November 19, 2010

Alien: Thinking Like an Octopus , possibly the octopus thinks with its eight limbs as well as/instead of its brain. (Yikes, what if we've been doing it all wrong!)

Such fascinating creatures! Clever and inquisitive: they can use tools. Paul the Octopus was allegedly psychic. If they weren't so short-lived, would they rule the world? First link via BoingBoing.

posted by beeswacky 14 years ago
  • The tools video was just adorable until the end when the octopus ate the face off the photographer!!
  • *snickers* I like watching him walk (on all eights?) with his bowl tucked under himself. When he resembles a dark, flat beetle more than an undersea beast.
  • Tell me, O Octopus, I begs Is those things arms, or is they legs? I marvel at thee, Octopus; If I were thou, I'd call me Us. Ogden Nash
  • I find I've wondered about whether an octopus could possibly experience its body as having a front and a back. For it seems a radial kind of beast. Formerly I speculated whether its center might be perceived as residing in the hub, so to speak, of the wheel of its octopus-self. But now I'm thinking of it as even more Lewis Carrollian in nature - as in: ALICE'S RIGHT FOOT, ESQ. HEARTHRUG, NEAR THE FENDER, (WITH ALICE'S LOVE). Only in this instance it might be Octopus's right side if facing the sunlight, limb number three. Or some such address.
  • Radical behaviorists like B.F. Skinner had it that there was no mind, but only covert behavior in different parts of the body. For example, covert behavior in the vocal cords was linguistic behavior, not mental, even if nobody was speaking... They tried had to eliminate our minds, but the idea that what is called mind is spread over ALL of the body sounds a lot like this octopuss-thinking hypothesis.
  • (Spell checking is for sissies!)
  • Ye might like this one, Dan: Bacteria 'R' Us.
  • I read somewhere that a male octopus's sixth leg is its sex organ. And now we are told that each of their legs has an independent "brain" of its own. Maybe this justifies the phrase "thinking with the wrong head".
  • Then it follows that the sex organ of the octopus does think ... *bee muses* But of wot? Monkey minds are active, inquisitive ears begin to widen, no ... to gape...
  • So instead of the octopus in the coconut shell being a cute and innocent video, it was really octoporn?!
  • Alas, BlueHorse, I am not privy to what titilates an octopod. While I think I may grasp the urge promping an amorous octopod to offer a sperm packet to another, overall I find this (too oddly postal?) approach is far beyond the comprehension of a mere drone.
  • He's just reaching up her skirt (or mantle) after all!
  • [Alnedra Caution: best ye skip the 3rd stanza] yet an octopus does what an octopus must life is brief make the most of what seems so unjust does he stretch a sixth foot toward some female nearby? should the poor fellow do so they're both doomed to die the same fate for that matter awaits you and me though our lives are not rounded with such brevity
  • ♫ Love is a many tentacled thing...♫
  • Octopus Ogden Nash Tell me, O Octopus, I begs Is those things arms, or is they legs? I marvel at thee, Octopus; If I were thou, I'd call me Us.
  • Psst, BlueHorse, did ye not see islander's comtribution, 3rd down from the OP?
  • I notice there's no author listed on the Harvard link. Why not?
  • At the top, to the right of title of the article: By Alvin Powell, Harvard Staff Writer.
  • Aha. Duh, thanks.
  • Doh! Bees, fortunately it's short. Unfortunately, since it's posted twice, we have now have an infestation of Nashly octopusses. How about this one instead: I'm Wrestling With an Octopus Jack Prelutsky I'm wrestling with an octopus and faring less than well, one peek at my predicament should be enough to tell. It held me in a hammerlock, then swept me off my feet, I'm getting the impression that I simply can't compete. I'd hoped that I could hold my own, but after just a while, I ascertained I couldn't match an octopus's style. It flipped me by a shoulder, and it latched onto a hip, essentially that octopus has got me in its grip. I tried assorted armlocks, but invariably missed, and now I'm in a headlock, and it's clinging to my wrist. It's wound around my ankles, and it's wrapped around my chest— when grappling with an octopus, I come out second best.
  • an octopus in May can always ooze his way along the sands beneath a skate or ray the octopus in June prefers to drift alone having no particular place to call his home an octopus in July when he sees another nearby may either choose to flee or keep a twinkle in his eye an octopus in August doesn't let himself be fussed he does just as he must and in Octopus's Future lays his trust
  • Very interesting article--Athena sounds like quite the 'pus, and quite a contrast with Octavia, as detailed in the blog. ..skin going white and smooth. This, I learned, is a sign of a relaxed octopus. ... With sharp, parrotlike beaks, octopuses can bite, and most have neurotoxic, flesh-dissolving venom. The pressure from an octopus’s suckers can tear flesh Oh, yes, indeed. I'm going to reach right into the tank to see if an octopus is friendly. NOT!