Humane Hangouts

Jack is joined by Simon Eckerström Liedholm from Wild Animal Initiative to discuss the important and neglected problem of wild animal suffering. Topics discussed include: 2:35 - Nature documentaries 6:56 - Simon's story 14:23 - The case for wild animals 20:13 - "Ecosystems are too complex" / "We'll make things worse" 53:08 - Which animals are sentient? 01:02:46 - Contraception 01:38:38 - Urgency to help animals vs the need for careful research before actions 01:48:04 - Hopes for the future Find out more about Wild Animal Initiative: https://www.wildanimalinitiative.org/ Donate to Wild Animal Initiative: https://www.wildanimalinitiative.org/donate Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/humanehancock Make a onetime donation via Paypal: https://paypal.me/humanehancock

In this episode, Jack talks to Tobias Leenaert. Tobias is a Belgian vegan activist, author, speaker and educator. He co-founded the Center for Effective Vegan Advocacy with Melanie Joy, as well as ProVeg International and Ethical Vegetarian Alternative. Leenaert is the originator of Thursday Veggie Day in Ghent, which was launched in 2009. Topics covered include:

Jack talks to Peter Singer about animal suffering. Peter Singer is professor of bioethics at the University of Princeton and is arguably the most influential philosopher on Earth. Singer is well-known for his 1975 book 'Animal Liberation', for his work on global poverty, and for his influence on the effective altruism movement. Topics covered include:

Jack talks to moral philosopher Dan Shahar about his arguments for why it's morally acceptable to eat meat. Dan C. Shahar is Assistant Professor of Philosophy—Research at the University of New Orleans and a member of the Urban Entrepreneurship and Policy Institute. Topics covered in this episode:

In this episode, Jack talks with Vicky Bond (former veterinarian and current managing director of The Humane League UK). Topics covered include:

In this episode, Jack talks with two research scientists to discuss emerging ethical questions in wildlife management and conservation. Conservationist Bill Lynn of Clark University has a wealth of knowledge in conservation, rewilding and sustainability science. Michelle Graham is executive director of Wild Animal Initiative, a non-profit organisation who focus on encouraging and facilitating research on wild animal welfare. Topics covered include:

David Pearce is a prominent figure within the transhumanism movement and one of the co-founders of the World Transhumanist Association, currently rebranded and incorporated as Humanity+. Pearce maintains a series of websites devoted to transhumanist topics and what he calls the "hedonistic imperative", a moral obligation to work towards the abolition of suffering in all sentient life. His self-published internet manifesto, The Hedonistic Imperative (1995), outlines how pharmacology, genetic engineering, nanotechnology and neurosurgery could converge to eliminate all forms of unpleasant experience from human and non-human life, replacing suffering with "gradients of bliss". Pearce calls this the "abolitionist project". In this episode, Jack and David cover 'The Abolitionist Project', discuss a bunch of objections to his mission, and explore wild animal suffering and predation.

Jack talks to Dr. Melanie Joy about the psychology of eating meat, black and white thinking in the vegan community, effective vegan advocacy and how to have better relationships. Dr. Melanie Joy is a Harvard-educated psychologist, relationship coach, and communication specialist and she is the world’s leading expert on the psychology of eating animals and the psychology of veganism. She is the award-winning author of six books, including Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows; Beyond Beliefs: A Guide to Improving Relationships and Communication for Vegans, Vegetarians, and Meat Eaters; and Getting Relationships Right. Her work has been featured by media outlets around the world, including the New York Times, the BBC, NPR, and ABC Australia. Dr. Joy is also the founding president of the charitable organization Beyond Carnism. You can learn more about her work at carnism.org.

Matt Johnson is the press coordinator for the grassroots animal rights organisation 'Direct Action Everywhere'. In this session, Jack talks to Matt about animal advocacy strategy and an unbelievable undercover investigation that led to Matt's arrest.

Culum has made a significant contribution to the study of behavioural ecology of fishes over his research career. His research niche lies in the study of fish behaviour and its application to fisheries science with his most significant contribution being enhancing our understanding of fish cognition and behaviour. Culum is a well-known champion of fish intelligence. All but six of his 100+ peer reviewed papers and one of his 9 book chapters have fishes as the primary focus. Collectively he has 100+ publications which have been cited over 5000 times. He is in the top 2.5% of researchers in Research Gate. In this episode, Jack and Culum discuss the misconceptions about fish, research on fish cognition, sentience and even culture, and what wild-caught and farmed fish are experiencing. Of course, they also discussed whether we should be eating fish at all.

Temple Grandin is an American scientist and activist. She is a prominent proponent for the humane treatment of animals for slaughter and author of more than 60 scientific papers on animal behaviour. She is a consultant to the animal agriculture industry on animal behaviour, and an autism spokesperson. She is one of the first individuals on the autism spectrum to document the insights she gained from her personal experience of autism. She is currently a faculty member with Animal Sciences in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Colorado State University. In the 2010 Time 100, an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, she was named among those in the "Heroes" category. She was the subject of the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning semi-biographical film Temple Grandin. Grandin has been an outspoken proponent of the autism rights and neurodiversity movements. In this discussion, Jack and Temple discuss various ethical issues that exist within animal farming, and Jack suggests that slaughterhouses may be misleading Temple and the public by trying to portray large-scale animal farming as humane, when in reality the vast majority of farmed animals are living miserable lives.

Jacy Anthis is a social scientist and co-founder of the Sentience Institute. His acclaimed book, The End of Animal Farming, analyses the development of food technologies such as plant-based and cell-cultured meat. Psychologist Steven Pinker said the book "places the issue of factory farming in the context of human progress and presents compelling arguments on how we should deal with it today.” His research has been featured in The Guardian, Vox, Forbes, and other global media outlets, and he has has presented his research at conferences and seminars in over 20 countries. He is currently a PhD Fellow at The University of Chicago. He is from Huntsville, Texas and lives in Chicago with his wife Kelly and their rescued dogs Apollo and Dionysus. In this episode, Jack and Jacy talk about effective altruism, farmed animal movement effectiveness and wild animal suffering.