Shows
SentientismHow wide should "The Moral Circle" go? - Jeff Sebo - Sentientism 229Jeff Sebo is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law, Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, and Co-Director of the Wild Animal Welfare Program at New York University. He is also a Faculty Fellow at the Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy & Land Use Law at the NYU School of Law and an Advisor at the Animals in Context series at NYU Press. Jeff's research focuses on moral philosophy, legal philosophy, and philosophy of mind; animal minds, ethics, and policy; AI minds, ethic...2025-06-221h 25
80,000 Hours PodcastBeyond human minds: The bewildering frontier of consciousness in insects, AI, and moreWhat if there’s something it’s like to be a shrimp — or a chatbot?For centuries, humans have debated the nature of consciousness, often placing ourselves at the very top. But what about the minds of others — both the animals we share this planet with and the artificial intelligences we’re creating?We’ve pulled together clips from past conversations with researchers and philosophers who’ve spent years trying to make sense of animal consciousness, artificial sentience, and moral consideration under deep uncertainty.Links to learn more and full transcript: https://80k.info/nhs2025-05-233h 34
Future of Life Institute PodcastWill Future AIs Be Conscious? (with Jeff Sebo)On this episode, Jeff Sebo joins me to discuss artificial consciousness, substrate-independence, possible tensions between AI risk and AI consciousness, the relationship between consciousness and cognitive complexity, and how intuitive versus intellectual approaches guide our understanding of these topics. We also discuss AI companions, AI rights, and how we might measure consciousness effectively. You can follow Jeff’s work here: https://jeffsebo.net/ Timestamps: 00:00:00 Preview and intro 00:02:56 Imagining artificial consciousness 00:07:51 Substrate-independence? 00:11:26 Are we making progress? 00:18:03 Intuitions about explanations 00:24:43 AI risk and AI consciousness 00:40...2025-05-161h 34
A Song Called LifeEpisode #231: Jeff SeboIn Episode #231, philosopher and animal rights activist Dr. Jeff Sebo joins Osi to discuss why we need to expand our moral circle. Are humans truly more important than all other beings? Who deserves moral consideration—and what qualifies a being to "matter"? Jeff and Osi dig into these questions and challenge the way we think about ethics, responsibility, and the future.Jeff Sebo works primarily on moral philosophy, legal philosophy, and philosophy of mind; animal minds, ethics, and policy; AI minds, ethics, and policy; global health and climate ethics and policy; and global priorities re...2025-05-0159 min
New Books in Intellectual HistoryJeff Sebo, "The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why" (Norton, 2025)Today, human exceptionalism is the norm. Despite occasional nods to animal welfare, we prioritize humanity, often neglecting the welfare of a vast number of beings. As a result, we use hundreds of billions of vertebrates and trillions of invertebrates every year for a variety of purposes, often unnecessarily. We also plan to use animals, AI systems, and other nonhumans at even higher levels in the future. Yet as the dominant species, humanity has a responsibility to ask: Which nonhumans matter, how much do they matter, and what do we owe them in a world reshaped by human activity and...2025-04-291h 04
New Books in LawJeff Sebo, "The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why" (Norton, 2025)Today, human exceptionalism is the norm. Despite occasional nods to animal welfare, we prioritize humanity, often neglecting the welfare of a vast number of beings. As a result, we use hundreds of billions of vertebrates and trillions of invertebrates every year for a variety of purposes, often unnecessarily. We also plan to use animals, AI systems, and other nonhumans at even higher levels in the future. Yet as the dominant species, humanity has a responsibility to ask: Which nonhumans matter, how much do they matter, and what do we owe them in a world reshaped by human activity and...2025-04-271h 04
New Books in Human RightsJeff Sebo, "The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why" (Norton, 2025)Today, human exceptionalism is the norm. Despite occasional nods to animal welfare, we prioritize humanity, often neglecting the welfare of a vast number of beings. As a result, we use hundreds of billions of vertebrates and trillions of invertebrates every year for a variety of purposes, often unnecessarily. We also plan to use animals, AI systems, and other nonhumans at even higher levels in the future. Yet as the dominant species, humanity has a responsibility to ask: Which nonhumans matter, how much do they matter, and what do we owe them in a world reshaped by human activity and...2025-04-271h 04
New Books in Animal StudiesJeff Sebo, "The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why" (Norton, 2025)Today, human exceptionalism is the norm. Despite occasional nods to animal welfare, we prioritize humanity, often neglecting the welfare of a vast number of beings. As a result, we use hundreds of billions of vertebrates and trillions of invertebrates every year for a variety of purposes, often unnecessarily. We also plan to use animals, AI systems, and other nonhumans at even higher levels in the future. Yet as the dominant species, humanity has a responsibility to ask: Which nonhumans matter, how much do they matter, and what do we owe them in a world reshaped by human activity and...2025-04-261h 04
NYUAD InstituteThe Future of AI Ethics: A Cross-Disciplinary DiscussionThis panel discussion will consider how ethical decisions will be influenced in the future by the many applications of Artificial Intelligence. An ethicist and philosopher, an engineer who will design intelligent robots, and a computer scientist whose goal will be to make "responsible AI" synonymous with "AI" will each present a view of future AI ethics and then discuss how their views will diverge. While each participant will be a specialist conducting research into AI ethics, this discussion will bring together scientific, technical, and humanistic issues under the broad category of responsibility.
