4 ms·
It's interesting to me that the dolphin and octopus seem to be separated from us by some missing feature. The Dolphin is social and intelligent, but lacks gras
by undershirt 12y ago
It's interesting to me that the dolphin and octopus seem to be separated from us by some missing feature. The Dolphin is social and intelligent, but lacks graspers (for tools). The Octopus is intelligent, has capable graspers, but is not social and doesn't live long. I wonder if having those missing features would cause critical tipping points toward civilization.
- GuiA 12y agoBoth animals live underwater, where it would be really hard for any advanced civilization to form (no fire, much harder to extract raw resources, much harder to build shelters out of dirt/straw/etc.), etc. It's probably not a coincidence that all civilizations (for a perhaps loose definition of civilization- bees, ants, termites, humans, etc.) live on firm ground.
- boulos 12y agoI was with you until bees and such. In what way do you feel bees are more of a "civilization" than say a pod of whales or dolphins? Is it a "has a structure" requirement?
- oscarduignan 12y agoThere are a lot more bees in a hive than in a pod of whales or dolphins, we're talking potentially many tens of thousands of bees per hive. I think that's the qualifier here, scale of numbers
- robotresearcher 12y agoCetaceans don't have technology - they don't build things, adapting the environment to themselves. Their niche doesn't afford placing and combining materials like others do. So as Douglas Adams observed, all the dolphins seem to do is muck about and have a good time.
- rch 12y agoJaron Lanier speculates the lack of cultural knowledge passing from one generation to the next has put a cap on Cuttlefish development. Once the eggs hatch, the latest brood has to start from scratch.