Sentience and the science–policy nexus: Replies to Wandrey and Halina, and Bayne

The edge of sentience is a book about what we should do when a decision problem forces us to draw a pragmatic line between the sentient and the non‐sentient. The commentaries from Wandrey and Halina and from Bayne analyse both my precautionary framework and my claims about specific cases. My responses start with the case of large language models (LLMs), zoom out to general issues about the science–policy relationship, then zoom in again on the case of fetuses.

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Publication Details

Journal
Mind & Language
Published
2025-07-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/mila.12552
Primary Topic
Social Representations and Identity
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Sentience and the science–policy nexus: Replies to Wandrey and Halina, and Bayne

Jonathan Birch
Mind & Language
Social Representations and Identity
article

Sentience and the science–policy nexus: Replies to Wandrey and Halina, and Bayne

Jonathan Birch
article en

Abstract

The edge of sentience is a book about what we should do when a decision problem forces us to draw a pragmatic line between the sentient and the non‐sentient. The commentaries from Wandrey and Halina and from Bayne analyse both my precautionary framework and my claims about specific cases. My responses start with the case of large language models (LLMs), zoom out to general issues about the science–policy relationship, then zoom in again on the case of fetuses.

Mind & LanguageVol. 40(5)
London School of Economics and Political Science (GB)
H2020 European Research Council
Openalex Percentile: Top 80%
Social Representations and Identity
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