David Boree

That's nonsense. But it's this thing that in like early modernity especially gets more common. But there are also – this is when we start to have debates about like what is sentience and what is thinking. And a lot of them are centered around trying to answer like are animals sentient? And the initial definition of sentience that most of these people are using is can it reason? Can it speak?

That's nonsense. But it's this thing that in like early modernity especially gets more common. But there are also – this is when we start to have debates about like what is sentience and what is thinking. And a lot of them are centered around trying to answer like are animals sentient? And the initial definition of sentience that most of these people are using is can it reason? Can it speak?

That's nonsense. But it's this thing that in like early modernity especially gets more common. But there are also – this is when we start to have debates about like what is sentience and what is thinking. And a lot of them are centered around trying to answer like are animals sentient? And the initial definition of sentience that most of these people are using is can it reason? Can it speak?

If we can't prove that a dog or a cow can reason, and if it can't speak to us, then it's not sentient. That's how a lot of people feel. It's an English philosopher named Jeremy Bentham who first argues, I think that what matters isn't can it reason or can it speak, but can it suffer? Because a machine can't suffer. If these are machines with meat, They can't suffer.

If we can't prove that a dog or a cow can reason, and if it can't speak to us, then it's not sentient. That's how a lot of people feel. It's an English philosopher named Jeremy Bentham who first argues, I think that what matters isn't can it reason or can it speak, but can it suffer? Because a machine can't suffer. If these are machines with meat, They can't suffer.

If we can't prove that a dog or a cow can reason, and if it can't speak to us, then it's not sentient. That's how a lot of people feel. It's an English philosopher named Jeremy Bentham who first argues, I think that what matters isn't can it reason or can it speak, but can it suffer? Because a machine can't suffer. If these are machines with meat, They can't suffer.

If these can suffer, they're not machined with meat, right? And this is the kind of thing, how we define sentience is a moving thing. You can find different definitions of it. But the last couple of decades in particular of actually very good data has made it clear, I think inarguably, that basically every living thing on this planet has a degree of what you would call sentience.

If these can suffer, they're not machined with meat, right? And this is the kind of thing, how we define sentience is a moving thing. You can find different definitions of it. But the last couple of decades in particular of actually very good data has made it clear, I think inarguably, that basically every living thing on this planet has a degree of what you would call sentience.

If these can suffer, they're not machined with meat, right? And this is the kind of thing, how we define sentience is a moving thing. You can find different definitions of it. But the last couple of decades in particular of actually very good data has made it clear, I think inarguably, that basically every living thing on this planet has a degree of what you would call sentience.

If you are describing sentience the way it generally is now, which is a creature has the capacity for subjective experience with a positive or negative valence, i.e. can feel pain or pleasure and also can feel it as an individual. It doesn't mean – sometimes people use the term effective sentience to refer to this, to differentiate it from like being able to reason and make moral decisions.

If you are describing sentience the way it generally is now, which is a creature has the capacity for subjective experience with a positive or negative valence, i.e. can feel pain or pleasure and also can feel it as an individual. It doesn't mean – sometimes people use the term effective sentience to refer to this, to differentiate it from like being able to reason and make moral decisions.

If you are describing sentience the way it generally is now, which is a creature has the capacity for subjective experience with a positive or negative valence, i.e. can feel pain or pleasure and also can feel it as an individual. It doesn't mean – sometimes people use the term effective sentience to refer to this, to differentiate it from like being able to reason and make moral decisions.

You know, for example, ants, I don't think can make moral decisions, you know, in any way that we would recognize. They certainly don't think about stuff that way. But 2025 research published by Dr. Volker Nehring found evidence that ants are capable of remembering for long periods of time violent encounters they have with other individual ants and holding grudges against those ants. Right.

You know, for example, ants, I don't think can make moral decisions, you know, in any way that we would recognize. They certainly don't think about stuff that way. But 2025 research published by Dr. Volker Nehring found evidence that ants are capable of remembering for long periods of time violent encounters they have with other individual ants and holding grudges against those ants. Right.

You know, for example, ants, I don't think can make moral decisions, you know, in any way that we would recognize. They certainly don't think about stuff that way. But 2025 research published by Dr. Volker Nehring found evidence that ants are capable of remembering for long periods of time violent encounters they have with other individual ants and holding grudges against those ants. Right.

They're just like us. And there's strong evidence that ants do feel pain, right? We're now pretty sure of that. And in fact, again, this is an argument that a number of researchers in this space will make. Sentience is probably – something like this kind of sentience, the ability to have subjective positive and negative experiences is universal to living things or very close to it, right? Yeah.

They're just like us. And there's strong evidence that ants do feel pain, right? We're now pretty sure of that. And in fact, again, this is an argument that a number of researchers in this space will make. Sentience is probably – something like this kind of sentience, the ability to have subjective positive and negative experiences is universal to living things or very close to it, right? Yeah.

They're just like us. And there's strong evidence that ants do feel pain, right? We're now pretty sure of that. And in fact, again, this is an argument that a number of researchers in this space will make. Sentience is probably – something like this kind of sentience, the ability to have subjective positive and negative experiences is universal to living things or very close to it, right? Yeah.

It's an interesting body of research, but it's fairly solid at this point. Again, I say this as somebody who hunts and raises livestock. I don't think there's any solid reason to disagree with this. You can see there's a basis to a lot of what Thomas is saying, which is that what matters is reducing the overall amount of suffering in the world.

It's an interesting body of research, but it's fairly solid at this point. Again, I say this as somebody who hunts and raises livestock. I don't think there's any solid reason to disagree with this. You can see there's a basis to a lot of what Thomas is saying, which is that what matters is reducing the overall amount of suffering in the world.