Inanimacy is a category of sentience corresponding to a processing rate of zero bits per second. Inanimate beings, known as nonsentient, cannot store or process any information beyond what their physical composition allows - a rock chiseled with words, for example, is inanimate because it cannot make use of this information. Inanimate beings are not "alive" in any agreed-upon sense, and are not generally counted as sentient to begin with.