Octopi are some of the most intelligent creatures, with a fascinatingly alien path to getting there and unrecognizable brain structure. I encourage anyone who doesn’t know about octopi intelligence to look into it—they aren’t social, don’t teach each other skills, don’t live long, and don’t have centralized processing but they rank among the highest intelligence we are aware of.
Something I felt was missing from the post was a mention of how intelligent the octopi and cephalopods are which are likely to be farmed. I thought only a few species of octopi were intelligent, and assume many are average or low levels of cognition for the animal world. I might prefer it to chickens and cows depending on the species...
Your other points about why it would be a terrible subject for farming are compelling, and I appreciate you spelling them out so concisely. Even if they are species average in perceptiveness they might be far worse to farm than other species.
In any case, I’m really glad you brought my attention to this and that you care about this subject!!
Thanks so much for your support! Yes, they are miraculous creatures and fiercely intelligent. I appreciate your feedback and will certainly keep that in mind for future communications regarding this initiative.
My colleague suggested the book “The Soul of an Octopus” as a great resource for this subject matter for those who are interested. This is on my reading list for the holiday break coming up, but any additional recommendations are much appreciated!
Octopi are some of the most intelligent creatures, with a fascinatingly alien path to getting there and unrecognizable brain structure. I encourage anyone who doesn’t know about octopi intelligence to look into it—they aren’t social, don’t teach each other skills, don’t live long, and don’t have centralized processing but they rank among the highest intelligence we are aware of.
Something I felt was missing from the post was a mention of how intelligent the octopi and cephalopods are which are likely to be farmed. I thought only a few species of octopi were intelligent, and assume many are average or low levels of cognition for the animal world. I might prefer it to chickens and cows depending on the species...
Your other points about why it would be a terrible subject for farming are compelling, and I appreciate you spelling them out so concisely. Even if they are species average in perceptiveness they might be far worse to farm than other species.
In any case, I’m really glad you brought my attention to this and that you care about this subject!!
Thanks so much for your support! Yes, they are miraculous creatures and fiercely intelligent. I appreciate your feedback and will certainly keep that in mind for future communications regarding this initiative.
My colleague suggested the book “The Soul of an Octopus” as a great resource for this subject matter for those who are interested. This is on my reading list for the holiday break coming up, but any additional recommendations are much appreciated!