Wiktionary
n. (context chiefly science fiction English) An intelligent being; a being with a base reasoning capacity roughly equivalent to or greater than that of a human being. The word does not apply to machines unless they have true artificial intelligence, rather than mere processing capacity.
Usage examples of "sophont".
There was only a great voice, calm, confident, imperturbable, speaking to them, speaking at that same instant to every sophont in the galaxy.
Having noticed a member of a species new to him in the Merseian group, Flandry asked what manner of sophont this might be.
Depends partly on how much of an effort scientifically oriented sophonts feel is worth making, passed banally through her mind.
Too many worlds, she thought, too full of unknownness, and we sophonts too few.
My wife and I were concerned in this effort, not merely because first contact had chanced to be ours, but because our prior experience with sophonts had given us a leap ahead.
Sophonts like Homo sapiens, using observation and imagination, developed systems of avoidances and protections within which they could live, grow, and explore quite nicely.
Sure, they still have the professionals he recruited and trained, but the Darhel have always tended to rely on data mining and hacking for intelligence more than actual sophont operatives or agents.
The els was an occasional beast of burden or draught animal, though not very satisfactory, a sophont being bigger and stronger.
They were tricked by documentation that claimed miracles, tricked into building a transcendent being, a Power -- but one that victimizes sophonts in the Beyond.
They were tricked by documentation that claimed miracles, tricked into building a transcendent being, a Power—but one that victimizes sophonts in the Beyond.
They were tricked by documentation that claimed miracles, tricked into building a transcendent being, a Power--but one that victimizes sophonts in the Beyond.