Jacy Reese Anthis ( ; born December 16, 1992),
who has written under the name Jacy Reese, is an American social scientist, writer and co-founder of the
Sentience Institute
The Sentience Institute (SI) is an American interdisciplinary think tank that specializes in effective altruism and social movement research. It was founded by Jacy Reese Anthis and Kelly Anthis in June 2017 and has published research reports o ...
with Kelly Witwicki. He previously worked as a Senior Fellow at
Sentience Politics, and before that at
Animal Charity Evaluators
Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE), formerly known as Effective Animal Activism (EAA), is a US-based charity evaluator and effective altruism-focused nonprofit founded in 2012. ACE evaluates animal charities and compares the effectiveness of their ...
as chair of the board of directors, then as a full-time researcher.
Anthis's research focuses on
effective altruism
Effective altruism is a philosophical and social movement that advocates "using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis". People who pursue the goals of effective altruism, c ...
,
anti-speciesism
Speciesism () is a term used in philosophy regarding the treatment of individuals of different species. The term has several different definitions within the relevant literature. A common element of most definitions is that speciesism involves t ...
, 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, f ...
. He was recognized as one of ''
Vice
A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...
''s "Humans of the Year" in December 2017, along with Witwicki.
His book, ''
The End of Animal Farming'' (2018), argues 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 research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
, graduating with a
Bachelor of Arts and Science Bachelor of Arts and Science(s) (BA&Sc, BASc, BAS, B.A.&Sc., B.A.Sc., or B.A.S.), sometimes also named Bachelor of Science and Arts (BSA), is an undergraduate bachelor's degree conferred by a small number of universities from countries including the ...
in
neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...
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
Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE), formerly known as Effective Animal Activism (EAA), is a US-based charity evaluator and effective altruism-focused nonprofit founded in 2012. ACE evaluates animal charities and compares the effectiveness of their ...
(ACE) Board of Directors; he joined them as a full-time researcher after graduation.
ACE is an organization within the
effective altruism
Effective altruism is a philosophical and social movement that advocates "using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis". People who pursue the goals of effective altruism, c ...
movement that evaluates and compares various animal charities based on their cost-effectiveness and transparency, particularly those that are tackling
factory farming
Intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production, also known by its opponents as factory farming and macro-farms, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production, while ...
.
[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 rock. ...
'' While at ACE, Anthis published an article that addressed the issue of
wild animal suffering
Wild animal suffering is the suffering experienced by nonhuman animals living outside of direct human control, due to harms such as disease, injury, parasitism, starvation and malnutrition, dehydration, weather conditions, natural disasters, an ...
, 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
The Sentience Institute (SI) is an American interdisciplinary think tank that specializes in effective altruism and social movement research. It was founded by Jacy Reese Anthis and Kelly Anthis in June 2017 and has published research reports o ...
, 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
The term food system describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition
Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients ...
where slaughterhouses are obsolete".
Anthis wrote this book from the perspective of
effective altruism
Effective altruism is a philosophical and social movement that advocates "using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis". People who pursue the goals of effective altruism, c ...
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."
Selected works
*(2018). ''
The End of Animal Farming: How Scientists, Entrepreneurs, and Activists Are Building an Animal-Free Food System''. Boston: Beacon Press
See also
*
List of animal rights advocates
Advocates of animal rights support the philosophy of animal rights. They believe that many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as in avoiding suff ...
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
American social scientists
American veganism activists
People associated with effective altruism
People from Huntsville, Texas
Sentientists
University of Texas at Austin alumni
Writers from Texas