Jeff 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 Chimpanzee Rights and Food, Animals, and the Environment. He is also a board member at Minding Animals International, an advisory board member at the Insect Welfare Research Society, and a senior affiliate at the Institute for Law & AI. In 2024 Vox included him on its Future Perfect 50 list of “thinkers, innovators, and changemakers who are working to make the future a better place.”
1. There is a realistic possibility of sentience in all vertebrates and many invertebrates, including insects.
2. There will be a realistic possibility of sentience in advanced AI systems within the next decade as well.
3. We have the ability (and the responsibility) to consider welfare risks for all potentially sentient beings in decisions that affect them.
4. Industrial animal agriculture is bad for humans, nonhumans, and the environment at the same time. Fortunately, we can replace it.
5. Rapid AI development creates risks for humans, nonhumans, and the environment at the same time. Fortunately, we can slow it down.
6. Human-caused global changes affect wild animals too. Fortunately, we can build a safer infrastructure for humans and animals alike.
Diana McCaulay discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Diana McCaulay is a Jamaican environmental activist and the award-winning author of five novels. Winner of the Gold Musgrave Medal, Jamaica’s highest award for lifetime achievement across the arts and sciences; twice Winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the Caribbean region (in 2022 and in 2012), she has also been shortlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Award, among other nominations, and is the winner of the Watson, Little 50 Prize for unrepresented writers aged 50+. Her new novel is A House For Miss Pauline.
Adam Howorth discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Adam Howorth was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire and grew up in rural Northamptonshire. After moving to London to work in the music industry, he later contributed to The Times and Billboard before joining Apple, where he worked for 18 years. Adam lives near the river in Southwest London, with his wife and two daughters. His new book is Fallen Feathers.
Nilanjana Dasgupta discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Nilanjana Dasgupta is provost professor of psychology and inaugural director of the Institute of Diversity Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of many articles; the winner of the Hidden Bias Research Prize from the Kapor Foundation; and the recipient of multiple U.S. government research grants. Her work has been featured in the New York Times and other major outlets. She lives in Northampton, MA. Her new book is Change the Wallpaper.
Diversity training doesn’t change people’s behavior nor the organizations in which they work. Do you know we spend 8 billion dollars on diversity training each year? Only a few DEI trainings are grounded in science; most are not. Some trainings increase people’s awareness and knowledge about bias and how it works immediately after the training, but benefits fade quickly.
Our behavior is shaped by situational forces more often than our personal beliefs. What do I mean by situational forces? They include the opinions of our colleagues, peers, and bosses. The roles we occupy and the role-based norms and expectations of how we should act. Informal organizational practices and formal policies that constrain our behavior. Stories that signal who and what is valued and respected more and so we try to emulate that and stay away from others who are valued less. The physical design of built environments encourages some people to mix while keeping others apart. All of these situational forces are like the wallpaper in a room—the stuff in the background, barely noticed.
The path to culture change is not individual heroes. In fact, individuals acting alone are powerless. But individuals acting together with intention are powerful movers of cultures. Culture change is not a one-shot deal; it requires repeated incremental action. Local culture is the sweet spot for people to act together to promote positive culture change, not the larger macro culture. Actions that change material conditions are more important than symbolic acts.
Talent is made, not born. Did you know that young Einstein early in life was pretty average? He struggled in school as a child. He didn’t get admission into his college of choice the first time but got in after a second attempt. After graduating, he couldn’t find a permanent job for a while, until a friend’s father helped him get a job at the patent office in Zurich. He struggled to balance work, family, and finish his PhD. Did you know that Einstein’s career was helped by his first wife, also a physicist, whose intellectual collaboration was hidden from public view until later. Mileva Marić was born in Serbia at a time when there were strong restrictions against women pursuing careers in science. They met at the Polytechnic Institute where they shared a passion for physics and fell in love. Letters suggest they collaborated intellectually through their romance and marriage until their separation, but her name doesn’t appear in any of his published work.
Playing for change: A global music project turned movement turned non-profit organization for social good that connects the world through music. The idea came from the belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and connect people across the world. The project produced over 70 Songs Around the World where musicians of all backgrounds come together transcending language and cultural boundaries, proving how we are all connected.
