by TootLunch » Tue Feb 13, 2024 7:48 pm
We can break the word down to help us, Endo means inside, Somatic means body or bodily, the definition I find everywhere for Endosomatic is “within the body of an organism” but taking it strictly by it’s roots it just means inside a body.
Organism is where it becomes difficult, “A discrete and complete living thing, such as animal, plant, fungus or microorganism.” However, there is also “ Any complex thing with properties normally associated with living things.”
So really it depends on how far you push the definition of ‘properties normally associated with living things’ and how many are required. For this example lets say living things require bodily autonomy and the ability to find and alter or break down chemicals or other fuel as a source of energy.
Robots that are non-sentient and programmed to do certain tasks would not fit, as they lack bodily autonomy, only following their programming. Even if it was a mixture of biological and inorganic material, without the ability to actively seek out an energy source when necessary, the robot will eventually fail.
Going to a recharge station or having it’s battery replaced still would not mean it is an organism since those are either autonomous programmed behavior or done by an outside influence and if the only batter charger is unplugged the robot could not seek out a different source of power.
Androids would qualify as organisms in most media, since they tend to be either sentient or include advanced AI that can simulate critical thinking thus they have bodily autonomy and can seek out whatever power source they run on when necessary and solve scarcity problems with complex thinking, either creating or finding a different source of fuel.
It’s muddy for a roomba that gains sentience as that would theoretically give it bodily autonomy but barring whacky strings of lucky events or outside help, could not seek a different power source if the roomba docking station is unpowered. Personally I would say this does not count as an organism.
Another thought I toyed with is surviving inside something normally hazardous to your continued existence. Digestive tracts do not support life, they are caustic, lack oxygen, and are specifically purposed to tear molecules apart and repurpose them for the creatures benefit. A mech suit/car/gundam would not count as Endosoma because unless the creator is a psychopath like William Afton, it should be assumed the pilot of the suit is intended to survive the process of entering and exiting the vehicle. Also these vehicles mainly require a user to control it’s movements so it wouldn’t pass the bodily autonomy test either.
So to overcomplicate a kink, Endosoma to me is surviving inside the body of an organism when the expected outcome would be death.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.