Saturday, November 24, 2012

Octopus Camouflage

Where's the octopus?

This isn't a reflex. This is a living thing processing visual information with half a billion neurons and responding. Isn't that intelligence?

Carl Zimmer in...

How Smart Is the Octopus?, Slate, 2008

...says, "So, is the octopus really all that smart? It depends on how you define intelligence." And he took a stab: "What we call intelligence is really just a set of behaviors and abilities that evolved in our ancestors as they adapted to a particular way of life."

So, intelligence is relative. However intelligent we may view an octopus, it's fair to say, as Zimmer did, "We'd fail pretty badly at an octopus-based test of intelligence."
Thanks, Melinda!


Farmer Angela and Writer Melinda said...

I'm so glad you posted it--I almost fell out of my chair the first time I saw it! It's an amazing animal, astonishing video, and a nice article.

Bix said...

The octopus must think the human is intellectually primitive, or inferior.

Bix said...

Regarding octopuses and consciousness:

-The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness

Farmer Angela and Writer Melinda said...

I love that Declaration on Consciousness. At last, we becoming less anthropocentric!!!!

Bix said...

There are times I wish I possessed the moving rock capability.
