59: “I’m positive about our future… I experienced the rapid change in my own views” – Lu Shegay – Institute of Animal Law of Asia – 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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Lu (https://twitter.com/LuShegay) is an animal law attorney from Kazakhstan, now based in the USA. She is the co-founder and Managing Director of the Institute of Animal Law of Asia (https://www.ialasia.org/ and https://twitter.com/ianimallawasia).

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 Welcome

1:15 Lu’s Intro – Animal law from Kazakhstan to the USA

2:07 What’s Real?

– Kazakhstan as a secular country, with Islam and Christianity the main religions

– Being brought to Christianity by Lu’s mother

– Learning about religion and realising “it’s not real – god is not real”

– Believing “there’s somebody above us but they’re not like us”

– “I believe in the universe and I believe in science”

–  Believing using facts and reason, but also believing there are some things that can’t be explained

6:52 What Matters Morally?

– Morality can come from the heart. Listening to ourselves re: what feels right or wrong

– Having compassion & putting yourself in someone else’s shoes

– As a child: loving animals but still eating animals

– Re-considering animal ethics while exploring animal law in Kazakhstan

– “The legal system doesn’t work well in Kazakhstan even for humans” so many aren’t ready for the animal law field

– Studying animal law in the USA and learning about animal suffering

– Dr Raj Reddy’s class “changed my world” https://law.lclark.edu/live/profiles/7148-rajesh-reddy

– Going vegetarian

– Learning about what happens to male chicks in the egg industry. Giving up eggs

– Going vegan. “It came to me naturally that I was doing something wrong”

– Eating meat is central to culture in Kazakhstan but there are meat and dairy alternatives

– Family not understanding veganism. Questioning health and ethics

– “I’ve only met one other vegan in Kazakhstan”

– Biocentrism, ecocentrism and the interdependencies for sentients

– Loving space, but not understanding why governments spend so much more on exploring other planets rather than caring for ours and exploring our oceans

– Long-termism. Space colonisation

21:54 The Future

– Being realistic about moral scope expansion

– Raising awareness and educating people

– Recognising that different countries have very different contexts. Where there are serious human crises it’s harder to prioritise non-human issues

– The non-human animal law agenda across Asia

– Does law follow culture and politics or can it lead and innovate as well?

– In many Asian countries politics & law don’t respond to public opinion

– Some countries have animal laws but there is no enforcement (e.g. Kazakhstan animal cruelty legislation)

– Different animal law approaches (cruelty, personhood, farming/fishing)

– The EU and UK recognising the salience of animal sentience

– “I’m positive about our future… I experienced the rapid change in my own views”.

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