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Subject: Sentient Life

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According to Cortana in the original Halo when she is in the control center of the ring, the Halo rings were designed to wipe out all sentient life. Does she say any other form of life? If she does, then this is false....I simply can't recall.

If she doesn't, and if I am not mistaking, this would mean that other life would still continue to exist. Meaning, bacteria and such obviously, but also more complex creatures, like trees, lizards, and monkeys.

A sentient being is defined as "capable of feeling" and I would assume in the mental sense, not physical.

That would provide the perfect reason as for why mankind, and the covenant came into existence. The animals left untouched by the Halos' "Holy Light" were able to evolve into the sentient life seen in the game.

Let me know your own thoughts. This could create some gaps in theories...

[Edited on 6/13/2006]

  • 06.13.2006 6:56 PM PDT

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Personally, I think this could explain why life began againg so quickly. If full organisms were already developed, it wouldn't take long to make the transition to sentient life. However, that is only following the Theory of Evolution which could be inaccurate.

It also would give more proof to my thought upon the Ark not being a safe haven. Not to mention that the connection as reclaimers by DNA could be incorrect, or even strengthened by this. It depends on your point of view.

On a side note: The Brutes are considered sentient life because they are capable of rational thought and reason even if some of us think otherwise. Still, you are correct about the Drones and Hunters. Which shows a small amount of evidence that more complex life would have survived.

[Edited on 6/13/2006]

  • 06.13.2006 7:05 PM PDT
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I agree this all could be true.. and well i was reading it i thought there has to be something else that could of let life start so early again.. something that preserved sentient life and protected it from the rings... ooh i know! the ARK!

This theroy you just created on many of the things inside halo not being sentient as well as some things being sentient proves that something had to protect the sentient life somehow.

This is just another thing that proves the ark theroy right.

  • 06.13.2006 7:27 PM PDT

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The Ark has nothing to do with it. It is simply the nature of the Halo rings. They do not target non-sentient life. Therefore, anything that cant display emotions, such as animals and plants would have survived the "blast" as one could call it. I do not believe one bit that the Ark was ment to be a holding ground for DNA or sentient beings.

In fact, I believe that the Ark destroys all sentient life just as the Halo rings do. As I have said in other threads, Guilty Spark even states that all of his creators died as planned.

Obviously, you did not read any of my posts because you missed the whole entire concept.

This is ment to denounce the theory of the Ark being the protector of life, and point it towards the theory of evolution.

[Edited on 6/13/2006]

  • 06.13.2006 7:36 PM PDT
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lol i read them and proved them wrong.. can you prove how 343 guilty spark knows this? obviously your just being Arrogant and naive.

[Edited on 6/13/2006]

  • 06.13.2006 7:40 PM PDT

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Posted by: XTS Platinum
lol i read them and proved them wrong.. can you prove how 343 guilty spark knows this? obviously your just being Arrogant and naive.


I love a good devil's adcovate. In some ways one can't, just like in real life...one can't prove the theory of evolution. All I intent to do with this, is push the concept of, "Hell...perhaps the Ark has no connection to saving life...maybe evolution just occured." After all, if complex life existed, it would have already been years and years into developement. Monkey - Mankind so to speak. Certianly achievable in those 100,000 years or so.

Also, as far as Guilty Spark knowing. It is simply the fact that he is a computer and programmed with that knowledge. The programmer would have had the knowledge. If he recieved the data from a computer which he must have since it was after his creators deaths, the information would be accurate.

  • 06.13.2006 7:46 PM PDT
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So they knew the rings would work be for testing them? they knew they would wipe out every single living and last sentient without testing? they just happned to know this? i doubt it. lolollololol

  • 06.13.2006 7:48 PM PDT

People with poor depth perception tend to go the extra mile.

Uniquely Hard Sniper Map

This is what i assumed from what was told in the games:

Sentient means "Having sense perception: conscious" or "Experiencing sensation of feeling" (dictionary.com), which in the Halo universe can mean two different things. If it is the first, then organisms that have perception of being alive (humans, elites, pandas, whatever...) would die. If it is the second, then anything with nerves would die. I think it is the second.

This kinda makes sense. All life with nerves=sentient (frogs, birds, whales, etc) would die from the "central nerve scrambler" pulse from the Halos (i believe its a CNS scrambler, but that's just my opinion and no one will know for sure till H3). Now, because birds and frogs and turtles and stuff died but couldn't be used by the flood infection forms, due to not having "sufficient biomass", they were assembled differently somehow to create Gravemind, and that's how he came about.

This theory would not affect plants, which aren't sentient due to no nerves and no consciousness, leave bacteria alone since they aren't sentient and lack "sufficient biomass" for the Flood (like they game says) and explain how Gravemind was created.

It makes sense to me...

  • 06.13.2006 8:03 PM PDT
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Sounds about right.. but what about crocadiles? and gators? they couldnt of survived and there more than 100,000 years old. they could have hid in the ark.

  • 06.13.2006 8:09 PM PDT

People with poor depth perception tend to go the extra mile.

Uniquely Hard Sniper Map

I think trying to match up our history perfectly to the Halo series won't work, considering Halo is fiction. Bungie did create a fictional future with aliens and giant rings, so maybe they created a fictional past for humanity that closely matches ours, but not perfectly. So trying to explain why certain things, like crocs, survived won't work. Of course i could be completely wrong.

