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53-432: The Underland Chronicles is a series of five epic fantasy novels by Suzanne Collins , first published between 2003 and 2007. It tells the story of a boy named Gregor and his adventures in the "Underland", a subterranean world located under New York City. The Underland is inhabited by humans who traveled below hundreds of years ago, along with various giant versions of creatures like bats, cockroaches, and rats. According to

106-685: A Bat? ", consciousness can refer to the ability of any entity to have subjective perceptual experiences, or as some philosophers refer to them, " qualia "—in other words, the ability to have states that it feels like something to be in. Some philosophers, notably Colin McGinn , believe that the physical process causing consciousness to happen will never be understood, a position known as " new mysterianism ". They do not deny that most other aspects of consciousness are subject to scientific investigation but they argue that qualia will never be explained. Other philosophers, such as Daniel Dennett , argue that qualia

159-408: A broad term to include a number of different flavors of the fantasy genre, including epic fantasy , mythic fantasy, dark fantasy , and wuxia . It typically is not considered to include the sword and sorcery genre. High fantasy has often been defined by its themes and messages. " Good versus evil " is a common one in high fantasy, and defining the character of evil is often an important theme in

212-409: A childlike figure, but matures rapidly, experiencing a considerable gain in fighting/problem-solving abilities along the way. The progress of the story leads to the character's learning the nature of the unknown forces against them, that they constitute a force with great power and malevolence. The villains in such stories are usually completely evil and unrelatable. "High fantasy" often serves as

265-455: A common basis for many fantasy books and many other authors continue to contribute to the settings. Sentience In Asian religions, the word "sentience" has been used to translate a variety of concepts. In science fiction , the word "sentience" is sometimes used interchangeably with " sapience ", " self-awareness ", or " consciousness ". Some writers differentiate between the mere ability to perceive sensations, such as light or pain, and

318-564: A formal promise to defend the other. In the dangerous environment of the Underland, this is a coveted and extremely serious relationship. The punishment for forsaking a bondmate — referred to as one's "bond" — is banishment alone in the Dead Lands , which means almost certain death. Very rarely, one can be bonded to more than one creature; in Luxa's case, she was able to bond to both Ripred

371-481: A great tragedy would one day befall all those living on the surface, and convinced his devoted followers to establish an underground community long before the event could happen. In Gregor and the Marks of Secret , Gregor discovers that Underland children know the old song "Bat, Bat, Come Under my Hat", suggesting that it was carried down by their Overland ancestors. This song is an actual poem, which some sources claim

424-487: A machine conscious in exactly the way humans are is not one that we are equipped to take on." Indeed, leading AI textbooks do not mention "sentience" at all. Digital sentience is of considerable interest to the philosophy of mind . Functionalist philosophers consider that sentience is about "causal roles" played by mental states, which involve information processing. In this view, the physical substrate of this information processing does not need to be biological, so there

477-404: A negative light, because of their tendency to take what they want and apologize later. This behavior is exemplified by a story which Gregor learns of in the final book , detailing how the humans' first act in the Underland was to poison an entire species living on the land that would become Regalia . Gregor (and his little sister Boots ) spends time with many different creatures over the course of

530-594: A quest to kill a dangerous Rat called the Bane whom both the Rats and humans believe will lead the gnawers to conquer the Underland. Along the way, Gregor struggles to come to terms with the death of several friends; a newly discovered and very terrifying talent; and the morality of what the Underlanders have asked him to do. A mysterious plague has broken out in the Underland, and yet another of Sandwich's prophecies leads

583-539: A simple disease. The Bane takes control of the gnawers, and genocide is taking place in all corners of the Underland. The Rats drive the Mice out of their homes, killing any left behind. Gregor and his friends must fight to stop him. Gregor, now older and hardened from war, falls in love with Luxa. They sneak out of Regalia and find that the Rats have driven the Mice out of the jungle and the Fount, their last refuge. They follow

