“The most famous anecdotes are tales of escape and thievery, in which octopuses in aquariums raid neighbouring tanks at night for food … Octopuses in at least two aquariums have learned to turn off the lights by squirting jets of water at the bulbs when no one is watching and short-circuiting the power supply. The octopus is, as it turns out, cunning and mischievous. How did it get this way? The creatures aren’t sociable, which is classically against how much of human intelligence came about.īut Godfrey-Smith notes these alien-like beings have a different type of social intelligence-interacting with prey and their ocean environment etc.įor scientists studying them, it’s a curious experience. The evolutionary journey of cephalopods is pretty remarkable. From that, as evolution took its course, came a sense of conscience and purpose. As billions of years back, animal brains were haphazard clumps of seaborne cells. It’s a story of how life came to be on this planet.Īnd the development of the mind. We’re not talking about genius here, but the eight-limbed molluscs are capable of problem solving abilities.Īnd they show a remarkable tenacity and sense of personality when dealing with the world around them.īut as a science book, Other Minds is much more than an account of the life of an octopus.
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