BBC Sounds | Interview

“‘Open the pod bay doors please, Hal’.

That line from 2001: A Space Odyssey is the cinematic opening of a new technological era. One where machines not only learn, but are revealed to have become sentient. Hal, you see, the onboard computer, is not that keen any more on his one time masters - the humans onboard. Now a group of scientists have suggested that the masters of artificial intelligence - the tech companies pushing the boundaries back - need to think not just about how much and how fast these machines can learn, but also about whether a moment is coming that through learning, machines, computers, may develop personalities… sentience.”

The Philosopher’s Zone | Interview

With scientific evidence emerging in support of the theory that octopuses, bees and other invertebrates may be sentience candidates, moral questions of how we should treat them become more and more pressing.

Knowing Animals | Interview

This episode features Professor Jonathan Birch of the Department of Philosophy, Logic, and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In this episode, we talk about his 2024 Oxford University Press book The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI.

Philosophy Bites | Podcast

Recent zoological research has shown us that a wide range of animals are likely to have sentience. We don't know for sure. There is sufficient evidence to think that it is likely that, for example, lobsters can feel pain. What should we do in the light of this? Jonathan Birch of the LSE,  author of The Edge of Sentience, discusses this important question with Nigel Warburton. 

Sean Carroll’s Mindscape | Podcast

It's not immoral to kick a rock; it is immoral to kick a baby. At what point do we start saying that it is wrong to cause pain to something? This question has less to do with "consciousness" and more to do with "sentience" -- the ability to perceive feelings and sensations.

Many Minds Podcast | Interview

Here, we talk about Jonathan's work at the nexus of philosophy, science, and policy—in particular, his role in advising the UK government on the welfare of cephalopods and decapods. We discuss what it means to be sentient and what the brain basis of sentience might be. We sketch his precautionary framework for dealing with the wide-ranging debates and rampant uncertainty around these issues.

Overthink Podcast | Interview

Among other things, Dr. Jonathan Birch and Dr. David Peña-Guzmán discuss the meaning of the precautionary principle and its application to complex moral issues related to the status of fetuses, nonhuman animals, and artificial intelligence systems.

80,000 Podcast | Interview

In this episode, host Luisa Rodriguez and Dr Jonathan Birch cover:

• Candidates for sentience — such as humans with consciousness disorders, foetuses, neural organoids, invertebrates, and AIs.

• How policymakers can act ethically given real uncertainty.

• Whether simulating the brain of the roundworm C. elegans or Drosophila (aka fruit flies) would create minds equally sentient to the biological versions.

• How new technologies like brain organoids could replace animal testing, and how big the risk is that they could be sentient too.

• Jonathan’s conversation with the Dalai Lama about whether insects are sentient.

• And plenty more.