43: “We’re at the beginning of a huge movement” – Author Julie Taylor – Sentientist Conversation

We discuss the biggest questions: "what's real?", "who matters?" and "how to make a better world?" with scientists, celebrities, activists, writers and philosophers. The Sentientism worldview is "evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings." It's a simple, yet radical, philosophy that's grounded in reality (naturalistic epistemology) and has compassion for all sentient beings (mostly human and non-human animals). Naturalism & sentiocentrism combined.

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Julie is an author, artist and animal activist.

In these 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 (with Luna barking in the background):

– Growing up reading the Children’s Encyclopaedia

– Julie’s life in public service & social work

– Studying Judaism, Christianity and Buddhism

– Spirituality & inter-connectedness & diversity

– Naturalistic and mystical versions of awe, wonder and inter-connectedness

– “There’s some spirit in everything”

– Being comfortable not knowing. Humility and open-mindedness

– “I’ve always had more questions than answers”

– Starting every day in prayer and meditation to god, but not a god defined by any established religion

– “god” as an energy in the universe

– “Humans are like ants in a big machine” Our perceptions are limited

– Being a freethinker. Interested in all cultures and all religions

– Shifting from being focused on human issues to becoming a non-human animal advocate

– Albert Schweitzer’s reverence for life

– Having ancestors that profited from animal exploitation

– Hating injustice, oppression and abuse

– Bertrand Russell’s analytic philosophy

– Being a teacher and educator. The importance of a holistic education about all aspects of life

– An experience with a stray dog. Being talked into looking after it

– Seeing a council worker take the perspective of non-humans seriously

– Visiting an egg farm and seeing the hens crammed in to cages

– Reporting the egg farm to the RSPCA and being told “it’s legal”

– The danger of a reverence for nature leading to excuses about animal product consumption “life consumes life…”

– Experiencing unconditional love as a child

– Patterns of abuse

– The importance of animal law and regulations

– The range of ways individuals can drive change, both personally and through our roles influencing and driving institutions

– Are we at the beginning of a huge movement for non-human animals?

– The power of social media to help us drive change

– The influence of education and indoctrination

– The influence of films and fiction. Dominion, Gunda, Seaspiracy, books

– “Within one generation – everything will be very different”

– Millions of animals are exploited, tortured and killed in research & testing

– “If it was ethically justified they would’t need to hide it.” “Most people don’t want to needlessly cause suffering & death”.

– Tapping in to latent decent human ethics?

– Fighting indifference.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join our “wall” https://sentientism.info/wall/ using this form: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist.

Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome to join our groups. Our main one is on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism.

Thanks, Graham for the post-production: https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu.