Look to the octopus to understand how aliens might think | Oregon Field Guide

Octopuses are incredibly smart, yet the majority of their neurons exist in their arms and suckers, and not in their brain, making them as close to alien intelligence as we can find on Earth. Imagine: What if our hands and fingers could think for themselves?

#opb #OregonFieldGuide #octopus

[Bboreal]

“It's not about how intelligent they are, but how they are intelligent”. Now that's a brilliant quote. Congratulations on your work, Dominic.

[MikeMaileFoolishBehavior]

I love that he releases them back into the wild rather than dissecting them. It makes me wonder if once returned to the wild do the octopi communicate and relay their findings to each other. Is this young man building a bridge of knowledge and communication between two species?

[falcoperegrinus]

Imagine if aliens visited earth and instead of making contact with humans, they completely ignored us to chill with the cephalopods.

[ThePinkBinks]

This dude literally is the abducting alien. His prisoners study him then tell their children about the time they were abducted by an alien who could touch water but not live in it and they were kept in isolated cubes of water.

[Barxxo]

What fascinates me about their intelligence is the fact they developed it completely in isolation, no one else to learn from. The mother dies when the offspring hatches. The human intelligence only can develop in a social context.

[jetlag]

"It's not about how intelligent they are, it's about how they are intelligent."
Really well put. I've always known this, but actually hearing it said out loud really makes me think and appreciate the mind.

[Sharonmxg]

What an amazing job. I feel sure this young marine scientist has been preparing for this gig his whole life. Amazing information.

[dutchray]

I saw a film years ago in which one of B F Skinner's students was working with octopuses. Some could open a jar to get at a shrimp inside, while others could not. It was discovered by accident that if an octopus couldn't open a jar, it could learn by observing an octopus in an adjacent aquarium opening a jar. Even Skinner was surprised that octopuses can learn by having a behavior modeled for them.

[konkyolife]

A real biologist studying LIFE and then letting it go back HOME. Thank you for this upload!

[MaxFung]

I love that last comment. It's fascinating to view intelligence not from a human-centric perspective, but by truly appreciating how different brains can be across the animal kingdom and the broader tree of life!

[benmcreynolds]

They are like cats, they will go into paper bags, or cardboard boxes. The octopus will go into a box too lol. It's crazy that the octopus has evolved like mini processors that connect to another main processor hub, that's connected to a final main computer processor. That's so facinating. I also have been facinated with the different ways blood and hemoglobin has evolved. Like the ice fish has clear whiteish blood, then you got blue blood in horseshoe crabs, etc. Etc.

[SeekoGT]

"It's not about HOW intelligent they are... It's about how they ARE intelligent."

Love that.

[MephitisUK]

If you find this fascinating, it's worth reading Peter Godfrey-Smith's book, 'Other Minds: The Octopus, The Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness'

[maryzambrana]

I heard this video on KUOW today, and I couldn't wait to see it! What can one say except thank you for sharing the absolute wonderfulness of octopus life. Their entire body is really something to behold. I was lucky enough to go to the Scripps Oceanarium years ago with my twin granddaughters. We not only were able to see, touch and marvel at the animals, it's something that we remember and talk about to this day. May Elizabeth grow and prosper in great health. Thank you, Dominic, for the knowledge that you have gained and shared with the world. A friend from across the Sound in Allyn. 🐙

[WillNGo]

When an octopus tries to escape its enclosure, or takes any action (independent of a stimuli specific to a sucker), has anyone determined if it's usually the same tentacle, or quadrant, that leads the way?

[dylanschmeichel]

I love how octopus are some of the only species of animal that actually toy with scientists - Many studies fail due to the fact octopi (?) will purposefully skew results or mess with scientific observers because they genuinely understand what is going on i.e. they are being observed. Crazy stuff.

[nugsymalone]

I love how scientists look for planets in our galaxy that are like earth, assuming intelligent life or life in general has to be on planets like ours. Meanwhile, we have these intelligent creatures that we still don't fully understand. Makes me think life and or intelligent life could show up in all sorts of biomes in ways we wouldn't understand

[innsj]

The octopus controls its tentacles by sending them generalised signals and letting them figure things out on their own. That's really fascinating. Humans have a more centralised control mode, whereas octopi are more decentralised. It's hard to compare intelligence when you see it that way.

[markhirstwood]

Cool video. It reminds me of a line from Miyamoto Musashi: "Nobody is strong and nobody is weak if he conceives of the body, from the head to the sole of the foot, as a unity in which a living mind circulates everywhere equally."

[afbennett]

The fact they’re friendly makes me hopeful that actual aliens could be as well.