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Defensive tool use in a coconut-carrying octopus (2009)
- fxtentacle 4y agoGreat video
- xnickb 4y agoWatching the videos gave me a feeling that if we let them evolve in peace, they'll be the next intelligent creatures on the planet in some 100k years.
- ljlolel 4y agoUnderwater is much older. So no chance it hasn’t already happened. My theory is Octopus became intelligent long ago, but that civilization kept killing itself off (ennui, nukes, whatever) and that’s why now they live alone and kill the selves after breeding. Only stable intelligent offshoot to survive.
- Nevermark 4y agoI think the ocean isn’t conducive to technology. Ocean water corrodes everything, no humidity control for drying things, chemical control near impossible, no heat control (no fire), etc. And given octopus use there intelligence to hide from predators, it may be difficult for tightly knit cooperative social groups to form. A cluster of octopus will look like a great dinner for sharks and other predators Unless we teach octopus to make weapons and war on sharks? Then octopus could eat richly & rule the deep?
- Maursault 4y agoWhy would they stay in the water rather than evolve lungs?
- Aloha 4y agoOur existing technology is - but there could be whole kinds of technology that we dont know about that could work there.
- snek_case 4y agoSure, but there's also a question of bootstrapping. Can you build electronics that work underwater? Sure. But it's a lot harder than building electronics that work on land. The barrier is a lot higher. Also, simple things like... Primitive humans used tree branches to build lances and things to fight predators. They also used them to dig and to build homes. There are no trees underwater. Octopuses have soft bodies and are not equipped for digging in the ways that humans were, especially without tree branches to help them. Another obvious difference: one of the key technological discoveries that made humanity happen is the discovery of fire. It would be somewhat difficult to make fire underwater. Maybe it really is just easier on land. That being said, many species have gone from sea to land or land to sea during their evolution. Not impossible that some octopus descendant could become a land species in the far future... But I have a feeling that evolving bones or a hard shell would he helpful there. cue movie scene where an octopus, drawn by strange unheard noises, surfaces and witnesses nuclear bombs exploding just above the New York skyline from far away, and the dawn of a new era begins
- londons_explore 4y agoNearly all octopi have very short lifespans of just a few years. In those few years, they arguably learn quicker than humans do. You won't find a two year old child carrying around two items for future assembly and use.
- fooker 4y ago>You won't find a two year old child carrying around two items for future assembly and use. You are possibly underestimating two year old humans.
- pharrington 4y agoNo hyperbole, if your two year child is improvisationally deploying tools to use for long term plans, I'm pretty sure they're the next Einstein.
- fooker 4y agoTools doesn't mean a chainsaw or a drill here. It can be something like a spoon, a piece of rope. Lego pieces, for example, are designed to cater to instinctual tool use in human kids.
- pharrington 4y agoI probably didn't explain myself very well, but I do mean improvisational and long term. I haven't seen 2 year olds plan more than like a minute ahead, and they definitely need to be taught how to manipulate even the most basic objects (beyond simply putting the thing in their mouth). A four year old human certainly does those things, but the comparison is with octopuses, whose typical lifespan is less than 4 years.
- pfortuny 4y agoBirds have been building nests since time out of mind and nobody pays any attention.