“At some time in the history of the universe, there were no human minds, and at some time later, there were. Within the blink of a cosmic eye, a universe in which all was chaos and void came to include hunches, beliefs, sentiments, raw sensations, pains, emotions, wishes, ideas, images, inferences, the feel of rubber, Schadenfreude, and the taste of banana ice cream.” - Amira

The universe gained an observer. So did the universe exist before someone was around to observe it? I think the mark of sentience is determined by the length and breadth of an intelligent observer's vision and understanding of the universe. - Adrian