New Podcast Release: Moby

In the latest episode of Lives Well Lived, the podcast I co-host with Kasia de Lazari-Radek, we talk to musician, activist, and author Moby

In the latest episode of Lives Well Lived, the podcast I co-host with Kasia de Lazari-Radek, we talk to musician, activist, and author Moby about his journey: his unexpected rise to stardom in the electronic dance music scene, the lows of alcohol and drug abuse, the sense that he was a “has-been,” dispelled by the success of his album “Play” which brought him even greater fame, but led to a period of deep depression. He tells us also about what matters to him now: living simply, appreciating nature, and animal rights.

Moby has spent decades using his platform to champion veganism, environmental sustainability, and ethical living. His music has shaped generations, but beyond the beats, his activism has driven important conversations about factory farming, corporate influence, and the moral obligations we have toward animals. From his early punk rock days to his deep philosophical reflections on ethics, suffering, and meaning, Moby’s perspective is as thought-provoking as it is passionate.

In our conversation, we explore the paradox of loving animals while eating them, the influence of Animal Liberation on his life, and the role of music in activism. Moby also opens up about his changing religious beliefs, the dangers of nostalgia, and how he finds meaning in nature, creativity, and service to others.

Below are some highlights from our conversation, lightly edited for clarity. You can listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred platform.

On What He Values Most in Life

KASIA: “If you were to introduce yourself not by what you do, but by what you value most in life, how would you describe yourself?”

MOBY: "Oh boy. What a great question. I'm trying to think of a succinct way of addressing that. From my perspective, the single most important thing in my life is working on behalf of animal rights. There are many other things in life that I love, that I value, that I enjoy, but everything from my perspective pales in comparison to the issue of animal rights for all the reasons that should go without saying, but always bear repeating nonetheless. The fact that we're killing one trillion animals a year, and in the process, destroying the only home we have, and each one of those animals dies miserable and suffering, incapable of living their own life according to their will. And the result of that is also pandemics, obesity, cancer, heart disease, climate change, biodiversity loss, etc.

It's all the stuff that we know. So I apologize for preaching to the choir, as it were. But my succinct answer would be that the most important thing in my life is working on behalf of animal rights and trying to figure out the most effective way of doing so."

On How He Became Vegan

KASIA: “So tell us, how did you get to that point to realize that?”

MOBY: "Well, I grew up, and spoiler alert, it involves 50 per cent of the people I'm talking to. I grew up like almost everyone else. I was a poor white trash kid in the suburbs, and I was surrounded by rescued animals. We had dogs and cats and lab rats and mice and even iguanas. And I loved our rescued animals unconditionally.

But I also paradoxically loved Burger King and pepperoni pizza and salami sandwiches. And because that is or was and continues to be the dominant paradigm, I never questioned it. Because that was how everyone I knew, everyone I knew loved their companion animals and they loved eating hamburgers.

And when I was 19 years old, I took a step back and realized that our companion animals are the same as the animals we're eating. And that was when I discovered there wasn't much in the world of animal rights literature, but luckily, in my local library, there was a book by an author you might've heard his name is Peter Singer, and it was called Animal Liberation. Then I discovered Diet for a New America, and I realized it's just impossible to wrap our heads around it once we become aware of it: the paradox of loving animals while torturing, killing, and eating them."

On the Cultural Influence of Punk Rock

PETER: “But I'm curious whether the punk rock scene made a difference to you because I know you played in some punk rock underground bands when you were young, right? And of course, then you made this movie, a punk rock music video about vegans in the punk rock movement. Was that an influence too?”

MOBY: "Yeah. I mean, the journey that led me to becoming an animal rights activist was, on one hand, academic. Through your book, through other literature, I could find, and I’ve been a philosophy major as well, so reading Jeremy Bentham and even reading Kant and recognizing, oh, it's the intersection of logic and ethics, you know, and epistemology as well.

Like, animals suffer. That's observable. What's the rational response to a suffering being? To try and end their suffering or limit their suffering and not be involved in causing it.

So it was the academic side, but then the cultural aspect is the most confusing because I do think most of us grow up with the idea that if it's legal, if it's acceptable, if it's a dominant part of our cultural paradigm, it must be okay. The powers that be wouldn't let institutions survive if they were profoundly unethical.

And you could even point to the arc of the moral universe, you know, you could say, well, at one point women couldn't vote, then they were given the vote. And at one point, we owned slaves and clearly we recognized that was bad, so we stopped doing it."

On Whether Music Can Inspire Change

KASIA: “Do you think that music can be a good motivator for people to change their lives?”

MOBY: "It’s a great question because there's precedent for that. I mean, obviously, the last hundred and some odd years, there's a lot of precedent for activist musicians and activist music.

And I guess, from my perspective, the two ways of looking at it is, on one hand, there are, you know, songs and lyrics that are very explicit in dealing with an issue. I think of Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit, or Neil Young, Ohio, or Public Enemy songs, Clash songs, Kendrick Lamar songs that are very issue oriented.

But then the other aspect of it, I hope I'm not an apologist for my approach, but the other aspect is the people like me who aren't very good at writing issue-oriented lyrics. So my music tends to not be very issue-oriented, but it gives me the platform I have. The only value it has is addressing the issues that I think are important."

On What Brings Him Joy

KASIA: “So, where are your pleasures now?”

MOBY: "First and foremost, nature. You know, that is, forgive me if this sounds too esoteric, anything that points to a sort of non-human complexity: hiking up a mountain being surrounded by nature that has nothing to do with humans, going to the desert and looking at environments that are 10 million years old, listening to music and working on music, not for the commerce of it, but for the sublime aspects of it.

And so it's even eating, my friends are embarrassed of me because if we're out eating, I'll sometimes talk about how, from my perspective, a single black bean has more theological weight than everything that humans have ever written. At that point, they just are like, okay, why did we invite you out for dinner? Like, just stay home and talk to the trees."