Mmmm, There’s a BIG difference between the two.
It could even be argued that a single (although complex) celled amoeba is sentient - it possesses the necessary sensory capabilities to appreciate the world around it, and it is capable of movement to avoid light - responding to stimuli, as well as autonomic functioning, so on a REALLY rudimentary level it may have a sense of self and demonstrably ‘feels’ so is therefore technically sentient. So there are huge degrees of sentience as well. At a biological level, effectively the rule seems to be more complex your nervous system the more sentient you are. It’s all a matter of how you are capable of perceiving the world. If one judges the whole thing on scent, dogs are the most sentient beings on the planet, sight … well, the avian raptors probably have that one covered, sound … well, I’m looking at you Mr Whale or Dolphin. But sapience … the ability to symbolise, and think, and problem solve, assess alternatives, predict and control … tends to require a rather large and dynamic brain and the associated mnemonic capability to first store and then interconnect all the prior experiences, education and knowledge you have absorbed. I think computers are likely to develop into sapience before sentience … which may be problematic - as this whole discussion so far points to. Just my 2 cents worth … --- > On 27 Jul 2016, at 3:32 PM, JanW <[email protected]> wrote: > > At 03:06 PM 27/07/2016, Jim Birch wrote: > >> Maybe in your case. My cat is certainly conscious - i.e. aware of and >> responding to it's surroundings - but doesn't do a lot of symbols. > > We were discussing this very thing yesterday --- sapient versus sentient. > Animals are sentient. Humans are sapient as well. > > Machines - not so much. Although IBM is working on one. > > Jan > > > I write books. http://janwhitaker.com/?page_id=8 > > Melbourne, Victoria, Australia > [email protected] > Twitter: <https://twitter.com/JL_Whitaker>JL_Whitaker > Blog: www.janwhitaker.com > > Some psychopaths become serial killers, and other psychopaths become > prosecutors. - Bob Ruff, Truth and Justice, June 2016 > > Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, you're gonna die, so how do you > fill in the space between here and there? It's yours. Seize your space. > ~Margaret Atwood, writer > > _ __________________ _ > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > [email protected] > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
