Sentient vs. Sapient

[kingcom]

I always thought sentien meant living create which is aware of its own interactions with the world. Sapient is a living being using a set of organised logic?

EDIT: suppose thats roughly correct though Mass Effect i think discusses the issue the way it does so as to not put too much of this stuff over the audience's head.

 

[Sad Robot]

It's not just intelligence. Look around you. What species has effected the entire world, whether it be positive or negative, can find a way to survive in almost any Earthly environment, and even some non-earthly ones?

There is no doubt that we have the most advanced technology of any species we know of. I don't necessarily consider this a sign of superiority or importance in the eyes of the universe.

We are superior because we have thrived, while no other species has.

Other species have thrived as well.

A large portion of that is our intelligence, but it is also the fact that we have thumbs, our ability to survive outside of water. Some animals can do things we can't, but we can do more than any other species can, and we do.

You're probably right.

I'm not sure it's arguable that other animals may be superior to us.

Certainly it depends on one's definition of superiority.

Certainly, animals are not worthless and serve a definite purpose on the planet, but there is a reason we rule this planet and dolphins don't.

Chance? Opposable thumbs in addition to a highly developed brain? Greed? Our biased point of view? You could argue that bacteria rule the world. After all, we are a minority in our own bodies.

I don't want to sound like I'm crazy, I don't honestly think that dolphins are as smart as some people think, but I'm not entirely dismisive of the possibility either. Plus, you know, what kind of evidence of superiority is it that we've basically enslaved a bunch of other species?

 

[bobknowsall]

Well, I'd write science fiction on a fairly amateur basis, so I would know the difference between the two. But I think a lot of people just don't bother, because they figure their audience doesn't know what the word means, so they use "sentient" as a catch-all term. It's understandable, but I disapprove of such behaviour.

 

[Sad Robot]

The fact they've learnt ours suggests we are smart enough to develop a language they can understand.

That's one way of looking at it, I suppose.

 

[Incendax]

So, who here knows the difference between being sentient and being sapient? I find it annoyingly common for people to overuse the word sentient. Almost anything that's an animal is considered sentient. (Maybe not some insects, but even then...)

And the only sapient race we have is humans. It describes a being that is able to act upon wisdom and reason, and use judgement.

Sentient and Sapient are not mutually exclusive terms, so Science Fiction games like Mass Effect are only making an error when they refer to things such as animals as 'Not Sentient'.

And of course, we are not sufficiently advanced in animal psychology to determine if most animals are Sapient or not. Calling them Sapient might not be wrong, but it is probably wishful thinking.