A while back I was talking with a friend about a new client who asked me to use ChatGPT to write articles (which I’d then edit and improve). I mentioned how it felt strange to give prompts to the AI writing tool without the pleasantries of ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’. I would give it the…
View Post
When we consider the factors that explain why some people become vegan but not others, or why some find it easier to make the switch than others, one factor that is sometimes overlooked is personality. Vegan activists and campaigners might point to a range of psychological factors that get in the way of people adopting…
View Post
A popular view on comedy is that ethics should have nothing to do with it, and trying to place comedy within the realm of ethics is a way for so-called ‘woke’ and ‘progressive’ types to moralise, police, and censor what can (and can’t) be joked about. The sentiment, from the ‘anti-woke’ crowd, is that if…
View Post
One of the most common responses to vegans who eat fake meat is a charge of hypocrisy: Why would vegans, who oppose eating slaughtered animals, want to eat realistic fake meat? Would this not be comparable to creating fake or simulated versions of other harmful products or actions? For example, we might view someone who…
View Post
Soft animism is a term I use to refer to an acceptance of the animistic ethic, sensibility, and mode of perception but a rejection of the belief in spirits that reside in nature. Alternative terms for this position could include weak animism and naturalised animism (the latter emphasising that this is a form of animism…
View Post