Jacy Reese

Jacy Reese
Born	Huntsville, Texas, U.S.
Residence	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Education	University of Texas at Austin
Occupation	Writer
Partner(s)	Kelly Witwicki

Jacy Reese is a writer, social scientist, and co-founder of Sentience Institute. He previously worked as a Senior Fellow at Sentience Politics,^[1] and before that at Animal Charity Evaluators as chair of the board of directors and then as a full-time researcher.^[2]

His research focuses on effective altruism, anti-speciesism, and plant-based and cellular agriculture.^[3][4][5] Reese was recognized as one of Vice’s “Humans of the Year” in December 2017 along with his co-founder and fiancée Kelly Witwicki.^[6]

Work with Animal Charity Evaluators

Before he graduated from college, Reese was working on the Animal Charity Evaluators Board of Directors and then joined as a full-time researcher after graduation.^[7] Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE, formerly called Effective Animal Activism) is an organization connected with the movement that evaluates and compares various animal charities based on their cost-effectiveness and transparency, particularly those that are tackling factory farming.^[8] While at ACE, Reese published a number of articles for media outlets like HuffPost. One such article addressed the issue of wild animal suffering, arguing that humans should act on behalf of wild animals to alleviate their suffering if it can be done safely and effectively.^[9] His 2015 Vox article on the topic was criticized by writers who argued we shouldn’t intervene or that we should instead focus on helping domestic animals.^[10][11][12]

Co-founding of Sentience Institute

After a year and a half at Animal Charity Evaluators, Reese briefly worked with Sentience Politics, a project of the Effective Altruism Foundation. Sentience Politics then split into two organizations, one of which was Sentience Institute, co-founded by Reese and his now-fiancée Kelly Witwicki in June 2017.^[7][13] Sentience Institute is an effective altruism think tank working to understand and facilitate the expansion of humanity’s moral circle to all sentient beings. The 'moral circle' is the boundary drawn around those entities in the world deemed worthy of moral consideration. They have published several research reports including a study of the British antislavery movement, a study of the French nuclear power movement, and a poll of American attitudes towards “animal farming and animal-free food.”^[6][14] The poll was done in collaboration with Ipsos Group and found that 47% of Americans support “a ban on slaughterhouses.”^{[15][16][17][18]}

The End of Animal Farming

In fall 2018, he is publishing his first book, The End of Animal Farming, which “outlines an evidence-based roadmap to a humane, ethical, efficient food system where slaughterhouses are obsolete.”^[19][20] Kirkus Reviews says the book addresses food technology like cultured meat and key activist strategies such as “institutional change, in which companies, social groups, and society at large are targeted.” Near the end of the book, Reese concludes that, “if I had to speculate, I would say by 2100 all forms of farming will seem outdated and barbaric.”^[21]

Bibliography