The geth in Mass Effect had a huge effect on me in this regard. I know that might sound crazy, but for me, they definitely meet your criteria of “a powerful experience of using rationality.” Now, of course I can point out a few instances where I don’t feel the geth don’t exactly act very rationally, but the mere suggestion of such an existence blew my mind. I started wondering, in a way I had never done before, “what, really, IS the purpose of existence? If I were a geth, why would I bother to exist, let alone fight for my survival? Is the intention to survive really just purely irrational?” and so on and so forth. Imo, there is a direct line of causality tracing from my exposure to the geth to being on this very website.
The geth in Mass Effect had a huge effect on me in this regard. I know that might sound crazy, but for me, they definitely meet your criteria of “a powerful experience of using rationality.” Now, of course I can point out a few instances where I don’t feel the geth don’t exactly act very rationally, but the mere suggestion of such an existence blew my mind. I started wondering, in a way I had never done before, “what, really, IS the purpose of existence? If I were a geth, why would I bother to exist, let alone fight for my survival? Is the intention to survive really just purely irrational?” and so on and so forth. Imo, there is a direct line of causality tracing from my exposure to the geth to being on this very website.
Yay geth! :3