Dr. Mark Solomon is an author, neuropsychologist, musician and radio show/podcast host whose work touches on a wide range of topics. Mark produces a national Street Epistemology radio show/podcast called "Being Reasonable" (beingreasonableshow.com, @B_Reasonable_, @Being Reasonable)
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:
00:00 Welcome
01:25 Mark's Intro
-  @Street Epistemology . Conversations about "what you know and how you know it"  @Anthony Magnabosco , Reid Nicewonder  @Cordial Curiosity  
02:44 What's Real?
- Flat Earth
- Backfire effect
- Talking less about the belief & more about the reasons for the belief
- Improving our epistemology, not just "correcting" beliefs
- "I grew up in a Jewish household that didn't discuss god"
- Living with two separate epistemologies: naturalism / humanism but culturally Jewish
- "I couldn't even tell you that my rabbi believed in the supernatural"
- SE as a tool anyone can use
- Evidence & reason
- Objectivity & subjectivity
- Reality, truth, belief & opinion
- Starting conversations with understanding how people think of truth
27:44 What Matters?
- "I don't know"
- "I try to be a selfless person but sometimes I act selfishly"
- "I just act - I don't know if I have a choice"
- Uncertainty, psychology & moral foundations
- Suffering vs. flourishing (causing bad feelings in others is bad)
- Moral origins in evolution & psychology
- Determinism & free will
- Pre & non-human morality
- Compassion & co-operation as evolutionarily adaptive
- Virtue, deontology, utility, feminist care, relational ethics
- "If there were no sentient beings there would be no morality"
- Internal (warm fuzzy feelings, reciprocity...) & external reasons to be good
- True altruism & demandingness. "At least don't needlessly cause suffering & death"
- Emotional & intellectual routes to compassion
- Alleviating suffering vs. enhancing flourishing
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights
48:15 Who Matters?
- Nagel's "What is it like to be a bat?"
- Getting backyard chickens for eggs & as pets
- "It's become painfully obvious to us that they are really smart creatures with their own social order... they definitely feel suffering."
- "There are some really stark commonalities between humans & chickens"

...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.
Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.
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Thanks Graham.