  • 06.13.2006 8:16 PM PDT
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Posted by: XTS Platinum
So they knew the rings would work be for testing them? they knew they would wipe out every single living and last sentient without testing? they just happned to know this? i doubt it. lolollololol


Let me say something about the ring not testing thing, actually let me compare it. Listen closely. When you make a gun do you test it to see if it kills?

  • 06.13.2006 8:40 PM PDT

(10:19:49 PM) Scruss: oh and pezza, i saw what you did to that cat
(10:20:17 PM) Pezza: You were the one with the video camera breathing heavily. Of course you saw.

Posted by: DSHiSTaH
you know, ive played Halo for like 5 years I think, and I didn't even consider to look up "sentient". I finally know what it mean. It totally changes how I think of Halo and the flood.

Off the top of my head:
The flood is a "monument to all your sins". It infects all sentient life. The Hunters, being composed of millions (or something) of worms, is not considered sentient. so the flood doesn't attack them. the brutes? cuz they are monkeys. Drones? bugs aren't sentient?

iono. there is lots im thinking about right now. the flood clense the earth is what im thinking about now.


They don't infect the Hunters because the Hunters cannot be consumed by the flood and used as any form. Playing 5 years of Halo allowed you to gain what knowledge exactly?

  • 06.13.2006 8:46 PM PDT
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what about xl crazy thing about them not knowing Halo would fire without testing it.

  • 06.13.2006 8:48 PM PDT
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Monkeys are sentient, belive it or not.

They may throw poop at the camera, but they're still a sentient form of life.

Edit: I can see it now. The Flood infecting the monkeys... Lest us forget *coughs* my dad just farted :(

[Edited on 6/13/2006]

  • 06.13.2006 8:49 PM PDT
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i thought cortana (or 343 Guilty Spark) said any life capable of supporting the flood would be wiped out. meaning because the hunters could not be controlled would not be wiped out, and anything else not able to host the flood would live.

  • 06.13.2006 8:58 PM PDT

(10:19:49 PM) Scruss: oh and pezza, i saw what you did to that cat
(10:20:17 PM) Pezza: You were the one with the video camera breathing heavily. Of course you saw.

Just because it doesn't have bones doesn't mean its not sentient.

  • 06.13.2006 9:03 PM PDT
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I would just like to pop in here real quick to clarify... The Hunters are sentient. They have names, they have personal relasionships with each other and have emotions...most notably rage, as seen when they go crazy after losing a bond brother. The Brutes are sentient. They have emotions, they have feelings, they think, they talk. The Drones...I'm actually not all together sure about the Drones, but I think they are indeed sentient. They appear to be able to think rationally and make decisions on the battle field, even though they don't communicate in any way that we can detect. And why else would they be part of the Covenant if they don't have a "soul", as one could put it. As for why these life forms are not infected by Flood...
Hunters: They can't be infected because they are made of thousands of tiny worm-like creatures. They infection form would have to infect only one, which it can't because it by it self has insufficient biomass.
Brutes: I have no idea.
Drones: I don't have an exact quote, but sometime during the game doesn't 343GS say something about the Flood needing calcium? If so, that might explain the Drones, if they have no calcium in their bodies.
Oh, and animals are sentient. They display emotion, can think for themselves, communicate. They are both concious and experience feeling. Bugs? I don't think so... but probably not.

  • 06.13.2006 9:24 PM PDT
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Posted by: x Lord Revan x
The Ark has nothing to do with it. It is simply the nature of the Halo rings. They do not target non-sentient life. Therefore, anything that cant display emotions, such as animals and plants would have survived the "blast" as one could call it. I do not believe one bit that the Ark was ment to be a holding ground for DNA or sentient beings.

In fact, I believe that the Ark destroys all sentient life just as the Halo rings do. As I have said in other threads, Guilty Spark even states that all of his creators died as planned.

Obviously, you did not read any of my posts because you missed the whole entire concept.

This is ment to denounce the theory of the Ark being the protector of life, and point it towards the theory of evolution.



dood what do you have against the ark? im not flaming you im just saying its still open to speculation

  • 06.13.2006 9:38 PM PDT
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"Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't"
Posted by: Ikwa
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lets not and say we did

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Duhhhh did you listen to what she says RIGHT after that. "Halo doesnt kill the flood. It kills their food. Humans, Covenant, what ever! We are all equally edible."

Halo does have a complex story line for those who want to know more about it but come on thats something the average gamer should know. Isn't it?

  • 06.13.2006 10:41 PM PDT
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Who says that the "ark" has to keep the people alive. The "ark" could just store the forerunner's DNA so that their race could continue. All the forerunner would die ,yes, but that dosent mean that their race did. because the DNA is not techically life

  • 06.13.2006 10:47 PM PDT
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Noah built the ark to save himself from the flood...

  • 06.13.2006 10:51 PM PDT

Join tm.jar!
Greatness is just a step next to disaster!

The God, The Man, The Demon.
Death beckons for your life.
All shall parish

The Forerunners don't live in this Galaxy.... its not their home galaxy anyways.

  • 06.13.2006 11:22 PM PDT

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."- John F. Kennedy

They folded out of the system immediately
after I received the message, without so
much as a "Thanks for saving us from
becoming plasma on Tau Ceti, Durandal".

The Halos kill on biomass/sentience. Probably mostly biomass, since just about all sentient creatures would be above that line.

  • 06.14.2006 12:02 AM PDT

Procrastination never ends...

I really ought to pay more attention to certain cutscenes.

  • 06.14.2006 12:07 AM PDT

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