Steven Rouk is founder of the non-profit Connect For Animals, a platform that connects people who want to end factory farming and bring about a more anti-speciesist world. He also helps high-positive-impact organisations implement technology and artificial intelligence solutions.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the most important questions: “what’s real?”, “who matters?” and "how can we make a better world?"
Sentientism answers those questions with "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
00:00 Clips
01:02 Welcome
- Will we DESTROY! each other in this conversation?
03:07 Steven's Intro
- Math, music and writing, then data science and programming
- Philosophy and "what does it mean to lead a good life?"
- Animal ethics... footage from a farm investigation
- Dabbling in vegetarianism & veganism "caring about animals more seriously"
- "This is a huge problem... what would it look like for me to devote more of my life..."
- Full time animal advocacy... volunteering, bringing data & tech
- Working for Mercy for Animals
- Seeing people struggling to get active and "plugged in" & stay engaged
- "I don't think we've been doing a very good job of capturing this people power"
- Founding Connect For Animals "Get them connected... stayconnected... get active for animals... accelerate the end of factory farming"
08:40 What's Real?- Growing up in Georgia, USA in a religious, Christian family (half Methodist, half Baptist, several pastors)
- "It was a very large part of my life growing up... church Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening, summer mission trips, choir."
- "That meaning... came from the Christian church"
- Specific beliefs, some fundamentalism, Bible literalism
- "I remember thinking that the Earth was 6000 yearsold and evolution was a hoax... carbon dating wasn't real"
- "There was also this deep caring for others side... family... people who didn't have what you have... sick... bad things happened to them..."
- "My mum... someone who just cares so deeply for others"
- At a science & maths focused high school "There came to be these little questions... things are not squaring up right"
- "For a while... what I've been taught from religion is true... I just need to work out how to make it square with these otherfacts... maybe the people who believe in evolution are completely mistaken... an anti-religious, anti-spiritual conspiracy?... scientists trying to destroy religion?"
- "Learning about the conspiracy... a mistaken or misguided or bad worldview" vs. learning the actual facts
48:59 Who Matters?
01:07:42 A Better World?
01:29:30 Follow Steven
- Connect For Animals (Create an account, sign up for the newsletter and explore!)
And more... full show notes at Sentientism.info.
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