sapient n.
an intelligent alien
Aliens
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[1955
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Francis G. Rayer
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There had been two races on Mars when man came—one simple, strong—yet violent. One wise, hardy, yet kindly…. ‘You are one of the Sapients—one of the Wise Ones.’]
Kill Me This Man in New Worlds (#31) Jan. 52 -
1958
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We hold that any extraterrestial organisms likely to be of great interest to most human beings must employ this same adaptive mechanism. Otherwise we would be unable to communicate with them…. We propose calling such organisms sapients…. They are frequently called sentient beings, but this fails to distinguish them from, for example, earthly cows. Sapients seems to us both simple and clear.
Letter in Space Journal (vol. 1, no. 4) 54/1 -
1960
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Philip José Farmer
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The CWC might be utilizing the sapients because they possessed powers or advantages Terrestrials did not have.
A Woman a Day vi. 30 -
1979
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Paul Edwin Zimmer
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There had been a time when Dane thought he would never tire of watching the crowds that thronged these streets, lizard-men, cat-men, bird-men—or, to use the terminology of the Unity, the enormous Galactic civilization, protosaurians, protofelines, protoavians; and others, people of every conceivable species of sapient.
Survivors (1989) 7 -
1989
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Norman Spinrad
Aliens from another dimension have constructed a complex artificial solar system millions of years after the destruction of Earth and populated it with reconstructed humans, terrestrial life forms, and post-human higher Terrestrial sapients from Earth’s past.
On Books in Asimov’s Science Fiction Dec. 175/1 -
1999
Julian May
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If the Earthlings who invaded them were reasonably enlightened—as Rampart was—primitive Indigenous Sapients often prospered.
Orion Arm 61 -
2000
Brian Stableford
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I was never happy about those war-addicted fools hijacking the label Homo sapiens. We're the ones who have the opportunity to be true sapients, and I think we ought to take it.
Fountains of Youth xxvi. 116 -
2002
Julie E. Czerneda
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‘They do it so they can get away with eating other sapients?’ Ruti demanded in horror… ‘Only if those sapients invade their pool.’
To Trade Stars 300 -
2005
Charles Stross
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The main life-form is an incredibly ornate corporate ecosphere, legal instruments breeding and replicating. They mug passing sapients and use them as currency.
Accelerando 249 -
2018
Becky Chambers
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He’d seen both back in Central space—sapients picking through trash or carrying everything they owned.
Record of a Spaceborn Few (2019) 69
Research requirements
antedating 1958
Earliest cite
John F. Collins, Corresponding Secretary of the Society for Theoretical Anthropology, in _Space Journal_
Research History
Jeff Prucher submitted a 1989 cite from Norman Spinrad's book review column in Asimov's.Douglas Winston submitted a 2002 cite from Julie Czerneda's "To Trade the Stars".
Michael Dolbear submitted a cite from a 1989 reprint of Marion Zimmer Bradley and Paul Edwin Zimmer's "The Survivors".
Ralf Brown located and Mike Christie submitted a 1968 cite from Robert Silverberg's "The Man in the Maze".
Malcolm Farmer submitted a 1999 cite from Julian May's "Orion Arm".
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 1968 reprint of Philip José Farmer's "The Day of Timestop"; Jesse Sheidlower verified it in the 1960 first edition (under the title of "A Woman A Day").
Mike Christie checked the 1953 short story version and the cite does not appear there.
Douglas Winston submitted a 2000 cite from Brian Stableford's "The Fountain of Youth".
Simon Koppel submitted a 2018 cite from Becky Chambers's "Record of a Spaceborn Few".
J.E. Adams submitted a 1958 cite from John F. Collins, Corresponding Secretary of the Society for Theoretical Anthropology, in _Space Journal_, a short-lived science/futurist journal .
Last modified 2025-01-23 16:14:35
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.