Does "When octopuses are social with humans, are they reaching out or simply reacting?" really have a meaning? Or is the distinction meaningful to make? The oc

Does "When octopuses are social with humans, are they reaching out or simply reacting?" really have a meaning? Or is the distinction meaningful to make? The octopus regarded the research as "safe" and "interesting". It didn't integrate the researcher into octopus society because such a thing doesn't exist. But octopuses had a society, would it have to be more than a mutual regarding of a group as safe and interesting? Especially, since many other complex behaviors can be created from this start (just as the octopus created all sort of interesting things in the world). "Maybe octopuses don’t regard us so much as friends or associates as giant, elaborate levers they can manipulate for their own benefit" Maybe the difference between these kinds of relationships is less than we think.