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636-501: A tunnel under the river to the Firelands, a subterranean volcanic wasteland, where the Mice have been driven. The air of the Firelands is toxic and ashy, and wipes out entire generations of the peaceful Mice. The Gnawers begin to move towards Regalia, to kill what remains of the Mice and their human protectors. The uneasy peace between the humans and gnawers has finally been broken, and everyone expects Gregor to accept his role as "

689-660: A work of high fantasy, such as The Lord of the Rings . The importance of the concept of good and evil can be regarded as the distinguishing mark between high fantasy and sword and sorcery. In many works of high fantasy, this conflict marks a deep concern with moral issues; in other works, the conflict is a power struggle, with, for instance, wizards behaving irresponsibly whether they are "good" or "evil". Role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons with campaign settings like Dragonlance by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis and Forgotten Realms by Ed Greenwood are

742-501: Is a minimalistic way of defining consciousness, which otherwise commonly and collectively describes sentience plus further features of the mind and consciousness, such as creativity , intelligence , sapience , self-awareness , and intentionality (the ability to have thoughts about something). These further features of consciousness may not be necessary for sentience, which is the capacity to feel sensations and emotions. According to Thomas Nagel in his paper " What Is It Like to Be

795-628: Is concerned that AI sentience would be particularly easy to deny, and that if achieved, humans might nevertheless continue to treat AI systems as mere tools. He notes that the linguistic behaviour of LLMs is not a reliable way to assess whether they are sentient. He suggests to apply theories of consciousness, such as the global workspace theory , to the algorithms implicitly learned by LLMs, but noted that this technique requires advances in AI interpretability to understand what happens inside. He also mentions some other pathways that may lead to AI sentience, such as

848-494: Is entitled, at a minimum, to protection from unnecessary suffering , though animal-rights advocates may differ on what rights (e.g., the right to life) may be entailed by simple sentience. Sentiocentrism describes the theory that sentient individuals are the center of moral concern. Gary Francione also bases his abolitionist theory of animal rights, which differs significantly from Singer's , on sentience. He asserts that, "All sentient beings, humans or nonhuman, have one right:

901-413: Is located under New York , with most of its entrances leading out to what is now New York City . In the first novel , a character named Vikus tells Gregor (the protagonist ) that the Underland humans are descended from a group of "Overlanders" who, led by a man named Bartholomew of Sandwich , settled underground over a period of some fifty years. Sandwich was a self-styled prophet who believed that

954-443: Is no theoretical barrier to the possibility of sentient machines. According to type physicalism however, the physical constitution is important; and depending on the types of physical systems required for sentience, it may or may not be possible for certain types of machines (such as electronic computing devices) to be sentient. The discussion on the topic of alleged sentience of artificial intelligence has been reignited in 2022 by

1007-560: Is not a meaningful concept. Regarding animal consciousness , the Cambridge Declaration of Consciousness , publicly proclaimed on 7 July 2012 at Cambridge University, states that many non-human animals possess the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states, and can exhibit intentional behaviors. The declaration notes that all vertebrates (including fish and reptiles) have this neurological substrate for consciousness, and that there

1060-422: Is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?" Richard D. Ryder defines sentientism broadly as the position according to which an entity has moral status if and only if it is sentient. In David Chalmer's more specific terminology, Bentham is a narrow sentientist , since his criterion for moral status is not only the ability to experience any phenomenal consciousness at all, but specifically

1113-402: Is related to the concept of ahimsa , non-violence toward other beings. In some forms of Buddhism, plants, stones and other inanimate objects are considered to be 'sentient'. In Jainism many things are endowed with a soul, jīva , which is sometimes translated as 'sentience'. Some things are without a soul, ajīva , such as a chair or spoon. There are different rankings of jīva based on

