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Post by kenlarsson on Jan 19, 2024 12:07:53 GMT -5
Just finished this book the other day, A very interesting read. Peter Godfrey-Smith is an Australian philosopher who became interested in cephalopods and their intelligence after an encounter with a giant cuttlefish while diving off the coast by Sydney. Although he's not a scientist he did a lot of research, and the book has extensive footnotes and citations. Cephalopods are the closest things to an alien intelligence that we will ever encounter. He presents an extensive discussion of what is consciousness in animals and how it developed. He also discusses the effect of the body, it's capabilities and limitations on the development and state of consciousness in an animal. Must be very different for an octopus with no vertebrae and neural clusters (mini brains) in each arm. There's a lot more but I'm not going to rewrite the book here. The documentary "My Octopus Teacher" on Netflix is an excellent companion piece to the book. Good stuff.
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Post by howard lee on Jan 19, 2024 12:12:35 GMT -5
Sounds fascinating, but I am surprised to hear of an Australian philosopher whose name isn't Bruce.
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Post by david on Jan 19, 2024 13:17:58 GMT -5
After watching a few YouTube videos on octopuses, I couldn't eat them again. they are just too intelligent and interesting. (The same goes for crow.)
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Post by coachdoc on Jan 19, 2024 14:26:10 GMT -5
I’m forced to eat metaphorical crow on a regular basis.
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,904
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Post by Dub on Jan 19, 2024 14:31:23 GMT -5
This thread sent me off searching for an article I’d passed too quickly the other day but I can’t seem to find it. It was talking about simple creatures without brains that seem to display some thinking or reasoning capacity.
Despite humanity’s vast and deep learning and new concepts being discovered at an ever increasing rate, it’s astonishing to contemplate how little we actually know.
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Post by Rob Hanesworth on Jan 19, 2024 15:56:43 GMT -5
This thread sent me off searching for an article I’d passed to quickly the other day but I can’t seem to find it. It was talking about simple creatures without brains that seem to display some thinking or reasoning capacity. Despite humanity’s vast and deep learning and new concepts being discovered at an ever increasing rate, it’s astonishing to contemplate how little we actually know. I would need to be a lot smarter than I am to contemplate the vastness of what I don't know.
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Post by kenlarsson on Jan 19, 2024 17:16:57 GMT -5
This thread sent me off searching for an article I’d passed too quickly the other day but I can’t seem to find it. It was talking about simple creatures without brains that seem to display some thinking or reasoning capacity. Despite humanity’s vast and deep learning and new concepts being discovered at an ever increasing rate, it’s astonishing to contemplate how little we actually know. The book covers this topic at length. The difference between reacting to stimulus unconsciously and acting with conscious intent is a central issue he discusses. In the end the basic conclusion he draws as to what constitutes consciousness is having a sense of self. I am an observer of the world outside of myself.
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Post by dradtke on Jan 19, 2024 18:24:15 GMT -5
The problem with book suggestions like this is that it's way to easy to look it up and buy it with one-click on Amazon. Got it.
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Post by epaul on Jan 19, 2024 18:33:00 GMT -5
Dave, you remember that staring contest Todd got into with that octopus at the Madison aquarium? Offda!
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,904
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Post by Dub on Jan 19, 2024 19:18:17 GMT -5
The problem with book suggestions like this is that it's way to easy to look it up and buy it with one-click on Amazon. Got it. Yeah, I had to buy it too. A new ebook for my Kobo.
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Post by dradtke on Jan 19, 2024 20:13:59 GMT -5
Dave, you remember that staring contest Todd got into with that octopus at the Madison aquarium? Offda! You mean when he thought the spots on the back of the octopus were eyes? O ya, I remember that!
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Post by PaulKay on Jan 20, 2024 9:07:36 GMT -5
Nova recently did a series of shows on the brain. The one that sticks out is the one on consciousness. Long story short is that it is believed to be a mechanism the brain needs to have to control sensory input. Kind of like the brain's operating system. Without some way for the brain to selectively decide what to focus on, it would quickly get sensory overload. It is easy to imagine how an octopus could evolve to have these basic abilities. Your Brain Perception Deception.
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,904
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Post by Dub on Jan 21, 2024 11:12:12 GMT -5
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