Concepts/Sentience

Sentience: in its most basic form, awareness of self; the ability to feel or percieve.

In some philosophies, especially animal rights, sentience is defined by the ability to suffer. Thus, perception of suffering is enough to accord certain humane rights.

There are some philosophies in which bureaucracies are regarded as living creatures. They take in materials, they grow, they cast off refuse, they procreate. As each being is made of individual cells working together, so each bureaucracy is made of living beings working together.

What if a living bureaucracy achieved its own form of sentience? Could that be the basis for the Architects of the Future?

Is the StrangeVirus sentient? Many occurances point towards a governing intelligence, and it certainly seems concerned with suffering. Is Strange possibly the youngest of the Warps, still struggling to achieve consciousness? Or is it the oldest and the furtherest along. Could, in fact, the suffering of Strange lead to enlightenment? Or is it a false masochism designed to pull people away from Charm?

By these theories...are the Bubbledolls nonsentient, merely mimicking minds?

Experiments: Ask a Bubble Doll if xe's sentient. Ask Sosael about the Virus' history, if she's coherent. Keep in mind that she lies.

The question to ask about the Dolls is which parts of their minds are "missing." Is the typical Bubble Doll incapable of abstract reasoning? Of learning? Of planning future scenarios and anticipating results? Of being aware they exist? Of maintaining a continuous sense of identity? Of choosing between alternatives? The last three are quite shaky, although Theeka has shown signs of all three, and it seems so has Jini. In a normal organic being, in which part of the brain would the missing functions be located? Would they be cerebral, like will and self-awareness, or merely glandular, like anger and stress?