One of the coolest things about this gig is that scientists seek me out"4:35 What's real?- Parental default "We're programmed to imitate & imprint"- A "rock star" Baptist minister father who trained other ministers. Seeing him struggle with domestic abuse, dementia & being a "non-practicing homosexual"- "He was the most unjudgmental man I've ever known." "Rolling his eyes at the sin but loving the sinner." Maybe because he was afraid of being judged for being gay. "A tormented, unhappy but wonderful guy"- Starting to question religion by reading sci-fi- Robert Heinlein's 'Stranger in a Strange Land' "introduced me to what an asshole the old testament god was". For some reason this hadn't been mentioned in Sunday school- Interestingly, as a gay minister, dad didn't seem to know about Leviticus- "Learning just enough from sci-fi novels to be an asshole to my dad"- "God doesn't really explain anything"- Being an atheist teenager + later becoming anti-religious- "Religion is basically a biological epiphenomenon"- Snorting oxytocin to improve fidelity- In/out group tribalism- Once you strip away the rhetoric humans act pretty much like any other mammal- "Being right is not as important in survival as having the esteem of your social group"- "Nobody ever achieved exalted social status by saying 'you guys are all fucking morons & here's my evidence'"- More educated people sometimes just have better post-rationalisations- "When you think of people as mammals a lot of stuff that seems bat-shit insane suddenly makes sense"- A soft spot for psionics/telepathy: "Time travelling snuff porn"?- "We kinda don't know everything yet - isn't that what science is about?"- Does being open-minded make us vulnerable to fundamentalists?- "It's easier to fit god than uncertainty onto a bumper sticker"And much more... (see YouTube or Sentientism.info)Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall https://sentientism.info/wall/ here: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist.Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. Main one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism.Thanks Graham: https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu.

Yasmine (https://twitter.com/YasMohammedxx & https://www.yasminemohammed.com/) is a rights activist, advocating for the rights of women living within Islamic majority countries. Yasmine founded Free Hearts Free Minds (https://www.freeheartsfreeminds.com/). Her book, Unveiled, recalls her experiences growing up in a fundamentalist Islamic household & her arranged marriage to a member of Al-Qaeda. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: - Growing up in a fundamentalist Muslim household in Canada, attending Islamic school, being dressed in hijab & niqab - Being forced into marriage with an Al Qaeda member (now in prison in Egypt), considered "strong enough to control me" - Questioning things from a young age - The isolation of some religious communities even in secular states - Having a daughter & that being a catalyst for change - Escaping from husband & family - Going to university & learning about religions. The intoxication of being allowed to question - "I've been wasting my whole life terrified of a figment of the imagination of some ancient man" - "You spend so much of your life ruled by a fairy tale" - What's real? Believing in Islam - "It's embarrassing to admit I really did believe these things" - "You're indoctrinated from birth... & punished for questioning" - "You believe or you burn in hell" - "Every aspect of your life is laid out... Questioning is challenging god himself. So you must submit" - The life of Mohammed. The Quran as the word of god - "You don't think 'is this a good thing to do?' you think 'is this the correct thing to do?'" - What's real? Leaving Islam - Taking off the hijab & being told "you need to be killed before you leave Islam" by her mother, "I will be punished for eternity for having a daughter who is an infidel" - How a Jehovah's Witness mother might allow their child to die rather than allow a blood transfusion - Abraham's willingness to kill his own son - "Honour killings" (murders) - Religious compliance as above "ordinary morality" - Studying religion, seeing 9/11 happen & being horrified - Seeing a BBC reporter find Bin-Laden documents mentioning Yas' ex-husband's firm - "I needed to get my daughter out of that world before she started to think that was OK" - Hints of fundamentalism in the atheist movement - Appearing in Jay Shapiro's film "Islam & the future of tolerance" w/Sam Harris & Maajid Nawaz - "Meditation saved my life" - Humility & open-mindedness at the heart of naturalism - And more... (see YouTube for full notes) Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join our "wall" https://sentientism.info/wall/ w/this form: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist. Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. Main one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism. Thanks Graham https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu.

Jonina (@JoninaTurzi) is cofounder of Lancaster Farm Sanctuary, a volunteer district leader for HSUS, & a doctor of physical therapy & yoga educator.In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?”Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.We discuss:0:00 Welcome1:24 Jonina's Intro- Lancaster Farm Sanctuary, physical therapy, yoga teaching, sobriety, queerness2:33 What's Real?- Hippie parents, social justice, civil rights- Catholic father & schooling, more cultural than doctrinal- Brethren Church family history- Parents with a spiritual appreciation without buying into religious doctrine- Feeling the freedom to explore "I just want you to be happy"- "It felt like a human construct"- Identifying as an atheist as a teenager- Finding a beauty in the human body (& a sense of spiritual meaning) through an anatomy class- Being bullied, as a "young queer kid", by members of "Youth for Christ"- "I have no idea what's real"- The lower & upper case "Self" in some Yoga practice- Some things might always be unknowable- Reverence, wonder & awe... openness17:10 What (& who) Matters?- Oneness & interconnectedness- Unnecessary harm to sentient others- Might plants have a kind of sentience? "I'm OK with saying we shouldn't harm plants unnecessarily"- Seeing the similiarities between human and non-human animals through physiology- "The idea that non-human animals aren't sentient is so bizarre to me"- Movement & intent as indicators of sentience- Are Roomba's sentient?- Evolution, behaviour/comms, information processing as inferential evidence for sentience- Intrinsic & instrumental value- The ethical dangers of holistic/ecocentric thinking- "Spirtual Bypassing"... rushing to find a purpose/meaning/spiritual goal while bypassing compassion & understanding- Knowing very spiritual people who also own factory farms- A local factory farm with a Bible verse written on it- "The foundation of a spiritual practice is caring for others"- Stages of moral development: Ego, ethno, anthropocentric...37:30 Vegetarian to vegan- Rebelling against Jonina's mother's vegetarianism as a teenager- Being vegetarian. Not understanding dairy- Seeing slaughterhouse footage & going vegan together with Jonina's partner- Social indoctrination re: animal ethics & the supernatural- Climate change- The relationship between scarcity & morality. Is it harder to be moral under scarcity?...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info and on YouTube.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.Thanks for the post-prod Graham.