26 "Sapience" (again ironically according to AI) is defined as the ability to act rationally, use knowledge and experience to make sound judgments, and engage in complex, abstract thought. Could it be that these primates were both sentient and sapient or at least possessed some semblance of each attribute? On reflection it feels to me that the troop had a far more nurturing and caring instinct than the idiot hit-and-run driver who caused them the duress, which in turn seems to indicate that differing levels of these attributes are likely to be found across the species that inhabit this rock. Humans will obviously lay claim to being the alpha possessors of the sentience and sapience combination, but again the incident I observed proves differing levels even within same species! Do we even recognise the presence and value of sapience? The older I get, the more I feel that the concept is merely academic and the majority of humans would far rather live from day-to-day engrossed in the alternative concept of self and selfaggrandisement. This explains the abovementioned drivers’ focus on getting to his destination fast, recklessly and at all costs. It explains the actions of politicians the world over who actively pluck mediocrity from the arms of reason. It explains poor service delivery in lieu of provision of excellence. It also explains quite clearly the insatiable appetite that humans have developed for social media, manic scrolling and instant gratification. If we look at the environment in which we live through a sapient lens, the tragic nonsustainability of the fragmented landscape becomes highly visible. Polluted rivers and abused eco-systems abound. Carbon emissions, habitat destruction, destructive farming methods, overpopulation, economic greed, and rampant solidwaste creation, all contribute towards the irrevocable stoppage of the ecological clock on which we all depend so much. In our own industry, for instance, the lack of awareness of sapience and alternative focus on self, gives rise to supply-chain breaches, unethical timber flow, staff and supplier issues, and a multitude of other compliance challenges, all necessitating formulated procedures, protocols, certifications, and controls to guide human behaviour – all behaviour that ought to be instinctive and inherent if we are really that alpha species that we claim to be! Let’s go back to my baboon troop. Here you will find very little evidence of self-aggrandisement. The individuals comprising the troop rely on the environment and instinctively utilise such in a far less destructive manner than their human counterparts. They generally look after their fellows rather than competing at all costs. Food sources are shared as apposed to being stocked up by the fortuitous few. An incident befalls the troop, and all members are activated to respond appropriately. There is no evidence of obscene individual benefits or privileges. Leaders live with the troop, experience the same things as the troop, contribute towards the troop and earn their leadership positions through being both physically and mentally capable. The more I read of the topic, the more I learn of the theories as to just how far the attributes of sentience and sapience stretch across all of the various life forms on earth. The commonly-held belief is that invertebrates do not possess much by way of sentience but merely react automatedly to
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