Matoran Sentience Theory

[fishers64]

Matoran Sentience: How it might have happenedThe Great Beings, at the beginning, created three beings with sentience at the beginning in at least some form: Artahka, Karzanhi, and Mata Nui. The sentience (at least partially) of Artahka and Karzanhi is evidenced by their competition for the Mask of Creation – both would have to have at least a primitive desire for the Mask. But Artahka and Karzanhi live in isolated realms, influencing select Matoran – Artahka with contentment and creativity, Karzanhi with a sense of hopelessness. But, aside from these isolated realms, the Great Beings left one more X-factor: The Great Spirit Mata Nui. Unlike the complex nanotech that made up the robot body, he would have to be capable of solving Spherus Magna’s problems, which would require a high level of intelligence, not to mention keep the body alive (keep in away from imploding planets and exploding stars and out of volcanic baths, for instance). This highly sentient being, not the Great Beings, created the Makuta, a species highly sentient from the beginning. (note the origin of the Makuta was from a highly sentient source, that substance that talks through Brutaka) They were designed to oversee the clockwork mechanisms of Mata Nui so he wouldn’t have to, along with the good old Order of Mata Nui. They created Rahi, disorderly beasts, which disrupted the Matoran’s work, causing malfunctions. Elimination of the problem by Toa (or others?) allowed work to continue without interruption. This evolved into primitive emotion (Work being done vs. disruption) Innovation to stop this inconvenience followed. Facts associated with efficiency or inefficiency became associated with emotion – emotion with doubt. Toa, holders of power, began to think of new ways to defeat worse challenges. Slowly, these individuals would remove Matoran into justice, away from “laboring in darkness”.The only exceptions to this rule would be the Toa Mata/Nuva, who got their sentience from Artahka and the Order of Mata Nui. The Order of Mata Nui may have been given a limited amount of sentience at the beginning (Hand of Artahka) However, their chief responsibility to protect the universe – and to stay secret – probably forced them to adapt to new conditions. That’s my theory, knock it down.

[Makuta Matata]

It's even more simple: The Great Beings made a mistake. They never meant for the Matoran to be sentient, yet something in them gave them subtle personalities that eventually grew into a colorful species of Matoran. And by then, it was generally accepted that Matoran were sentient among the people of the MU, so then the OOMN created Toa, they were created sentient because all the others were.

[Erebus]

The Order of Mata Nui never created any Toa.

[Dralcax]

The Order was the Hand before the Toa, and after the Toa, the Hand turned into the Order. Anyways, the Rahi were not intended to be disorderly, but corrupt Makuta made them so. I think the Matoran got sentience gradually over time, learning to make decisions, storing common sense in their memories, until they became sentient. The GBs simply accidentally gave them that capability.

Edited October 15, 2011 by Makuta Dralcax

[HordikaMode]

You got one thing wrong. The Order of Mata Nui wasn't established until after the disbanding of the Hand of Artahka, . As for the theory, I'm guessing the Great Beings intended for them to develop a consciousness as soon as their work was done, but they did not specify when programming. The result was Matoran who became sentient after they finished building the Mata Nui rob't. And Toa were also made to help in the construction of the rob't. Helryx was MADE sentient at her "birth" and was not created to defeat evil Rahi. The Rahi were simple animals in the beginning, but some Makuta, (*cough cough* Mutran *cough*) made them more aggressive, and just gave the Toa a little more to do.

[Legolover-361]

The way I see it, "sentience" and "intelligence" aren't the same thing. The Great Beings intended the Toa and Matoran to be intelligent from the start; my guess is, in doing that, Toa, Matoran, Skakdi, Vortixx, etc., became sentient -- self-aware -- like it's impossible for something to be intelligent without having a sense of self. Don't get me wrong, you have an interesting theory, but I don't know if evolution of emotion would work that way for what are essentially cyborgs.

