jeffsebo.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

This talk is now online! Come for the great talk about AI consciousness by Anil Seth, stay for the amusing spectacle of me trying to host the event without moving because I threw out my back and was in an incredible amount of pain 🙃

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Happening today!

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Overblown press releases have consequences. Yes, university academics, this means you too www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

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Important stuff:

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I spoke with Scott Jacobsen at International Policy Digest about ethics, sentience, and the future of moral consideration for animals, AI systems, and other nonhumans. Check it out!

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The NYU Wild Animal Welfare Program is thrilled to be hosting an online talk with Meghan Barrett called "Wild Insect Welfare: Mitigating Harms to the Very, Very Many." The talk will be Wed April 30 at 12:30pm. RSVP below. Please share!

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Do you have a research interest in how AI can harm or benefit non-human animals? I'm recruiting a Research Officer to drive forward the "Animals and AI" priority area of The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience at the LSE. Please apply by 6 May! 🐖🐔🐟 jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

The NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy recently held a summit for scholars across fields and career stages. Thanks to all who attended! Here are my favorite photos from the event: (1) Robert Long in a state of total satisfaction, and (2) my dog Smoky chatting with David Chalmers and others.

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this paper is worth checking out for anyone interested in nonhuman rights:

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If the 2010s were marked by techno-solutionism, then the 2020s might be the decade of "natural solutionism". Both are flawed, disdain the regulatory state, and in both "expertise is treated as suspect, corrupt, or altogether illegitimate, with anecdotes and mantras replacing verifiable data"

submitted 20 days ago • 3 comments

EconTalk was an early favorite when I started listening to podcasts, and has introduced me to a huge number of authors and ideas from across the political spectrum over the years. So it was a special pleasure and privilege to appear as a guest to discuss The Moral Circle. Check it out!

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The NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy is thrilled to be hosting an online talk by @anilseth.bsky.social on April 16! The talk will explore prospects and pitfalls for real artificial consciousness, exploring the idea that only living organisms can be conscious. You can RSVP below 👇

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Animal emotions—like joy—could be key indicators of consciousness. For @sciam.bsky.social Jacek Krywko interviews @jeffsebo.bsky.social on animal consciousness. www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-... 🧵

submitted 27 days ago • 2 comments

A newly surfaced document reveals how the beef industry knew about its role in climate change as early as 1989, and crafted a plan to fight back against environmentalists & potential regulation: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

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Queen Mary University of London will be hosting the UK launch of The Moral Circle online on April 2! RSVP below to attend a wide ranging conversation with me, John Adenitire, and Kimberly Dill about the moral status of vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, fungi, chatbots, and robots :)

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I was on a fun panel with @tobyord.bsky.social and Anders Sandberg about space ethics today! Here you can see virtual-mega-Jeff about to eat physical-normal-Toby; this was especially funny because his talk was about existential risk and mine was about the creation of virtual-mega-beings.

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Tomorrow!

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we're advertising 2-3 postdoctoral positions to work at NYU on artificial consciousness and related topics at the intersection of AI and the philosophy of mind (possibly including AI mentality, AI interpretability, and AI welfare). deadline is march 30! philjobs.org/job/show/28878

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"When we really take seriously how many non-humans might matter and how much they might matter... it becomes really difficult to sustain a strong stance of human exceptionalism, this ... insistence that we always take priority no matter what." - @jeffsebo.bsky.social on the circle of moral concern

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🎙️ w/ @jeffsebo.bsky.social on The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why. Harming cats vs harming cars, Nagel’s bat argument, the Googler who claimed LaMDA was conscious, computational constraints in moral calculations, responsibilities to animals, humans as custodial species, & more.

