What's What: Philosophical Writings Bill Meacham got his college and university degrees in philosophy and then left that field to make his living as a programmer, software designer, project manager and requirements analyst. But he never quit thinking about the nature of reality and his place in it, the nature of human beings and how it makes sense to live our lives.
Initially we can say that a sentient being is one that is alive and is conscious of its environment. This definition excludes robots and other machines that detect changes in their environment and respond to them but, we assume, are not conscious. But what is it to be conscious?
The mind-body problem just refuses to go away so long as we are stuck in an inadequate metaphysics that postulates such a separation as one of its premises.