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1166-467: Is strong evidence that many invertebrates also have it. David Chalmers argues that sentience is sometimes used as shorthand for phenomenal consciousness , the capacity to have any subjective experience at all, but sometimes refers to the narrower concept of affective consciousness , the capacity to experience subjective states that have affective valence (i.e., a positive or negative character), such as pain and pleasure. The sentience quotient concept

1219-458: Is usually set in an alternative, fictional ("secondary") world , rather than the "real" or "primary" world. This secondary world is usually internally consistent, but its rules differ from those of the primary world. By contrast, low fantasy is characterized by being set on Earth, the primary or real world, or a rational and familiar fictional world with the inclusion of magical elements. The romances of William Morris , such as The Well at

1272-429: Is whether the way these noxious stimuli are processed within the brain leads to a subjective experience of pain. To address that, researchers often look for behavioral cues. For example, "if a dog with an injured paw whimpers, licks the wound, limps, lowers pressure on the paw while walking, learns to avoid the place where the injury happened and seeks out analgesics when offered, we have reasonable grounds to assume that

1325-466: The brain emulation of sentient animals. a. Quote: "The absence of a neocortex does not appear to preclude an organism from experiencing affective states. Convergent evidence indicates that non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviors. Consequently, the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing

1378-560: The fliers , as "Bat, Bat" portrays them in a positive light, though modern Overlanders do not necessarily picture bats in a positive way. The creatures of the Underland are divided into many factions, which frequently clash with one another. In general, the humans are allied with the fliers ( bats ) and nibblers ( mice ); the gnawers ( rats ) are their mortal enemies. Aside from the cutters ( ants who despise all warm-blooded creatures), most other species are neutral and keep to themselves. Non-human creatures tend to view humans in

1431-408: The gnawer and Aurora the flier. Each of a pair of bonding creatures must recite an oath in front of an official gathering, which is often followed by a celebration. The oath is as follows: High fantasy High fantasy , or epic fantasy , is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters , themes , or plot . High fantasy

1484-458: The warm-blooded creatures of the realm to organize a quest for the cure, supposedly located in a dangerous underground for his friends and more than willing to help, especially as his own mother and bond lie dying in the Regalian hospital . The more they learn about the plague and the political situation of the Underland, however, the more the quest group begins to fear something worse than

1537-495: The "princess" of a prophecy written hundreds of years ago by their founder, Bartholomew of Sandwich . Gregor must go on a quest mentioned in the prophecy to save his lost father, a prisoner of war in a war between the humans and rats, known as " gnawers ". Gregor is caught up in one of Bartholomew of Sandwich's prophecies once again when Underlanders kidnap his baby sister for her protection, and he reluctantly returns to their subterranean world. The Regalians convince him to embark on

1590-468: The AI system excels at this, providing answers to challenging topics about the nature of emotions , generating Aesop -style fables on cue, and even describing its alleged fears. Nick Bostrom considers that while LaMDA is probably not sentient, being very sure of it would require understanding how consciousness works, having access to unpublished information about LaMDA's architecture, and finding how to apply

1643-573: The EU and its member states to "pay full regards to the welfare requirements of animals". Nociception is the process by which the nervous system detects and responds to potentially harmful stimuli, leading to the sensation of pain . It involves specialized receptors called nociceptors that sense damage or threat and send signals to the brain. Nociception is widespread among animals, even among insects. The presence of nociception indicates an organism's ability to detect harmful stimuli. A further question

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1696-677: The World's End , set in an imaginary medieval world, are sometimes regarded as the first examples of high fantasy. The works of J. R. R. Tolkien —especially The Lord of the Rings —are regarded as archetypal works of high fantasy . The term "high fantasy" was coined by Lloyd Alexander in a 1971 essay, "High Fantasy and Heroic Romance", which was originally given at the New England Round Table of Children's Librarians in October 1969. Many high fantasy stories are told from

