Originally posted by mpanty
Originally posted by Iceberg
...Some of the marks of sentience are language skills and tool use. If an animal can't use symbolic language (i.e. a language capable of transmitting concepts more esoteric than "run away" or "food this way") or tools, it's probably not sentient...
Mmmmmh, it seems that you really know A LOT on scientific issues Iceberg...
I would be interested in your opinion, about the issue of just "how sentient" you consider the Kilrathi to be...
Indeed, they show an amazing use their intelligence, unfortunately for destructive means, but ultimately they are somewhat dominated by their primal instincts of "hunting the prey"...
When they are in cockpits fighting the "apes", they are hunting the prey... They hunt human POWs and alien species for sport!
Of course, let's not generalize here, otherwise Quarto will wake up (), as there are Kilrathi who have learnt to withold their instincts (e.g. Melek, an generally post-war Kilrathi)... but what do you think Iceberg?
Well, I have to warn you up front that although I take a strong interest in all science (indeed, in all forms of human endeavor), my areas of expertise are computer science and physics, and with the specialization of the sciences these days, I don't have room for more than a passing familiarity with the rest of things. Be that as it may...
By the two criteria that I mentioned (there are more, I'm just thinking off the top of my head here), I think the Kilrathi are sentient... it's just that their society is bent around following their instincts, whereas human society is by and large bent around suppressing our instincts in favor of reason.