Photo by Cara Lopez Lee A word is not reality. It’s a metaphor for reality. So, in a way, every word is a story. Just open a dictionary and look up any word: pronunciation, part of speech, definitions, usage, origin, and whatever else your dictionary tells you. Let’s try it with “sentient” and the American Heritage Dictionary: Sentient (sÄ•n ’ shÉ™nt, -shÄ“-É™nt) adj. 1) Having sense perception; conscious: “The living knew themselves just sentient puppets on God’s stage” (T.E. Lawrence). 2) Experiencing sensation or feeling. [Latin sentiÄ“ns, sentient-, present participle of sentÄ«re, to feel…] According to Merriam-Webster , the first known use of “sentient” was in 1632. Every word has a history. Each word we personally know also has a history within us. To me, “sentient” is the story of HAL 9000, the self-aware computer who killed astronaut Frank Poole and tried to kill David Bowman, in the book and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey . “Sentient” calls up the chilling momen...
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