Awakened objects

[Immortal Platypus]

So, important question. Are awakened objects sentient/is Nightblood sentient? I would say no, but I'm able to be convinced.

Thanks ya'll

Edited October 12, 2022 by ImportantQuestions

[Quantus he/him]

In the cosmere everything is Sentient.  Sapient is what he calls the Human-like intelligence level that I think you mean.  Nightblood-type that have been awakened to full Sentience, Yes absolutely, he's equivalent to a Spren at this point, and WOB says hypothetical computer AI would just create a Spren-style intelligence in the Cosmere. 

Any lesser awakened object that lets you recover the Breath is not sentient in any rational way.  Those that gain their own Identity and lock the Breath, like Lifeless, are in a grey area where they are barely sentient on their own (might not have enough to be a target of Hemalurgy, for example) but if they get overInvested from otehr means they could become more of a Cogntive Shadow.  

But really it becomes a sematic argument because the Investiture doenst need anything additional (beyond Time) to become Sapient all on it's own, everything else is arguably justr trappings.  

 

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Questioner

Say you have a Feruchemist who pours Identity into a metalmind. Then subsequently loses that mind, and then is later Awakened? Would that mind retain the personality of--

*Everyone laughs, Scottish man says "it's 11 o'clock at night, give the man a break!"*

Brandon Sanderson

Okay, so they store Identity—which I haven't told you what it does--

Questioner

Yep. We don't know.

Brandon Sanderson

And then you Awaken it, and then you want to know if it has the personality of the person?

Questioner

Yeah, or if it's able to communicate in any way.

Brandon Sanderson

Um, if-- how much Awakened is it? Is it Nightblood-level Awakened? Or is it just regular Awakened?

Questioner

Sure let's say Nightblood-level.

Brandon Sanderson

Nightblood-level. So it's-- so the Investiture has been granted sapience. And it's got Investiture from somebody else stuffed in it. I can foresee a scenario where that has an influence, but it's not going to be the personality of the person who stuffed it in. I can see some circumstances where they can-- where the Investiture of the object can make use of that in some way, but...

Oh boy, that was a weird one.

Shadows of Self Lansing signing (Oct. 13, 2015)

 

 

 

 

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Questioner

Would it be possible for an inanimate object that was invested to the point of sentience Ascend to Shardhood?

Brandon Sanderson

To become a Vessel of Adonalsium, or become a Shard through...? This is a tricky question because the power left alone will become sapient. And at that point, the distinction between being a Shard and a Vessel is fine but still extant. And I would say the power could not become a Vessel in the same way because it's defined as something different. But it is possible for the power to be left alone and to gain sapience on its own.

Questioner

The example we were thinking of was Sel. It was stated in Arcanum that the landscape itself was invested to the point of.. Could the planet of Sel be the Vessel of Devotion?

Brandon Sanderson

At this point, it's playing semantics, and I would say no. But there are people in-Cosmere that would argue that the semantic distinction is irrelevant and that it is the same.

Legion Release Party (Sept. 19, 2018)

 

 

 

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PrinceofMagnets

What is Cosmere sentience? By this I mean what does it require and what does it entail?

Brandon Sanderson

In the cosmere, most things are sentient on some level. Basically, anything with even the smallest amount of investiture. (Which is all matter, and most cognitive creations.) Sapience is something different, of course.

/r/books AMA 2015 (May 16, 2015)

 

 

[Immortal Platypus]

okay, thanks