Panel Members
Ludovic Righetti, Electrical and Computer Engineer...2025-04-251h 13
80,000 Hours PodcastSerendipity, weird bets, & cold emails that actually work: Career advice from 16 former guestsHow do you navigate a career path when the future of work is uncertain? How important is mentorship versus immediate impact? Is it better to focus on your strengths or on the world’s most pressing problems? Should you specialise deeply or develop a unique combination of skills?From embracing failure to finding unlikely allies, we bring you 16 diverse perspectives from past guests who’ve found unconventional paths to impact and helped others do the same.Links to learn more and full transcript.Chapters:Cold open (00:00:00)Luisa's intro (00:01:04)Holden Karnofsky on just kick...2025-04-242h 18
KPFA - A Rude AwakeningJeff Sebo on Human Exceptionalism / One Earth Collective / Basandja Coalition
On today’s show, I’ll speak to author and philosopher Dr. Jeff Sebo on his latest publication entitled, “The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters and Why”, we’ll switch gears and speak One Earth Film Festival executive director Ana Garcia Doyle on their upcoming 14th annual gathering and then round out the show with Friends of the Congo executive director Maurice Carney and Basandja Coalition founding leader Samuel Yagase who are currently touring the California.
The post Jeff Sebo on Human Exceptionalism / One Earth Collective / Basandja Coalition appeared first on KPFA.
2025-04-1859 min
EconTalkDo All Creatures, Great and Small, and Made From Silicon, Have Rights? (with Jeff Sebo)Should monkeys have the same rights as humans? What about elephants, ants, or invertebrates? NYU philosopher Jeff Sebo makes the case for expanding your moral circle to many more beings than you might expect, including those based on silicon chips. Listen as Sebo and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss to whom and what we owe moral consideration, how we determine a being's intrinsic moral significance, and why we have ethical obligations to others, anyway. They also discuss human exceptionalism--the idea that humans should be prioritized over other beings.
2025-03-311h 16
The Jim Rutt ShowEP 291 Jeff Sebo on Who Matters, What Matters, and WhyJim talks with Jeff Sebo about the ideas in his book The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why. They discuss the concept of the moral circle, harming cats vs harming cars, the case study of Happy the elephant, Descartes' view of animals, phenomenal consciousness, Thomas Nagel's bat argument, the Google engineer who claimed LaMDA was conscious, the substrate dependence of consciousness, a factory waste disposal dilemma, animal rescue triage scenarios, probability calculations in moral consideration, the "one in a thousand" threshold, computational constraints in moral calculations, human exceptionalism & its limitations, fully automated luxury communism & rewilding Earth, responsibilities to wi...2025-03-131h 23
The Michael Shermer ShowWho Counts? Ethics in the Treatment of Animals and AIMichael Shermer and Jeff Sebo explore moral philosophy, focusing on animal rights, sentience, and consciousness. They discuss the definitions of morality, ethical pluralism, and the divide between consequentialism and deontology. The conversation examines who belongs in our moral circle, the ethics of insect farming, the future of animal agriculture, abortion, and whether advanced AI could be considered sentient beings or even co-citizens.2025-03-081h 27
Brain in a VatThe Moral Circle: Are AI and Animals Included? | Jeff SeboWho should be included in our 'moral circle' when we make our moral decisions? Jeff discusses the ethical responsibilities we might have towards non-human beings, such as Neanderthals, AIs, or even figments of our imagination. The conversation critically examines issues related to animal welfare, the complexities of population ethics, and the potential future implications of artificial intelligences with possible sentience.[00:00] Introduction and Guest Welcome[03:13] Neanderthal and Robot Roommates[04:48] Figment of Imagination: A Third Roommate[12:21] Ethical Decision Making Under Uncertainty[17:35] Chatbots and Moral Considerations[24:39] Factory...2025-02-241h 12
CogNationExpanding our Moral Circle with Philosopher Jeff SeboRolf and Joe talk to NYU philosopher Jeff Sebo about his new book "The Moral Circle", which makes the case for expanding our circle of who is deserving of ethical consideration to nonhuman animals, insects, plants, and AI systems.2025-02-201h 18
Species UniteJeff Sebo: The Moral Circle “It is a little bit terrifying, because it means that AI systems are going to be entering this uncanny valley where we are not sure how to experience them in five or ten years. You might be talking to Siri on your phone, or ChatGPT on your laptop, or your Roomba, vacuuming your floor. You might be talking to these beings and genuinely be unsure whether they think and feel things when they talk back to you, and that is going to be an uncomfortable place to be.” Jeff Sebo Jeff Sebo works primarily on moral...2025-02-1946 min
