# Why Vegans Are Smarter. With Chris Bryant | Ep. 111 Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-vegan-report-6458227/why-vegans-are-smarter-with-chris-bryant-ep-111 Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-vegan-report-6458227/why-vegans-are-smarter-with-chris-bryant-ep-111.md Podcast: [The Vegan Report](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-vegan-report-6458227) Published: 2026-03-17T08:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://rss.com/podcasts/veganreport/2634782 Audio file: https://content.rss.com/episodes/218444/2634782/veganreport/2026_03_17_02_57_59_8900e841-71b8-4365-8d3d-65e37e9ccf7c.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-vegan-report-6458227/episodes/why-vegans-are-smarter-with-chris-bryant-ep-111 Duration seconds: 6364 ## Resource Today, we’re asking a fun—and maybe slightly provocative—question: are vegans smarter than most people? You’ve probably seen those articles listing brilliant minds who were vegetarian for ethical reasons—people like Einstein, Tolstoy, Mary Shelley, or Leonardo da Vinci. And if you’ve been with us for a while, you might remember episode 37, where we talked about one of those great minds: the literary genius Al‑Ma’arri, often considered the first vegan in recorded history. So today we’re wondering: did their intellect lead them to the ethical principles we hold? And beyond these outliers, do we see the same pattern in the general population? To explore this, I’m joined by Chris Bryant. Chris is a social scientist and an expert on meat reduction and alternative proteins. He leads Bryant Research, and he’s also a prolific creator on YouTube. I actually joined him during one of his livestreams to record this episode—it was my first time doing a livestream, so that was an adventure in itself. You can find links to connect with Chris in the episode notes. In our conversation, we talk about the relationship between intelligence and veganism, but we also get into psychopaths, the dangers of animal activism, cannibalism, his experiences debating the “meat heads” of the internet, and a whole lot more. Connect with Chris: https://www.youtube.com/@chrisbryantphd Learn more about Bryant Research: https://bryantresearch.co.uk/ Al-Ma‘arri: The World's First Vegan. With Dr. Kevin Blankinship | Ep. 37 https://rss.com/podcasts/veganreport/1427038/ Donate to Dharma Voices for Animals: https://www.dharmavoicesforanimals.org/donate Sign Up to MapYourHealth: https://mapyourhealth.info/ If you have any comment or question regarding the show, send a message to theveganreportpodcast@gmail.com F… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-vegan-report-6458227/episodes/why-vegans-are-smarter-with-chris-bryant-ep-111/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-vegan-report-6458227/why-vegans-are-smarter-with-chris-bryant-ep-111.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.