User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-24048868-20200724135354/@comment-6032121-20200724160832

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference

I'll need to think some more on the specific category tree you propose; if nothing else I would advocate for replacing "sentient" with "sapient". A dog is, by the actual dictionary definition, sentient, although a mushroom is not and a worm debtably so. It's nothing short of improper sci-fi usage to think "sentient" is equivalent to "intelligent". But I agree 100% that the current category names are nonsensical.

Another notable issue with using Category:Creatures for "nonsentient life" is that DWU and BBC sources themselves use "creature" for sapient beings all the time. The Kaled mutant, for example, is often referred to in older sources as the "organic Dalek creature".