1749-516: The ability to perceive emotions , such as fear or grief . The subjective awareness of experiences by a conscious individual are known as qualia in Western philosophy . "Sentience" was first coined by philosophers in the 1630s for the concept of an ability to feel, derived from Latin sentiens (feeling). In philosophy, different authors draw different distinctions between consciousness and sentience. According to Antonio Damasio , sentience

1802-486: The ability to experience conscious states with negative affective valence (i.e. suffering). Animal welfare and rights advocates often invoke similar capacities. For example, the documentary Earthlings argues that while animals do not have all the desires and ability to comprehend as do humans, they do share the desires for food and water, shelter and companionship, freedom of movement and avoidance of pain. Animal-welfare advocates typically argue that any sentient being

1855-471: The absence of a direct equivalent of the neocortex in their brain, was used as an argument against sentience. Jennifer Jacquet suggests that the belief that fish do not feel pain originated in response to a 1980s policy aimed at banning catch and release . The range of animals regarded by scientists as sentient or conscious has progressively widened, now including animals such as fish, lobsters and octopus. Digital sentience (or artificial sentience) means

1908-504: The author, the series involves many topics relating to war, including biological warfare, genocide, and military intelligence. While not as well known as the author's subsequent Hunger Games series, it has been reviewed favorably by many critics. Gregor and his two-year-old sister Boots fall through a vent in their apartment basement and find themselves in a strange place called the Underland, inhabited by giant animals and pale humans. The Underlanders name Gregor "the warrior" and Boots

1961-580: The basic right not to be treated as the property of others." Andrew Linzey , a British theologian , considers that Christianity should regard sentient animals according to their intrinsic worth, rather than their utility to humans. In 1997 the concept of animal sentience was written into the basic law of the European Union. The legally binding protocol annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam recognises that animals are "sentient beings", and requires

2014-489: The claims made about Google 's LaMDA ( Language Model for Dialogue Applications) artificial intelligence system that it is "sentient" and had a " soul ". LaMDA is an artificial intelligence system that creates chatbots —AI robots designed to communicate with humans—by gathering vast amounts of text from the internet and using algorithms to respond to queries in the most fluid and natural way possible. The transcripts of conversations between scientists and LaMDA reveal that

2067-589: The concept is related to the Bodhisattva , an enlightened being devoted to the liberation of others. The first vow of a Bodhisattva states, "Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to free them." Sentience has been a central concept in the animal rights movement, tracing back to the well-known writing of Jeremy Bentham in An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation : "The question

2120-715: The dog is indeed experiencing something unpleasant." Avoiding painful stimuli unless the reward is significant can also provide evidence that pain avoidance is not merely an unconscious reflex (similarly to how humans "can choose to press a hot door handle to escape a burning building"). Animals such as pigs , chickens , and fish are typically recognized as sentient. There is more uncertainty regarding insects , and findings on certain insect species may not be applicable to others. Historically, fish were not considered sentient, and their behaviors were often viewed as "reflexes or complex, unconscious species-typical responses" to their environment. Their dissimilarity with humans, including

2173-490: The main differences from Overlanders. Underland humans are a necessarily warlike race, but their fighting methods are most similar to those of the Medieval Ages due to an inability to mass-produce explosive material , like gunpowder . However, they are fairly advanced in other areas, such as the field of medicine . Regalian culture revolves around defending their "light", both literally and figuratively, as they use

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2226-401: The neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Non-human animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates." b. Quote: "Granted, these animals do not have all the desires we humans have; granted, they do not comprehend everything we humans comprehend; nevertheless, we and they do have some of

2279-615: The number of senses it has. Water, for example, is a sentient being of the first order, as it is considered to possess only one sense, that of touch. Sentience in Buddhism is the state of having senses. In Buddhism, there are six senses, the sixth being the subjective experience of the mind. Sentience is simply awareness prior to the arising of Skandha . Thus, an animal qualifies as a sentient being. According to Buddhism, sentient beings made of pure consciousness are possible. In Mahayana Buddhism, which includes Zen and Tibetan Buddhism ,

