About: Sapient Ship   Sponge Permalink

An Entity of Type : owl:Thing, within Data Space : 134.155.108.49:8890 associated with source dataset(s)

Some space ships aren't just big pieces of metal that happen to fly through the stars. Some can think intelligently, and even interact with the other characters. Sometimes the ship is a true example of Mechanical Lifeforms. Sometimes this occurs because of an advanced AI in the case of a mechanical ship. Sometimes the ship is actually a living being. Occasionally the ship is a hybrid of the two with a living being grafted on to a ship to the point where they become one entity. Whether the ship is actually alive or not is generally a matter for the work in question to resolve.

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  • Sapient Ship
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  • Some space ships aren't just big pieces of metal that happen to fly through the stars. Some can think intelligently, and even interact with the other characters. Sometimes the ship is a true example of Mechanical Lifeforms. Sometimes this occurs because of an advanced AI in the case of a mechanical ship. Sometimes the ship is actually a living being. Occasionally the ship is a hybrid of the two with a living being grafted on to a ship to the point where they become one entity. Whether the ship is actually alive or not is generally a matter for the work in question to resolve.
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  • Some space ships aren't just big pieces of metal that happen to fly through the stars. Some can think intelligently, and even interact with the other characters. Sometimes the ship is a true example of Mechanical Lifeforms. Sometimes this occurs because of an advanced AI in the case of a mechanical ship. Sometimes the ship is actually a living being. Occasionally the ship is a hybrid of the two with a living being grafted on to a ship to the point where they become one entity. Whether the ship is actually alive or not is generally a matter for the work in question to resolve. Generally when these are seen in fiction they're female thanks to a long maritime tradition. Often represented by a Spaceship Girl, the ship's walking talking female avatar. This trope does not cover ships that are organic, but do not think on a level higher than simple animal instincts. Those are covered by Organic Ship. It also does not cover ships that happen to have AIs when those AIs are treated as separate entities that are not integrated into the ship itself. Acting as both a character and setting, the sapient ship is perhaps the best example of the Fisher King, as the environment quite justifiably mimics the ship's mood, health, and situation. Of course, looked at rationally, it's not clear that it is desirable for a ship to be sapient, at least from the point of view of the crew. If the ship is happy things tend to run smoothly, but upset a sapient ship and you might wind up locked in your quarters or having your life support cut off. Despite the problems that can arise from the setting having a mind of it's own, there are narrative advantages. Having the ship able to take over roles such as pilot, and navigator cuts down on crew requirements (and thus cast size) which in turn cuts down on life support and accommodation requirements, sometimes to the point where a crew may be an optional extra. The level of sentience and independence will determine just how much of an advantage this is. Not to be confused with Setting as a Character where the ship is just treated like a character by the cast but isn't necessarily alive. Compare Sapient Steed which is this trope applied to steeds and smaller vehicles that are used for transport instead of living on. Some Sapient Ships are big enough to be Genius Loci. Spaceship Girl is a subtrope when the AI creates a humanoid avatar that is an attractive woman. When this is accomplished by plugging a human brain into the computer, it's Wetware CPU. Examples of Sapient Ship include:
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