The Next Big IdeaDoes AI Have Rights? | The Next Big Idea DailyPhilosopher Jeff Sebo calls for a revolution in ethics, suggesting we expand our “moral circle” to everything from insects to AI.📱 Follow The Next Big Idea Daily on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen📩 Want to transform your day in just 10 minutes? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter, and you’ll get daily, bite‑sized insights from the best new nonfiction books — in audio or text — straight from the authors. Sign up today!2025-02-1015 min
The Next Big Idea DailyDoes AI Have Rights?Philosopher Jeff Sebo calls for a revolution in ethics, suggesting we expand our “moral circle” to everything from insects to AI.📱 Follow The Next Big Idea Daily on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen📩 Want more bite-sized insights from the best new nonfiction delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter2025-02-1015 min
The Animal TurnS7E9: Dogs’ Health with Jessica PierceIn this episode Jessica Pierce joins Claudia to explicitly discuss dogs’ health. They discuss everything from end-of-life care for dogs, to breeding practices, and discourses about dogs’ purpose in society. They unfurl some of the overlapping and similar health needs of street- versus pet-dogs and surmise that in general dogs are facing a range of both physical and psychological challenges. Date Recorded: 2 September 2024. Jessica Pierce is an American bioethicist known for her work in the field of animal ethics and the philosophy of human-animal relationships. She has written a number of books...2025-02-101h 19
Better KnownJeff SeboJeff Sebo discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Jeff Sebo is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law, Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, and Co-Director of the Wild Animal Welfare Program at New York University. His research focuses on animal minds, ethics, and policy; AI minds, ethics, and policy; and global health and climate ethics and policy. He is the author of The Moral Circle and Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves and co-author of...2025-02-0230 min
Vegan's AlmanacNovember 20, 2024Live Q&A: How Vegans Can Improve Relationships and Communication During the Holidays, with Melanie Joy; Towards a Global Ban on Industrial Animal Agriculture, with Jeff Sebo; The New-England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day, by Lydia Maria Child.2024-11-2005 min
Ethics TalkAuthor Interview: “How Should Treatment of Animals Beyond the Lab Factor Into Institutional Review?” Laurie Sellars joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Dr Jeff Sebo: “How Should Treatment of Animals Beyond the Lab Factor Into Institutional Review?” Recorded June 28, 2024. Read the full article for free at JournalOfEthics.org 2024-09-1506 minEthics TalkAuthor Interview: “How Should Treatment of Animals Beyond the Lab Factor Into Institutional Review?” Laurie Sellars joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Dr Jeff Sebo: “How Should Treatment of Animals Beyond the Lab Factor Into Institutional Review?” Recorded June 28, 2024. Read the full article for free at JournalOfEthics.org 2024-09-1506 min
The Human PodcastAsking Philosopher Jeff Sebo Why AI & Animals MatterWATCH NOW: https://youtu.be/3gFVIaLb6HIIn this episode, I speak to Philosopher Jeff Sebo about his thoughts on Artificial Intelligence, animals and minds, in addition to his life and career.Jeff is an Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law, Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, and Co-Director of the Wild Animal Welfare Program at New York University.The Human Podcast is a filmed show that explores unique life stories & careers. Subscribe...2024-09-1348 min
The Animal HighlightS3E2: Flying FoxesIn this episode Amanda Bunten-Walberg tells Claudia all about bats, animals who have historically been persecuted as threats to biosecurity. Hoping to challenge this reductive way of understanding bats, Amanda talks about flying foxes, large fruit bats, noting how incredibly social and relatable they are. This content was originally aired in Season 5 of The Animal Turn Podcast. Featured: Bioethics with Jeff Sebo on The Animal Turn.Shimmer: Flying Fox Exuberance in Worlds of Peril by Deborah Bird Rose Bat by Tessa Laird. Credits:Claudia Hirtenfelder, producer and host...2024-07-0912 min
EA Forum Podcast (Curated & popular)“Announcing The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why” by jeffsebo Hi all, just a short post to let you know that my next book, The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why, is now available for preorder! This is the publisher's description: "Today, human exceptionalism is the norm. Despite occasional nods to animal welfare, we focus on humanity, often neglecting the welfare of a vast number of beings. In The Moral Circle, philosopher Jeff Sebo challenges us to include all potentially significant beings in our moral community, with transformative implications for our lives and societies. As the dominant species, humanity must ask: which nonhumans matter, how...2024-06-3001 minEA Forum Podcast (Curated & popular)“Announcing The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why” by jeffsebo Hi all, just a short post to let you know that my next book, The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why, is now available for preorder! This is the publisher's description: "Today, human exceptionalism is the norm. Despite occasional nods to animal welfare, we