Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
📚 Order my latest book How to Go (and Stay) Vegan here! howtogoandstayvegan.com
🌱Join my Substack to read regular articles from me and to support my work - thank you so much! earthlinged.substack.com/welcome
🌿 To donate to my work (thank you!): earthlinged.org/support & paypal.me/EdWintersEE
Today's guest:
Dr Jonathan Birch is a prize winning Professor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics (LSE). His research focuses on animal sentience, welfare, and ethics. He is also Director of The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience, a new research centre based in LSE.
Dr Birch is an internationally respected philosopher and author of dozens of articles and two books, including 2025’s award winning book The Edge of Sentience. In 2021, he was the Principal Investigator of a review that led the UK to recognise cephalopods and decapod crustaceans as sentient. Jonathan’s work has been cited in several policies banning octopus farming. He is also a founding member of the Insect Welfare Research Society, a group of researchers working together to close gaps regarding evidence on insect welfare and sentience.
In 2014, he received a Philip Leverhulme Prize, which recognises 'the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising'.
You can find more about Jonathan's work here:
- lse.ac.uk/people/jonathan-birch
- lse.ac.uk/sentience
- amazon.co.uk/Edge-Sentience-Precaution-Humans-Animals/dp/0192870424
Today's topics:
What is sentience? In today's #podcast episode I chat with Dr Jonathan Birch, a prize-winning philosopher and #expert on sentience. We discuss whether AI is or will ever be sentient, as well as whether plants, fish or insects are sentient.
My other books:
📚 How to Argue With a Meat Eater (And Win Every Time): geni.us/howtoarguepb + if you’ve read the book, you can leave a review here! bit.ly/reviewedsbook
📚 This is Vegan Propaganda (& Other Lies the Meat Industry Tells You): geni.us/vppb
🕒 Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
00:46 Introduction to Jonathan Birch
02:01 What does ‘sentience’ mean?
03:56 Should we think about sentience as being a scale?
09:06 Is Eastern philosophy ahead of Western philosophy on animal sentience?
13:48 What is a sentience candidate?
17:35 Are fish sentient?
22:56 Why do we downplay animals’ complex inner worlds?
26:56 Should we not have children to reduce suffering?
29:06 Should our goal be to change laws?
35:52 - Are insects sentient?
51:48 Is AI sentient?
57:18 Will AI help or hurt animals?
1:08:26 What does the animal advocacy movement need to do?
Watch next:
youtu.be/-3EqY5mcJs0?si=SxkoBBtoxgvxprm9
Listen and subscribe to The Disclosure Podcast:
Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/disclosurepodapple
Spotify: bit.ly/disclosurepodspotify
📱 Find more content: instagram.com/earthlinged / tiktok.com/@earthlinged / facebook.com/earthlingedpage
About Ed:
Ed Winters is a best-selling author, vegan educator, public speaker and host of The Disclosure Podcast. Ed has spoken at over 1/3 of UK universities and at every Ivy league college, including as a guest lecturer and Media & Design Fellow at Harvard University.
📚 Order my latest book How to Go (and Stay) Vegan here! howtogoandstayvegan.com
🌱Join my Substack to read regular articles from me and to support my work - thank you so much! earthlinged.substack.com/welcome
🌿 To donate to my work (thank you!): earthlinged.org/support & paypal.me/EdWintersEE
Today's guest:
Dr Jonathan Birch is a prize winning Professor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics (LSE). His research focuses on animal sentience, welfare, and ethics. He is also Director of The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience, a new research centre based in LSE.
Dr Birch is an internationally respected philosopher and author of dozens of articles and two books, including 2025’s award winning book The Edge of Sentience. In 2021, he was the Principal Investigator of a review that led the UK to recognise cephalopods and decapod crustaceans as sentient. Jonathan’s work has been cited in several policies banning octopus farming. He is also a founding member of the Insect Welfare Research Society, a group of researchers working together to close gaps regarding evidence on insect welfare and sentience.
In 2014, he received a Philip Leverhulme Prize, which recognises 'the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising'.
You can find more about Jonathan's work here:
- lse.ac.uk/people/jonathan-birch
- lse.ac.uk/sentience
- amazon.co.uk/Edge-Sentience-Precaution-Humans-Animals/dp/0192870424
Today's topics:
What is sentience? In today's #podcast episode I chat with Dr Jonathan Birch, a prize-winning philosopher and #expert on sentience. We discuss whether AI is or will ever be sentient, as well as whether plants, fish or insects are sentient.
My other books:
📚 How to Argue With a Meat Eater (And Win Every Time): geni.us/howtoarguepb + if you’ve read the book, you can leave a review here! bit.ly/reviewedsbook
📚 This is Vegan Propaganda (& Other Lies the Meat Industry Tells You): geni.us/vppb
🕒 Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
00:46 Introduction to Jonathan Birch
02:01 What does ‘sentience’ mean?
03:56 Should we think about sentience as being a scale?
09:06 Is Eastern philosophy ahead of Western philosophy on animal sentience?
13:48 What is a sentience candidate?
17:35 Are fish sentient?
22:56 Why do we downplay animals’ complex inner worlds?
26:56 Should we not have children to reduce suffering?
29:06 Should our goal be to change laws?
35:52 - Are insects sentient?
51:48 Is AI sentient?
57:18 Will AI help or hurt animals?
1:08:26 What does the animal advocacy movement need to do?
Watch next:
youtu.be/-3EqY5mcJs0?si=SxkoBBtoxgvxprm9
Listen and subscribe to The Disclosure Podcast:
Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/disclosurepodapple
Spotify: bit.ly/disclosurepodspotify
📱 Find more content: instagram.com/earthlinged / tiktok.com/@earthlinged / facebook.com/earthlingedpage
About Ed:
Ed Winters is a best-selling author, vegan educator, public speaker and host of The Disclosure Podcast. Ed has spoken at over 1/3 of UK universities and at every Ivy league college, including as a guest lecturer and Media & Design Fellow at Harvard University.
