Spoken rather compulsively I must say, Egan. Here is a definition of sentience from Wikipedia for you:

[color:"blue"] Sentience refers to utilization of sensory organs, the ability to feel or perceive subjectively, not necessarily including the faculty of self-awareness. The possession of sapience is not a necessity. The word sentient is often confused with the word sapient, which can connote knowledge, consciousness, or apperception. The root of the confusion is that the word conscious has a number of different usages in English. The two words can be distinguished by looking at their Latin roots: sentire, "to feel"; and sapere, "to know".

Sentience is the ability to sense. It is separate from, and not dependent on, aspects of consciousness.
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As for this
Quote
If you’re not sure what something means then really oughtn’t to argue for or against it. The only person you’re discrediting when you do this is yourself.


I can't help but wonder why you are discussing God and evolution, which you have not yet proven without your textbooks (which also are not proven) if this your attitude toward others.

anyway, no time for this discussion now but I will be back in a couple days. You might want to read the dictionary and study archeology a bit in the meantime.