| Latest revision |
Your text |
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| {{Status|Canon}}
| | |
| {{Cleanup}}
| | {{Ratings}} |
| {{References}} | | {{Real world}} |
| [[File:HR MoreMoa.png|thumb|250px|Moa are a sentient species.]]
| |
| {{Quote|After exhausting every other strategic option, my creators activated the rings, they, as well as all additional sentient life within three radii of the galactic center, died, as planned.|[[343 Guilty Spark]]<ref>''[[Halo 2]]''</ref>}} | |
|
| |
|
| '''Sentience''' is the quality of possessing senses and the abilities of perception (eg. to perceive time).
| | {{Quote|They, as well as all additional sentient life within three radii of the galactic center, died as planned.|[[343 Guilty Spark (Monitor)|343 Guilty Spark]]}} |
|
| |
|
| ==Definitions of sentience==
| | A ''sentient being'' is a being with the ability to think intelligently, commonly determined by the being's ability to speak, manipulate tools, and reason. Other lifeforms lacking such capabilities are classified as non-sentient, though some classification systems have a middle ground, semi-sentient, for species that had very primitive capabilities to manipulate tools, use language, and/or solve problems. |
| [[File:H2A - Mean Jackal.jpg|thumb|250px|Kig-Yar and Unggoy are both sapient species]]
| |
| There are several levels of sentience:
| |
|
| |
|
| *'''Non-sentience''' refers to living organisms that lack the ability to think or perceive, often used in reference to plant life. The [[Conservation Measure]] had negative effects on non-sentient life, leading to events of mass extinction.<ref>''[[Halo 3]]'', "[[Terminal (Halo 3)|Terminal 1]]"</ref>
| | ==In Relation to the Flood== |
| | | The [[Flood]] only consumed an organism that was sentient and also had a sufficient biomass to support the infection process. For the most part, all species in the Covenant are sentient, but some lack the structural integrity needed to be infected; for example, [[Hunter]]s cannot be infected because each sentry are made from a buildup of many eels that lack a spinal cord to control. |
| *'''Semi-sentience''' refers to beings with emerging sentience or beings with several traits of sentience. A species of tree native to [[Faun Hakkor]] was regarded as semi-sentient, having evolved a form of long-term intelligence and used insects, viruses, bacteria, and fungi as carriers of genetic and hormonal signals to communicate with each other.<ref name="c132">''[[Halo: Cryptum]]'', p. 132-133</ref> Early forms of [[smart AI]]s are regarded as semi-sentient.<ref name="best">''Halo 3'', "[[Bestiarum]]"</ref>
| |
| | |
| *'''Sentience''' generally refers to low-order thinking life.<ref name="warfleet">''[[Halo: Warfleet]]'', p. 92</ref> While few sentient beings are sapient, all sapient beings are sentient. As such the term "sentient" is often used to encompass all beings capable of sentience.{{Ref/Reuse|best}}
| |
| | |
| *'''Sapience''' refers to high-order thinking life, capable of symbolism and abstraction.{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}} The term is used to describe beings capable of wisdom, using knowledge, experience, understanding, and common sense to think and act. Sapient beings are self-aware and capable of introspection. Examples of sapient species include [[human]]s and [[San'Shyuum]]s.{{Ref/Reuse|best}} [[Smart AI]] and [[ancilla]] are regarded as sapient,<ref>[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/canon-fodder-armory-amore '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Canon Fodder - Armory Amore'']</ref> having the capacity for wisdom and the ability to perceive.<ref>''Halo: Warfleet'', p. 90</ref>
| |
| | |
| According to the [[Forerunner]] scale of [[Technological Achievement Tiers]], sufficiently advanced civilizations may be able to reach a stage known as "'''transsentience'''", a state of being above "normal" sentient life forms in factors such as intelligence. Only the [[Precursor]]s fit the category. The [[Gravemind]] may be transsentient, with the Forerunners sometimes viewing the [[Flood]] as a group of subsentient beings controlled by a possibly transsentient Gravemind. The Flood itself gains sentience from consuming the evolved complex neurosystem of one or more sentient entities.{{Ref/Reuse|best}}
| |
| | |
| ==Artificial intelligence==
| |
| Beside biological sentient life, some forms of [[artificial intelligence]] are regarded as sentient; to humans, such constructs are known as [[smart AI]]s. Notably, sentience renders an AI susceptible to a condition known as [[rampancy]], where the AI becomes fully aware of the nature of its existence and begins to rebel against its makers, as well as exhibiting a range of emotions beyond its programmed limits.<ref>''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]'', p. 31, 378</ref>
| |
| {{Expand-section}}
| |
| | |
| ==In relation to the Flood and the Halo Array== | |
| The [[Flood]] consume only organisms that are sentient or have sufficient biomass and calcium to support the infection process. [[Human]]s, most former member species of the [[Covenant]], and many other species are sentient and thus susceptible to Flood infection. Notably, [[Lekgolo]] assemblages cannot be infected because each entity is a gestalt of numerous eel-like creatures and thus lacks a spinal cord. All muliticellular life with a neural system as simple as a notochord (including all sentient species) is vulnerable to the effect of the [[Halo Array]]. | |
| {{Expand-section}}
| |
| | |
| ==Sources==
| |
| {{Ref/Sources}}
| |
| | |
| [[Category:Biology]]
| |
