Sentum

Sentum is a term used in philosophical and speculative discussions to denote a proposed measure of subjective experience within an agent's cognitive processing. It is not an established scientific term and has no single accepted definition. In these discussions, sentum is intended to capture the phenomenological aspect of cognition—the qualitative feel or "what it is like" accompanying processing—without requiring full self-consciousness. Some writers distinguish between a basic sensorium that registers stimuli, an evaluative layer that assigns salience, and a reflective layer that references the agent's own state; others describe sentum as a holistic property that emerges from integrated processing.

Because sentum concerns subjective experience, it cannot be directly observed in machines. Proponents discuss potential proxies, such as self-reported states, behavioral patterns that correlate with internal states, or systemic responses analogous to autonomic indicators. Critics argue that any such proxy merely re-labels observable behavior and may project human phenomenology onto nonhuman systems, risking category mistakes.

Applications of the concept are largely theoretical. In ethics and governance discussions about artificial agents, sentum is sometimes invoked as a criterion for moral considerability or rights, though no consensus exists on its validity. In philosophy of mind, it serves as a thought experiment to separate functional competence from phenomenological experience and to probe the limits of machine consciousness.

See also: Qualia, Consciousness, Sentience, Artificial consciousness, Phenomenology.