fandomhigh | Space!, Friday

Sapience

Kaidan had written the word on his holographic display in really big letters. It hung in the air in front of the class.

"Sapience," he said, "Is a step beyond sentience. Sentience presumes some level of self-awareness. Sapience presumes a human - or bigger - level of understanding and intelligence. Humans are a sapient species. So are, at least in my universe, asari, krogan, turians, quarians, salarians..." He nodded towards Mordin ~~if he was there~~. "'Course, to compare them all to humans could be considered racist. Each of these species has had their own experiences, their own homeworlds, and so their own philosophies and ideas. Sapience is a big thing. It's not something we can easily predict. We're still not even sure exactly what makes a species sapient in the long run. Hell, some people are still arguing about whether or not humans really qualify."

He cleared his throat. "If there's anyone here who's from a non-human species or who has known members of a non-human sapient species, I'd like them to come up here and tell us a few things. If you want to. After that, we're having a class discussion. What do you think marks the difference between sapience and sentience?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Wisely.

Mercy Thompson

William Murdoch

Cade

Minako Aino

Alana

Cecil Palmer

Use your brain.

Minako was going to keep her mouth shut in class - for once - since the topic was, well, complicated for her.

Are you a non-human sapient species? Have you met other sapient species? Discuss your experiences.

Mercy hesitantly went up. "I'm... only half human. I'm a walker and I shift into a coyote. Back home I'm not allowed to tell anybody what I am. And, well... I was raised with werewolves, so, I'm kind of familiar with people who aren't entirely human."

"I'm Landfallian," Alana said, wings fluttering lightly just in case anyone had forgotten. "And there are a lot of other sapient species at home. The weird thing to me is that you're all kind of the same here."

"Are there folks who don't know any non-humans?" Cecil asked, a little bewildered. He thought for a moment. "We've got Station Management, they're..." he went a little pale, "not human. And there's Hiram McDaniels; he's the five-headed dragon who's running for mayor. And the glow cloud on the school board. And Sarah Sultan, the president of Night Vale Community College; she's a smooth, fist-sized river rock. And the tarantulas are pretty sapient, though they do have a shocking illiteracy rate."

He pondered. "There's some beings nobody really knows about, like the hooded figures. They might be human, I guess? And there's the whole question of how you define 'human'. Megan Wallaby is an adult male's detached hand, but as far we know it's a human hand, and her parents are human. Michael Sandero's extra head...well, we don't know what caused that, so is it human just because he is?"

He could go on. And probably would, if he wasn't interrupted.

What makes a species sapient rather than sentient? Do humans even qualify?

When she's around.

Mercy was mentally debating whether or not she should have mentioned the werewolves, so she was a bit distracted.

He's definitely around.

This is like the fifth time I've false-started about this but I think I FINALLY HAVE MY LIFE BACK starting today as long as nobody else kidnaps me anywhere again.

*stealz*

Space!, Friday

Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Listen to the Lecture

Re: Listen to the Lecture

Class Discussion - Experiences with Sapient Species

Re: Class Discussion - Experiences with Sapient Species

Re: Class Discussion - Experiences with Sapient Species

Re: Class Discussion - Experiences with Sapient Species

Class Discussion - Question

Talk to the TA

Re: Talk to the TA

Talk to the Teacher

OOC

Re: OOC