Trying to make transformative AI go less badly for sentient beings, regardless of species and substrate
Interested in:
Sentience- & suffering-focused ethics; sentientism; painism; s-risks
Animal ethics & abolitionism
AI safety & governance
Activism, direct action & social change
Bio:
From London
BA in linguistics at the University of Cambridge
Almost five years in the British Army as an officer
MSc in global governance and ethics at University College London
One year working full time in environmental campaigning and animal rights activism at Plant-Based Universities / Animal Rising
Now pivoting to the (future) impact of AI on biologically and artifically sentient beings
Was lead organiser of the AI, Animals, & Digital Minds in London in May/June 2025
For veganism:
To me, veganism seems like a moral obligation in the same way that not torturing puppies for chocolate seems like a moral obligation
Veganism is a costly signal that is important for movement-building and motivating animal advocates
Seems intuitive and plausible to me that there is some kind of social tipping point for veganism, where you go slowly from 1 to 25% of the population being vegan, then quickly from 25 to 99%
Against veganism:
It makes entry to the animal movement demanding, perhaps unnecessarily and growth-stuntingly so: “[the animal movement] is one of the only social justice causes whose point of entry is entirely negotiated by real, quantifiable, fundamental behavior change [veganism].” Source
Perhaps social tipping points are overrated
I tend to want a big, diverse animal movement with people trying different approaches –from “holding non-vegans accountable”-style vegan outreach, to FarmKind’s offsetting approach (minus their criticism of Veganuary/veganism). That diversity will appeal to different audiences and bring in different resources (allies, committed activists, money, political attention). The diversity does trade off against movement unity, though, but I think it’s worth it if we learn from experimenting and retain some level of movement solidarity.