What's it like to be an Octopus? (2017)
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Re: What's it like to be an Octopus? (2017)
#2The novel Blindsight by Peter Watts considers the issues humans would face in contact with similarly alien aliens. It's an intriguing read.
Available under CC: https://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm#CC
Re: What's it like to be an Octopus? (2017)
#3It's an old trope in Sci Fi that alien intelligences would be so different from us that we couldn't even begin to comprehend them. Octopuses belie that idea... although we share some DNA, our last common ancestors barely had a nervous system, so any similarities in cognition between us really are the product of paralllel evolution. And since their environments are also very different from ours, this parallel evoution clearly hints that there is something universal in this consciousness we share, something that seems to want to evolve to similar parameters given half a chance.
We don't know how common or rare sentience and consciousness are in the Universe, but because of the Octopus I believe that if ever we do encounter non-terrestrial sentience we'll have no trouble recognizing it and will find that we have enough in common to establish communications and a relationship. Although first we'd do well to do a better job at communicating with and respecting the many non-human sentient beings on this planet.
Re: What's it like to be an Octopus? (2017)
#4If I could I’d come back as an octopus. What awesome, majestic creatures.
Re: What's it like to be an Octopus? (2017)
#5I would recommend these scifi books https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-tim...
And https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40376072-children-of-rui...
Lots of fun reading them, great author :)
Re: What's it like to be an Octopus? (2017)
#6I don't think we'll be doing well with SETI until we have a better understanding of the animals around us. This planet is teeming with non-mammalian intelligence and mostly we either ignore it, are irritated by it, or try to eat it.
Re: What's it like to be an Octopus? (2017)
#7It's an old trope in Sci Fi that alien intelligences would be so different from us that we couldn't even begin to comprehend them. Octopuses belie that idea... although we share some DNA, our last common ancestors barely had a nervous system, so any similarities in cognition between us really are the product of paralllel evolution. And since their environments are also very different from ours, this parallel evoution…
Maybe the Aliens will worships the Octopus like some old forgotten God and spare us from disaster or kill us quickly when they find out we eat them!
Re: What's it like to be an Octopus? (2017)
#8If I could I’d come back as an octopus. What awesome, majestic creatures.
But... sadly, for them, sex is a death sentence.
Re: What's it like to be an Octopus? (2017)
#9For some reason I really expected this to be an interview with Danny Carey.
Parallel evolution is amazing. Developing complex communication between human and octopus would be an amazing feat and would likely answer some of our questions about the nature of consciousness.
Re: What's it like to be an Octopus? (2017)
#10The opening of this article references Hokusai's "Great Wave" woodblock print. There's an easter egg in this print I never noticed, which is that Mount Fuji is nestled in the trough of the wave.
Learned this from a great NYT article on Hokusai focusing on another print from the same series: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/07/arts/design/h...