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Great to see @anthropic.com CEO Dario Amodei taking AI welfare seriously in his recent interview at the Council on Foreign Relations! Whether or not his proposed intervention (giving AI a "quit job" button) is a good idea, the fact that he supports interventions in this space at all is wonderful.

submitted 39 days ago • 3 comments

I have a new interview at @sciam.bsky.social about my recent @science.org perspective with @kristinandrews.bsky.social and @birchlse.bsky.social on animal consciousness. We discuss why many animals might be conscious and how we can study this topic in an ethically and scientifically sound way.

submitted 41 days ago • 3 comments

I have a new interview at @sciam.bsky.social about my recent @science.org perspective with @kristinandrews.bsky.social and @birchlse.bsky.social on animal consciousness. We discuss why many animals might be conscious and how we can study this topic in an ethically and scientifically sound way.

submitted 41 days ago • 3 comments

As I argued three years ago in the @chicagotribune.com, the fact that we already treat pigs terribly is not a justification for continuing to pigs terribly. "Anything that causes less harm than factory farming is morally acceptable" is not a good ethical principle.

submitted 41 days ago • 1 comment

Thousands of words on xenotransplantation, and all it can offer on animal ethics is bullshit whataboutism: "Some critics object to cloning animals for their organs as unethical. Still, the United States raises almost 150 million hogs for consumption each year."

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I recently appeared on Skeptic Magazine's The Michael Shermer Show to discuss ethical theory and the moral status of humans, animals, and AI systems. It was an interesting and wide ranging conversation - thanks for having me on @michaelshermer.bsky.social!

submitted 42 days ago • 0 comments

many podcasts send swag to guests, but in my experience only one sends dog treats. the prindle institute for ethics has thrown down the gauntlet. other podcasts are on notice.

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Reading some ancient philosophical work on animals for fun (and perspective). Quote of the day: "We must not flinch, as if we were children, at the careful consideration of less-esteemed animals, for in all of Nature there is something wonderful." - Aristotle, Parts of Animals

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Should we worry about AI Welfare? Roundtable Discussion with Heather Alexander and Jonathan Simon on March 21. My own answer is no; my colleagues disagree. www.mcgill.ca/jarislowsky-...

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this time next year: same but artificial consciousness. jump on board now to be ahead of the curve!

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This animal studies event is gonna be wild.

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The NYU Wild Animal Welfare Program is thrilled to be hosting an online panel with Heather Browning and Oscar Horta on March 19 at 12pm ET! This event will settle once and for all the question whether wild animal welfare is net positive or negative. RSVP below :) sites.google.com/nyu.edu/wild...

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Great though provoking talk today by @jeffsebo.bsky.social! “Who matters more, a 🦇, a 🐝 or a 🤖?” @aiforanimals.bsky.social #AnimalWelfare

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Looking forward to making the case for taking AI welfare seriously as part of the Future Day festivities! The talk will start shortly; please tune in if you like :)

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a quiet moment from this week’s tour, captured with pleasing symmetry by kathleen finlinson :)

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Excited to be speaking at the annual philosophy conference at Santa Clara University today! The theme is the confluence of environmental ethics and technology, so my talk will ask: do animals, plants, fungi, and AI systems deserve moral consideration?

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The University of San Francisco philosophy students gave me an honorary philosophy club stole! As the founding president of my college philosophy club (wow, more than 20 years ago!), I was genuinely moved. Thanks to the students for your generosity, and to Matthew Liebman for hosting! :)

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How you do you decide whether another entity deserves moral consideration? Are dogs worthy? What about ants? How many ant lives equal one dog life? How do you decide? We discuss this topic and his new book "The Moral Circle" with Prof Jeff Sebo @jeffsebo.bsky.social tinyurl.com/cognation-je...

submitted 52 days ago • 1 comment

1/ Over the past two days Robert Long and I spoke at Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and OpenAI about the case for taking AI welfare seriously. Great conversations at all three - thanks to everyone who organized and attended!

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Looking forward to speaking about The Moral Circle at the University of San Francisco today! Please join us if you have interest :)

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It’s vital to include animal perspectives in the research process when restoring ecosystems if we want healthy, sustainable solutions. Great article by Toni Sims, @jeffsebo.bsky.social, et al. #wildanimalwelfare #compassionateconservation

submitted 54 days ago • 1 comment