focus on humanity, often neglecting the welfare of a vast number of beings. In The Moral Circle, philosopher Jeff Sebo challenges us to include all potentially significant beings in our moral community, with transformative implications for our lives and societies. As the dominant species, humanity must ask: which nonhumans matter, how...2024-06-3001 minEA Forum Podcast (Curated & popular)“Announcing The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why” by jeffsebo Hi all, just a short post to let you know that my next book, The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why, is now available for preorder! This is the publisher's description: "Today, human exceptionalism is the norm. Despite occasional nods to animal welfare, we focus on humanity, often neglecting the welfare of a vast number of beings. In The Moral Circle, philosopher Jeff Sebo challenges us to include all potentially significant beings in our moral community, with transformative implications for our lives and societies. As the dominant species, humanity must ask: which nonhumans matter, how...2024-06-3001 min
EAG TalksWelfare and moral patienthood | Jeff Sebo, Daniela Waldhorn, & Patrick Butlin | EAG London: 2024This panel brings together three leading researchers to discuss their work on welfare and moral patienthood in non-human minds. The panel focuses on two especially challenging cases: invertebrates and digital minds. Jeff Sebo (NYU) begins with a discussion of ethical and methodological considerations related to extending moral considerability to invertebrates and AI systems; Daniela Waldhorn (Rethink Priorities) discusses the current state of evidence regarding consciousness and sentience in invertebrates; and Patrick Butlin (Oxford) discusses what is currently known about the prospects for artificial sentience in digital systems.
Jeff Sebo is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics...2024-06-2254 min
Foresight Institute RadioJeff Sebo | Investigating Digital MindsJeff Sebo is an American philosopher. He is a clinical associate professor of environmental studies, director of the animal studies MA program, and affiliated professor of bioethics, medical ethics, and philosophy at New York University.SummaryIn this episode, Jeff discusses the consciousness, sentience, agency, and moral and legal status of non-humans – particularly invertebrates and AI systems. He acknowledges the controversy surrounding AI systems' future consciousness and rights, and emphasizes the importance of acknowledging the difficulty of the problem.About Foresight InstituteForesight Institute is a research organization and non...2024-04-1255 min
Clearer Thinking with Spencer GreenbergShould we widen our moral circles to include animals, insects, and AIs? (with Jeff Sebo)Read the full transcript here. How did we end up with factory farming? How many animals do we kill every year in factory farms? When we consider the rights of non-human living things, we tend to focus mainly on the animal kingdom, and in particular on relatively larger, more complex animals; but to what extent should insects, plants, fungi, and even single-celled organisms deserve our moral consideration? Do we know anything about what it's like (or not) to be an AI? To what extent is the perception of time linked to the speed at which one's brain...2024-03-211h 13
4 FeindeDIE GEBURT VON JAMSESSION JEFF - Live aus Berlin (72)
JAMSESSION JEFF MACHT DIE MIEZEN IN BERLIN GANZ WUSCHIG UND ÜBERSPANNT DABEI DEN BOGEN ABER SOWAS VON!
Tickets für unsere Solo-Shows: https://linktr.ee/4feinde2024-02-201h 46
The Sentience Institute PodcastEric Schwitzgebel on user perception of the moral status of AI“I call this the emotional alignment design policy. So the idea is that corporations, if they create sentient machines, should create them so that it's obvious to users that they're sentient. And so they evoke appropriate emotional reactions to sentient users. So you don't create a sentient machine and then put it in a bland box that no one will have emotional reactions to. And conversely, don't create a non sentient machine that people will attach to so much and think it's sentient that they'd be willing to make excessive sacrifices for this thing that isn't really sentient.”Eric...2024-02-1557 min
80k After HoursHighlights: #173 – Jeff Sebo on digital minds, and how to avoid sleepwalking into a major moral catastropheThis is a selection of highlights from episode #173 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Jeff Sebo on digital minds, and how to avoid sleepwalking into a major moral catastropheAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong2023-12-1431 min
How I Learned to Love ShrimpStien Van Der Ploeg on finding the most effective animal charitiesStien is the executive director of Animal Charity Evaluators, also known as ACE. Stien, wants to help people help animals and ACE tries to do that by finding and promoting the most effective ways to help animals.In this episode we speak with Stien Van Der Ploeg who is their fairly newly appointed executive director. We talk through the latest release of the recommendations for this year and go into some detail on why certain charities and their interventions were selected. We talk about why their work is so important, the difficulties in the recommendation process and...2023-11-301h 14