I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned the Talos Principle. — Starthrower

Why don't you tell us more about it. I looked at the website.

My question: what is sentience? What makes something capable of thought? And are we, as humans, capable of true thought? — Starthrower

Sentience is us. We are Evolving Minds that create and learn. This is Evolution.

Wait, are you, also, a human supremacist?

The Talos Principle is a puzzle game that involves a shady, deceptive character named Elohim, an unnamed android, a bunch of ruins and a mysterious tower that Elohim doesn’t want you to touch. The point of the game is: 1) to think creatively to solve puzzles for sigils that unlock things, and 2) to think independently, to ask questions.

Nice game.

Have you tried it?

But what makes something sentient? When would a machine become sentient, capable of thought? And are we humans REALLY capable of thought? Or the illusion of it?

We are Mind/Memory. And we are evolving. Machines aren't mind. They are tools created by our Minds. We even create myths that we are machines. Imagination moves in all directions.

Intriguing idea, but what of other life forms, such as those beyond in space?

This would be highly speculative to the nth degree, but given that we are c attempting to understand the Universal Mind, it could be anything, anywhere, observable and not. It is the nature of the neverending exploration of the Mind by the Mind. Dreams are quite interesting.

Sentience is the property of being a purposefully-responsive device, as are people and other animals.

Michael Ossipoff

My question: what is sentience? What makes something capable of thought? And are we, as humans, capable of true thought? — Starthrower

I like to think of sentience as having two components. I don't know if they're related but, to me, they deserve separate categories. They are:

1. Self awareness
2. Thinking ability. By this I don't mean just rational thinking but also imagination and, of course, its child creativity.

To say x is sentient we must have both of the two attributes I described above. By that definition only humans are sentient. Does anyone disagree?

Nope. Nice sum-up.