[BioGio]

First of all, Legolover-361 is correct. Sentience is just the ability to perceive the world through sences, while sapience is more of self-awareness. Matoran were intended to be, essentially sapient enough to solve problems but not enough to have, say, emotions. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the Great Beings meant for the Matoran to have an aversion to disorder that evolved into genuine thought. Anyway, in considering that the Great Beings made an error that allowed for the development of true sapience, this theory makes sense, although in the end, it's all just conjecture. I'd like to see what an expert in these sorts of fields might think, above all... Also, where has it been stated that Makuta intentionally made Rahi disorderly, poutwuw and Makuta Draclax? I that I can realy find on the matter was that Rahi were, for some reason or another, necessary for the existence of the Matoran Universe. Finally, you forgot that we know that the Makuta were created by Mata Nui from the antidermis created by the Great Beings. ~ BioGio EDIT: Forgot about something that fishers64 forgot. Its like Inception or something in this post. Edited October 20, 2011 by BioGio

[_Artakha_]

You forgot Tren Krom.

[Zarohum]

A few things.1. You forgot Tren Krom.2. The Hand of Artahka came before the OoMN.3. The Rahi were created before the Makuta fell, therefore there's no need for them to disrupt the Matorans' work. People have probably already said these. I'm too lazy to read the other comments

[Toa of Italy]

I don't think Matoran Sentience and Matoran emotions evolved over time, I think they had it from the beginning. I should remind you that by the time Mata Nui left Spherus Magna, MU inhabitants had already developed emotions. We can see that in the flashbacks present in BL10: Swamp of Secrets, which happen prior to the Energy Storms in Karda Nui and therefore prior to Mata Nui's departure. What I think the Great Beings didn't expect was for the emotions to be so strong to make the MU inhabitants, in some cases, deviate from their original mission. And since they always expected the original programming (to care for the Mata Nui robot) to be predominant, they never stopped to consider these species' rights: after all, sentience (and therefore right to exist) is often associated with having free will. Therefore, if the Matoran and the other species had kept following their original programming in spite of whatever emotions they had, they wouldn't have been sentient (at least, in the GBs eyes).

[Bold Clone]

Matoran Sentience: How it might have happened The Great Beings, at the beginning, created three beings with sentience at the beginning in at least some form: Artahka, Karzanhi, and Mata Nui. The sentience (at least partially) of Artahka and Karzanhi is evidenced by their competition for the Mask of Creation both would have to have at least a primitive desire for the Mask. But Artahka and Karzanhi live in isolated realms, influencing select Matoran Artahka with contentment and creativity, Karzanhi with a sense of hopelessness. But, aside from these isolated realms, the Great Beings left one more X-factor: The Great Spirit Mata Nui.Unlike the complex nanotech that made up the robot body, he would have to be capable of solving Spherus Magna's problems, which would require a high level of intelligence, not to mention keep the body alive (keep in away from imploding planets and exploding stars and out of volcanic baths, for instance). This highly sentient being, not the Great Beings, created the Makuta, a species highly sentient from the beginning. (note the origin of the Makuta was from a highly sentient source, that substance that talks through Brutaka) They were designed to oversee the clockwork mechanisms of Mata Nui so he wouldn't have to, along with the good old Order of Mata Nui. They created Rahi, disorderly beasts, which disrupted the Matoran's work, causing malfunctions. Elimination of the problem by Toa (or others?) allowed work to continue without interruption. This evolved into primitive emotion (Work being done vs. disruption) Innovation to stop this inconvenience followed. Facts associated with efficiency or inefficiency became associated with emotion emotion with doubt. Toa, holders of power, began to think of new ways to defeat worse challenges. Slowly, these individuals would remove Matoran into justice, away from "laboring in darkness". The only exceptions to this rule would be the Toa Mata/Nuva, who got their sentience from Artahka and the Order of Mata Nui. The Order of Mata Nui may have been given a limited amount of sentience at the beginning (Hand of Artahka) However, their chief responsibility to protect the universe and to stay secret probably forced them to adapt to new conditions.

Well, the Matoran were sentient in the first place, I believe. The GBs just didn't intend for them to create their own culture. The GBs simply underestimated their own skill in creating life-forms.