Are they self-aware? And if so, what do we do about that? University of Oxford provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK. It may sound like the setup to a joke, but it is actually one of the thorniest questions facing science. Studies have long been conducted to find the answers. Octopuses use tools, recognize human caretakers, display varied hunting tactics and have problem-solving capabilities. Baker’s story dramatises very well two key decision points we face when worrying about consciousness in non-humans. Measuring 'intellect' is a difficult task. Results have shown that creatures like chimpanzees and dolphins are very […] As it turns out, the octopus genome is almost as large as a human’s and actually contains more protein-coding genes: 33,000, compared with fewer than 25,000 in humans. Being one of the closest relatives of humans, he said, "chimps offer a simpler way to think about that question." Octopus expert Jennifer Mather spent years studying them and found that they not only display the capacity to learn many features of their environment, they will transition from exploration to something approaching play if given the chance. Copyright © 2010–2020, The Conversation US, Inc. anthropomorphism and consciousness in chimpanzees, consciousness in artificial intelligences. the octopus is most foreign to us and yet possibly the smartest maybe even smarter than we are. Consider, again, the octopus. Scientists have decoded the genome of the octopus and have discovered just … Most octopuses kept in aquariums have only walnut-sized brains, on par with the gray matter of talking parrots. So they must have big brains, right?Nope. An octopus that was standing tall would usually also display a dark color and raise its mantle, all of which, the researchers said, appeared to signify aggression toward another octopus. It’s not just cephalopods, of course: lots of non-humans are intelligent too. ... Not necessarily where they stack up against others. Comparing octopus intelligence to mammal intelligence is a dubious proposition, but the point is, they're really freaking smart.) For instance, parrots and ravens or crows have been taught to play poker. As dolphins have no arms, this really gives octopuses a major leg up. Cephalopods – squid, octopus, cuttlefish and nautiluses – have been around for millions of years. This is not to say that pigs are equivalent to chimpanzees in intelligence. As it turns out, the octopus genome is almost as large as a human’s and actually contains more protein-coding genes: 33,000, compared with fewer than 25,000 in humans. In humans, this gene is important for normal cognitive development. We humans take a lot of pride in our brains and our supposed “dominance” over the other creatures of the earth. To demonstrate how smart an octopus can be, Piero Amodio points to a YouTube video. Octopuses are remarkable. As such the human has no moral status – she is something to be hunted, or enslaved. Social Survival Chimps can be surprising in their cognitive abilities, Hopkins noted. They are incredibly smart, considering that they are invertebrates. Comparing octopus intelligence to mammal intelligence is a dubious proposition, but the point is, they're really freaking smart.) Octopuses are smarter than we thought. Some scientists believe that we humans separated from cephalopods, evolutionarily speaking, perhaps more than 700 million years ago. The word "cephalopod" means "head-foot." But it is not clear how intelligent they are, or whether that is even the right question. Direct comparison of squid and octopus intelligence is not feasible, as squid are much more difficult to keep in laboratories for study. For instance, parrots and ravens or crows have been taught to play poker. Yet it’s hard to know what kind of mental life non-human animals actually have, and whether it is anything like ours. Combine that with their eight tentacles, each of which has a mind of its own (seriously), and you've got a force to be reckoned with. Cephalopod intelligence is a measure of the cognitive ability of the cephalopod class of molluscs.. Intelligence is generally defined as the process of acquiring, storing, retrieving, combining, comparing, and recontextualizing information and conceptual skills. This is surprising because octopus and squid are very closely related and the setup of their nervous systems is similar. In conjunction with Oxford University’s Practical Ethics blog. Smart species. In their own kind of way, lots of machines are smart as well – some are better than the best humans at some of our most complicated games. The rats did outperform the humans in the second task. Wellcome Trust Research Fellow in Philosophy, University of Oxford. Octopus intelligence is shaped, in part, by octopus needs – the kind of mind they have and need is dependent upon their evolutionary history, their environment, and their body-type. “But it does train people to associate pigs as pets,” says Dunipace. It’s not just cephalopods, of course: lots of non-humans are intelligent too. Humans are the most intelligent lifeforms on planet earth. The octopus has the largest brain of any invertebrate, and a whopping three-fifths of its neurons are located in its tentacles. It shows an octopus pulling two halves of a coconut shell together to … Some alien-human debate on the philosophy of mind ensues. The best thing I’ve read lately on consciousness in non-humans is the short story, The Hunter Captain, by the philosopher and fiction writer David John Baker. We can tell from behavioural evidence that they are intelligent. ‘The human scoring low on Extroversion stays at home on Saturday night… the octopus scoring low on Boldness stays in its protective den during feedings…’, he wrote. What else?One female octopus was observed "blowing carefully modulated jets of water from her funnel to send [a pill bottle] to the other end of her aquarium, where the water flow sent it back to her. When the research team compared the protocadherins in octopus to those that were previously found in squid, they found some pretty big differences in their genes. Such questions are attracting a lot of interest. On these difficult questions, there is very little consensus. Armed with 10,000 more genes than humans: Scientists hail the intelligence of the octopus. Some scientists believe that we humans separated from cephalopods, evolutionarily speaking, perhaps more than 700 million years ago. If it is, does that make it wrong to eat them? But its so alien to us that we can't recognize it easily and the reverse, its got to find us ugly and scary 2. and octopus so far don't exactly train to play cards like parrots do. Ask a science question, get a science answer. Though the modern octopus' lack of a shell leaves him more mobile for hunting, it also leaves him vulnerable to bigger predators. Visuals Unlimited/Corbis. ", Hmm. But even this might not tell the whole story. Cephalopods – squid, octopus, cuttlefish and nautiluses – have been around for millions of years. Aristotle didn’t have a high opinion of the octopus. The word "cephalopod" means "head-foot." While humans have about 60 protocadherins, the octopus genome was found to have 168, nearly three times the neural wiring capacity than humans (who … When predating clams, for example, octopuses will use a variety of strategies to remove the meat from the shell, often cycling through strategies – pulling the shell open, chipping the shell’s margin, or drilling through the shell – in a trial-and-error way. One excited researcher quickly got on the phone to call her colleague: "She's bouncing the ball!". But its so alien to us that we can't recognize it easily and the reverse, its got to find us ugly and scary 2. and octopus so far don't exactly train to play cards like parrots do. Bird Brains: Are Parrots Smarter Than a Human Two-Year-Old? If so, just how clever do you have to be, and how do we measure that? We’re ill-prepared to recognise if or when this will happen, even if we may eventually come to have moral duties towards machines. Do octopuses feel pain? Consciousness might be closely tied to the particularities of human-like intelligence. All these abilities are similar to those of vertebrates. Here's why scientists have new respect for invertebrate cephalopods: What "human-like" tendencies have been exhibited?One octopus in captivity was observed "cleaning the front of its den" after securing food, then carefully arranging rocks to cover the entrance before going to sleep. Does this mean lots of non-humans – octopuses, crows, monkeys, machines – are conscious? Apparently, he made it out of a small opening in his tank, and suction cup prints indicate he found his way to a drain pipe that emptied to the ocean. Though these criteria are difficult to measure in nonhuman animals, cephalopods seem to be exceptionally intelligent invertebrates.