I don't know why it takes a few clicks to get to... but here's the tasking manager with the open mapping tasks: https://tasks.hotosm.org/  Click on "Start Mapping" and there's lots to choose from. Worth doing the basic training first.

Hi Sefiya - those sites and organisations are both still up and running so go check them out. It's pretty easy to get started. More broadly, these tools (and the open source OpenStreetMap platform they sit on) can be very useful re: any cause area that needs GIS / map data. The organisations have done a great job of engaging local communities in building their own map resources - in addition to engaging support from remote mappers.

Thanks Jerry. You might find the work of Mark Rowlands, Dombrowski and others interesting - they've done fascinating work on extending Harsanyi / Rawls' Veil of Ignorance beyond the human. A related article here that includes some good references: https://www.animal-ethics.org/justice-for-all-what-the-veil-of-ignorance-shows-us-about-a-just-society/ 

Thanks Alistair and Ronen. Here's some more thinking linked to your proposal on upgrading the SDGs to being Sentientist Development Goals. Views differ on whether to add new goals or integrate non-human sentient beings into the existing ones... or start from scratch and re-write them. As an aside, here's some thinking on Sentient Rights including a potential Universal Declaration of Sentient Rights (UDSR).

Thanks Jon. I agree on all fronts. Looking forward to reading your book.

In addition to normalisation and any "lock-in" being based on sentiocentric, compassionate values would baking in a broadly naturalistic epistemology also be desirable?

I describe the Sentientism worldview as "evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings" in part because I don't think compassion alone is sufficient.

As in human ethics, the perspective of the victims cuts through this topic pretty cleanly for me.

As a thought experiment, imagine writing an article considering these sorts of nuances re: a human ethics topic where individuals are needlessly being harmed & killed for the pleasure of others.

Thanks Holden - great article.

The Sentientism web site (and the Sentientism podcast/YouTube series of conversations) proposes Sentientism as an explicitly naturalistic, sentiocentric worldview. I summarise it as "evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings".  Feedback very welcome.

Methodological naturalism is so obvious to many that it's often left unstated. However, given most people on the planet have their ethics  shaped (warped?) by unfounded and / or supernatural beliefs it seems important to specify this epistemological stance alongside an ethical one re: our scope of moral patiency. 

Arguably every human caused problem is rooted in a failure of compassion,  un-founded credence/belief or a combination of the two.

Hi Vaidehi - thanks for the post!

Would you see worldview advocacy as part of meta-EA? Moral circle expansion and moral advocacy more generally are examples often referenced within EA - but some worldviews go beyond morality into epistemology.

As an example, I work (amateurishly) on developing and building community around Sentientism as a combination of naturalism and sentiocentrism. I summarise it as "evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings." Some think of it as a corrective to the anthropocentrism of secular Humanism.

Thanks,

Jamie.

Thanks Peter. You might find this site interesting re: Sentientism https://sentientism.info/. There's a global community growing up around it. I think of Sentientism as recognising the moral salience of sentience regardless of species or substrate - so entirely consistent with "transsentientism".

Thanks - interesting perspectives.

I'm working to build a global movement around the moral philosophy of Sentientism (basically secular humanism extended to grant moral consideration to all sentient beings). It has much in common with EA values, of course - although it's explicitly naturalistic.

The community is new and small (although people from 56 countries involved so far in our main FaceBook group) - but anecdotally I've seen a fairly balanced mix of H1-H2-H3 so far. For some, sentientism just gives a name to a philosophy they already held (roughly humanism + ~veganism). For others, it's more novel and has led to different personal and institutional decisions.

It might prove an interesting case study at some point.