Sentience Quotient, a universal measure of cognitive efficiency applicable to E.Ts., page 1

This purpose of this thread is to present the notion of the sentience quotient, a concept developed by Robert Freitas Jr. and a possible measure of cognitive efficiency applicable to non-brain based intellects. It may be a way to think about alternative types of minds, including E.Ts.

The original paper introducing the term:
www.rfreitas.com...

The wiki:
en.wikipedia.org...

The sentience quotient concept was introduced by Robert A. Freitas Jr. in the late 1970s. It defines sentience as the relationship between the information processing rate (bit/s) of each individual processing unit (neuron), the weight/size of a single unit and the total number of processing units (expressed as mass).

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The sentience quotient (SQ) of an individual is a measure of the efficiency of an individual brain, not its relative intelligence, and is defined as:

SQ = log(I/M)

where I is the information processing rate (bits/s) and M is the mass of the brain (kg). The lower (astrophysical) limit of SQ is approximately −70, while the upper (quantum) limit is about 50.

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According to this equation, humans have an SQ of +13. A human neuron has an average mass of about 10−10 kg and one neuron can process 1000-3000 bit/s, giving us an SQ rating of +13. All other animals with a nervous system (or all "neuronal sentience") from insects to mammals, cluster within several points of the human value. Plants cluster around an SQ of −2 with carnivorous plants having an SQ of +1, while the Cray-1 had an SQ of +9.

The theoretical superconducting Josephson junction electronic gates could weigh 10−12 kg and process 1011 bits/s, giving an "electronic sentience" made of these components an SQ of +23.

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At present, human scientists are attempting to communicate outside our species to primates and cetaceans, and in a limited way to a few other vertebrates. This is inordinately difficult, and yet it represents a gap of at most a few SQ points. The farthest we can reach our "communication" with vegetation is when we plant, water, or fertilize it, but it is evident that messages transmitted across an SQ gap of 10 points or more cannot be very meaningful. What, then, could an SQ +50 Superbeing possibly have to say to us?

– Robert A. Freitas Jr

(The articles themselves are worth reading, especially the parts about interspecies communication.)

This is not intended to be a measure of intelligence but rather of information processing efficiency in terms of bits per second per unit mass.

Our ability to contemplate cognition based on anything other than brains as we know them and computers is very limited. This may be a useful tool.

What do you think?