Travel in Kerala, India. A mixture of cultures, religions, ethnic groups, food, weather, landscapes, showing co-existence and contrasts. On the west coast of India, jutting out into the Arabian Sea. Landscapes: Hills, ocean, rivers branching off into tributaries and narrow canals that you can travel by country boats or float down the broader river in overnight houseboats. Protected wildlife, lush green, and city life. Hot and cool weather. Tea and coffee plantations. Spices of all kinds. Coconut trees.
Keetie Roelen discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Keetie Roelen is a leading thinker in poverty and social policy and a longstanding advocate for social justice. She currently works as a Senior Research Fellow and Co-Deputy Director at the Centre for the Study of Global Development at The Open University, the largest university in the UK. She is also founder and host of the podcast Poverty Unpacked, exploring the hidden sides of poverty in conversation with a broad range of experts.
Keetie has a PhD in Public Policy and has been working in the field of poverty, social policy, and international development for more than 15 years. Keetie has widely published in academic journals and books, and her work has featured in media such as the Guardian and BBC World Service. She has spoken about how to address poverty to multiple audiences, ranging from government ministers at the UN and MPs in UK parliament to students and activists.
Keetie is passionate about contributing to a fairer world and creating more prosperous lives for all. Across her career, she has listened to personal accounts of hundreds of families and interviewed dozens of experts, building a deep appreciation of the complexities and opportunities for addressing adversity. Her new book is The Empathy Fix which seeks to tell a new story about why hardship persists and how we can break the cycle.
Matt Kohut discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Matthew Kohut is the author of Speaking Out: The New Rules of Business Leadership Communication (2024). He is the coauthor of The Smart Mission: NASA’s Lessons for Managing Knowledge, People, and Projects (2022), and Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities That Make Us Influential (2013), one of Amazon’s Best Business Books of 2013. As the managing partner of KNP Communications, Matt has prepared CEOs, elected officials, and public figures for events from live television appearances to TED talks. Matt has taught at George Washington University and held a fellowship at Bennington College. His writing has appeared in publications from Harvard Business Review to Newsweek.
1. The best way to get someone to agree with you is to start by agreeing with them. Reciprocity makes the world go round. When trying to persuade someone, ask yourself first about the other person’s concerns, interests, or emotions: is there something you can authentically validate? Start there rather than with your point of view.
2. Machiavelli’s dilemma–is it better to be loved than feared or feared than loved?––is a false choice. Few people remember this sentence that followed the question: “One should wish to be both, but…it is difficult to unite them in one person.” It’s not either/or. Strength and warmth are complements, not opposites. People want to know that you are strong and warm—that you are both capable and caring.
3. Knowledge is profoundly social. What you know is deeply influenced by your context and culture. It comes from a combination of experiences and reflective learning, and it’s often difficult to articulate. We learn by doing and talking to others about it. Ask a figure skater how to land a triple axel or a heart surgeon how to replace a bad valve; neither will be able to share what they know unless you’re a peer with a shared sense of context.
4. If you want people to remember what you say, tell a story. As prophets and philosophers have known for millennia, stories stick with us. Psychologist Jerome Bruner found that a story is 22 times more memorable than the same information delivered as flat content. Stories also provide a context in which people can find a shared sense of meaning and purpose.
5. Purpose leads to motivation; struggle leads to meaning. A shared purpose gives a group something to strive toward. A shared sense of meaning only comes when experience is followed by reflection and discussion. The shared meaning that a group assigns to an experience is a measure of its significance.
6. Listening to understand another person’s perspective takes different skills than listening to analyse a problem and make a decision. None of us really know what it’s like to walk in another person’s shoes. This kind of listening calls for embracing the realization that you don’t know what you don’t know. Tone is critical. Think twice before you say, “I understand,” because you might not understand.
Adam Higginbotham discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Adam Higginbotham is the author of Midnight in Chernobyl, winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and one of the New York Times’ Ten Best Books of 2019.
Better Known 