is almost selfish of humans not to consider uplifting other creatures to the human level of sentience. Devolution Devolution is also a theme in his work. This is one of the methods in the books for indicating the difference and superiority of humans over others. Both the Neo Chimpanzees and the Neo Dolphins at time revert to their basic animal nature, in particular when under stress, at one point the whole dolphin crew, except for a few, all devolve to basic animal behaviour. This brings great shame to them, in particular to the Neo Chimpanzees. Because the clients have gained their sentience via uplifting and the process is incomplete, it is imperfect, and they can at times revert to their devolved state. The theme of devolution is also investigated through the six races on Jijo, who profess to actually aspire to it, as part of a self discovery mystical experience. In contrast to the Aliens and the uplifted animals, the humans do not devolve nor wish to. The Importance of Language The importance of language is also a theme, with the gaining of language being a marker of sentience, and the loss of it in certain situations by the chimps as a shameful thing. All the uplifted creatures gain the gift of language, when they are uplifted by humans. Mental and physical abilities are both tested, tests by aliens on the uplifted animals test both, and while physical abilities between non uplifted chimps and uplifted ones will be the same, mental abilities obviously will be enhanced. In terms of language for instance, humans are proud of the chimp character Jeffrey (the main chimp character in Sundiver), who continues to use human speech, even when faced with the stress of death, which he succumbs to. The level of sophistication of languages is something that was noted in by Ina Roay-Faderman, who notes that only some sophisticated languages could be used to describe highly technical issues to deal with space travel. Colonialism Some commentary has highlighted the parallels between the uplifted races and their patrons, and colonialism. Brin himself is quite critical of the concept, and highlights where some patrons uplift lesser beings, and then exploit them instead of helping them. Humans however on the whole treat their uplifted clients better than many others are treated by their patrons, generally, within the galaxy. Plot Outline The first book in the Uplift series,