September 17, 2008

Cephalopod consciousness: Behavioural evidence - by Jennifer A. Mather from the latest issue of the journal Consciousness and Cognition.

In it, Dr. Mather looks at a variety of studies to assess the evidence that cephalopods have a form of primary (as opposed to higher-order) consciousness. This is intended as a follow-up on the previous paper on animal consciousness by Seth, Baars and Edelman published in the journal in 2005.

posted by Hank Mabuse 16 years ago
  • Also, here is a recipe for Fried Calamari.
  • Thanks for this - very interesting, though I don't know whether in the end it moves us on much. The paper, that is, not the recipe.
  • The mind of a squid Contains ego and id.
  • *looks suspiciously around at all MoFi members to establish their simian credentials* Them tentacled buggers need to remember that this is NOT SqiFi.
  • Always liked that MoFi guy called Squidranch. Hope he's alright. Cephalopods are solitary for the most part, except when they mate with that extra tentacle. But are they ETHICAL? Or are they MERELY rational? A scheme of morality for us implies empathy with others, doesn't it? But even if cephalopods only look out for themselves, they might STILL behave morally at least toward the environment of which they are a part. Do they clean their rooms? Do they show any pity for the state of the reef? Our own species tries to be ethical as well as rational, but in aggregate may as well be placed about on the moral level of tent caterpillars that kill their only tree.
  • 'Morality' and 'ethics' appear to be anthropic concepts that have no meaning in context of other intelligent beings.
  • Ah, Hank. Perhaps you need to read some Vicki Hearne! Start with Bandit: Dossier of a Dangerous Dog Anyone who's ever been around a serious working dog, be it Border Collie, blind guide, or retriever, knows that dogs have a work ethic. Horses have one, too.
  • Dogs. I was called one evening this year to a client's house to make an agreement to do a mural of a volcanic pit in Hawaii on his living room wall. He came to the door with two pitbulls, saying not to worry, that they were friendly. Having, in my naive way, read that dogs like to smell a person's hand as an act of friendship I offered it to the first dog --a female who was affectionate. But when I offered my hand in friendship to the male dog, he went for it. Now my third finger, left hand has a longer nail than the other... But I never reported it to the police. Would a cephalopod have done this thing to an anthropomorph?