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 ...

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

(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 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

, 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

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

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