Vernor Vinge, in <i>Fire Upon The Deep</i>, explored that idea in pretty interesting ways. I didn&#x27;t <i>love</i> the book (I like him as an author, and this one is considered a classic, but it didn&#x27;t really grab me), but the Tines (dog-like pack animals) were an interesting thought experiment. In it, a single Tine is roughly akin to a smart dog, but when combined into a pack (linked via some sort of sound-based communication), they&#x27;re of roughly human intelligence (or better) and able to perform advanced tasks, allowing them to build complex machines. Their individual pack members act as limbs in a whole &quot;person&quot;. When one member dies, it is more like an amputation than a death...and a new pack member can be added, while mostly keeping the character and memories of the whole person. Thus Tines are potentially very long-lived (like great grandfather&#x27;s ax).<p>There is discussion of emotions that members and packs experience that humans find foreign. Belonging to a pack being one of them; a lone Tine member that can&#x27;t merge into a new pack is considered a tragic case.<p>Anyway, probably worth a read just for those novel ideas about other lifeforms.