tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post6752063989388038570..comments2024-03-23T04:01:39.348-04:00Comments on Understanding Society: More on cephalopod mindsDan Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15953897221283103880noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-46789252608277445392016-12-15T20:30:41.274-05:002016-12-15T20:30:41.274-05:00I looked at this post because of its relevance to ...I looked at this post because of its relevance to an interesting film I saw recently, called "Arrival", which features octopus- like alien creatures, called "Heptapods" because of their seven tentacles. And it focuses on the problem of communicating with such creatures in the absence of a common language of translation (a kind of problem which field linguists have developed methods of dealing with). If you haven't seen it I would highly recommend it; I think you would find it interesting. <br /><br />I would like to make a more substantive comment later (I have to go now), but something you said (or G-S said) early on caught me up: "... a complex nervous system is more of an advantage for predator than prey. (Wolves are more intelligent than elk, after all!)" I don't see how this claim is necessarily the case; faced with a bear, for example, a human would be prey, but a human would probably fare better than some other animal (if foot speed is not a factor). It seems that adaptive intelligence would be just as advantageous on the other end of the hunter- prey relation. The logic of problem- solving would seem like a more promising path to explore.<br /><br />Then also, G-S does say, "... it also imposes order, top- down, on the huge and complex system that is the octopus body." The presence of the unification structure is important, I think, for the possibility of the individual organism having a "world- view". But the octopus seems to have a "federal" system, to use a governance metaphor.JPLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-32132956546408531692016-12-12T21:54:58.153-05:002016-12-12T21:54:58.153-05:00Fascinating!Fascinating!ProfWeidnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16284427712272554451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-9142208965380127562016-12-12T21:54:38.263-05:002016-12-12T21:54:38.263-05:00Fascinating!Fascinating!ProfWeidnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16284427712272554451noreply@blogger.com