2332-480: The philosophical theory to the machine. He also said about LLMs that "it's not doing them justice to say they're simply regurgitating text", noting that they "exhibit glimpses of creativity, insight and understanding that are quite impressive and may show the rudiments of reasoning". He thinks that "sentience is a matter of degree". In 2022, philosopher David Chalmers made a speech on whether large language models (LLMs) can be conscious, encouraging more research on

2385-704: The sentience of artificial intelligences . The question of whether artificial intelligences can be sentient is controversial. The AI research community does not consider sentience (that is, the "ability to feel sensations") as an important research goal, unless it can be shown that consciously "feeling" a sensation can make a machine more intelligent than just receiving input from sensors and processing it as information. Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig wrote in 2021: "We are interested in programs that behave intelligently. Individual aspects of consciousness—awareness, self-awareness, attention—can be programmed and can be part of an intelligent machine. The additional project making

2438-524: The series, and comes to believe that the humans' xenophobia and unwavering trust in Sandwich's judgment are both wrong and dangerous to everyone in the Underland. Though the Underlanders have many peculiar mannerisms and traditions , they are very similar to their counterparts who live above. The humans speak a dialect of English, raise crops and livestock , and even hold sporting events . Their physical appearance, culture, and level of technology are

2491-429: The subject. He suggested that current LLMs were probably not conscious, but that the limitations are temporary and that future systems could be serious candidates for consciousness. According to Jonathan Birch , "measures to regulate the development of sentient AI should run ahead of what would be proportionate to the risks posed by current technology, considering also the risks posed by credible future trajectories." He

2544-462: The theoretical computational limit of the entire universe. On a logarithmic scale it runs from −70 up to +50. Eastern religions including Hinduism , Buddhism , Sikhism , and Jainism recognise non-humans as sentient beings. The term sentient beings is translated from various Sanskrit terms ( jantu, bahu jana, jagat, sattva ) and "conventionally refers to the mass of living things subject to illusion, suffering, and rebirth ( Saṃsāra )". It

2597-415: The viewpoint of one main hero. Often, much of the plot revolves around their heritage or mysterious nature, along with a world-threatening problem. In many novels the hero is an orphan or unusual sibling, and frequently portrayed with an extraordinary talent for magic or combat. They begin the story young, if not as an actual child, or are portrayed as being very weak and/or useless. The hero often begins as

2650-564: The warrior " and act on his decision to support the humans. He soon finds his entire family drawn into Sandwich 's deadly Prophecy of Time , and events around him begin to climax towards a final confrontation with The Bane . Gregor must fight to eliminate this threat to the Underland, and make hard choices about what he is willing to give up in the process. The "Underland" is a subterranean realm populated by semi- albino humans and large, intelligent rodents , insects , and other creatures (though not all Underland creatures are sentient ). It

2703-426: The word "light" as an idiom for "life". Underland humans and their bonds are always prepared for a fight, and rarely host cultural events unrelated to their continued survival. Underland humans developed the tradition known as "bonding" shortly after their arrival in the Underland, and have put it into constant use since then (primarily with fliers ). When two creatures bond, they are bound together forever through

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2756-512: Was developed by a group known as the Conch , who were early Bahamian settlers of Florida . Other sources state that it is an English folk rhyme, so old that its author is unknown. In any case, the rhyme has clearly been in existence since at least the mid-1700s, and thus gives a clue to the time period when the Underland was first settled by humans. It also provides clues as to how the first Underland humans were able to ally themselves so quickly with

2809-416: Was introduced by Robert A. Freitas Jr. in the late 1970s. It defines sentience as the relationship between the information processing rate of each individual processing unit (neuron), the weight/size of a single unit, and the total number of processing units (expressed as mass). It was proposed as a measure for the sentience of all living beings and computers from a single neuron up to a hypothetical being at

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