Jacy Reese Anthis ( ; born December 16, 1992) is an American social scientist, writer and co-founder of the Sentience Institute with Kelly Witwicki. He previously worked as a Senior Fellow at Sentience Politics, and before that at Animal Charity Evaluators as chair of the board of directors, then as a full-time researcher. Anthis's research focuses on

effective altruism Effective altruism (EA) is a 21st-century philosophical and social movement that advocates impartially calculating benefits and prioritizing causes to provide the greatest good. It is motivated by "using evidence and reason to figure out how to b ...

, anti-speciesism, digital minds, and plant-based and

cellular agriculture Cellular agriculture focuses on the production of agricultural products from cell cultures using a combination of biotechnology, tissue engineering, molecular biology, and synthetic biology to create and design new methods of producing proteins, ...

. He was recognized as one of ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

''s "Humans of the Year" in December 2017, along with Witwicki. His book, '' The End of Animal Farming'' (2018), speculates that animal farming will end by 2100.

Education

Anthis attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts and Science A Bachelor of Arts and Science(s) (BASc), sometimes as Bachelor of Science and Arts (BScA or BSA), is an undergraduate bachelor's degree conferred by a small number of universities from countries including the United States, Canada, the United Ki ...

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

in 2015. In 2020, he enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Sociology at the University of Chicago.

Career

Before finishing his undergraduate degree, Anthis worked on the Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) Board of Directors; he joined them as a full-time researcher after graduation. ACE is an organization within the

movement that evaluates and compares various animal charities based on their cost-effectiveness and transparency, particularly those that are tackling factory farming.Engber, Daniel (August 18, 2016
"Save the Chicken"
''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'' While at ACE, Anthis published an article that addressed the issue of wild animal suffering, arguing that humans should act on behalf of wild animals to alleviate their suffering if it can be done safely and effectively. His 2015 '' Vox'' article on the topic was criticized by writers who argued that humanity should not intervene or that it should instead focus on helping domestic animals.

Sentience Institute

After a year and a half at Animal Charity Evaluators, Anthis briefly worked with Sentience Politics, a project of the Effective Altruism Foundation. Sentience Politics then split into two organizations, one of which was the Sentience Institute, co-founded by Anthis and Kelly Witwicki in June 2017.

''The End of Animal Farming''

In '' The End of Animal Farming'', Anthis "outlines an evidence-based roadmap to a humane, ethical, efficient food system where slaughterhouses are obsolete". Anthis wrote this book from the perspective of

because there is already much content explaining the problems of animal agriculture, but he perceived a need for a book to guide the "farmed animal movement" towards its long-term goal. Near the end of the book, Anthis concludes that, "if I had to speculate, I would say by 2100 all forms of animal farming will seem outdated and barbaric."

Digital minds

Anthis and the Sentience institute have more recently been conducting research on digital minds, which he defines as artificial entities with mental faculties. He wrote an article on The Hill asking for an

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

rights movement.

Selected works

*(2018). '' The End of Animal Farming: How Scientists, Entrepreneurs, and Activists Are Building an Animal-Free Food System''. Boston: Beacon Press

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anthis, Jacy 1992 births Living people 21st-century American non-fiction writers American animal rights scholars American food writers American science writers 21st-century American social scientists American veganism activists Organization founders People associated with effective altruism People from Huntsville, Texas University of Texas at Austin alumni Writers from Texas