With regards to more on microbes, I would love to know more about the conditions that caused COVID-19 to come about, if that’s something you’d be interested in writing about.
This is one of your best pieces. I have been learning about microbes from a kids book I have been reading to my four year old. I problematised the book when it started referring to some microbes as ‘bad’. I first came across this alternate perspective in John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars when one of the characters says ‘cancer is not bad. It just wants to exist’. Or words to that effect.
The more important questions might be to think about what you think sentience even is, how is it defined, who created that definition & why, how you perceive it, what you think defines the sentient/ non sentient binary (how exactly is this assessed), what are the “rules” exactly, what are the limitations of how we subjectively perceive the world/ other life forms, how have we been brainwashed to not see other life forms as equally worthy/ valuable as we are, and then get through all that to more critically think that a belief that all life is “sentient”, complex, integral, valuable might actually allow us to dismantle oppressive systems instead of asserting/ upholding power structures.
I don’t understand the question- how did I get the belief? Just like I got the belief that hierarchies aren’t natural. Unlearning, learning, reflection, observation, community, cultural traditions, movement knowledge, ancestral teachings, science... everything.
With regards to more on microbes, I would love to know more about the conditions that caused COVID-19 to come about, if that’s something you’d be interested in writing about.
This is one of your best pieces. I have been learning about microbes from a kids book I have been reading to my four year old. I problematised the book when it started referring to some microbes as ‘bad’. I first came across this alternate perspective in John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars when one of the characters says ‘cancer is not bad. It just wants to exist’. Or words to that effect.
I hope that first line isn’t condescending. I just meant it’s one I’ve liked the most!
How did you get the belief that all life forms are sentient?
The more important questions might be to think about what you think sentience even is, how is it defined, who created that definition & why, how you perceive it, what you think defines the sentient/ non sentient binary (how exactly is this assessed), what are the “rules” exactly, what are the limitations of how we subjectively perceive the world/ other life forms, how have we been brainwashed to not see other life forms as equally worthy/ valuable as we are, and then get through all that to more critically think that a belief that all life is “sentient”, complex, integral, valuable might actually allow us to dismantle oppressive systems instead of asserting/ upholding power structures.
I don’t understand the question- how did I get the belief? Just like I got the belief that hierarchies aren’t natural. Unlearning, learning, reflection, observation, community, cultural traditions, movement knowledge, ancestral teachings, science... everything.