Comment by rolfus
6 hours ago
I've been fascinated by Cephalopods since reading (the excellent) book "Other Minds" by Peter Godfrey-Smith. They are probably the closest we'll get to an alien intelligence. Their nervous systems evolved along a completely different evolutionary path from us vertebrates. It pains me that they are so short lived, though. I wonder what potential could be unlocked by their intelligence if they lived for 40 years or longer.
or read "Gentle Giant Octopus" to your kids, the ending hits parents a little hard though.
You should read Time by Stephen Baxter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_(novel). Part of it deals with this precise topic.
Thank you - ordered!
You will be happy to read this then:
https://www.ciwf.org/media-and-news/press-releases-and-media...
"Other Minds" is definitely worth a read.
"the mountain in the sea" is recent sci fi that deals with this idea.
You just need to convice the ethics review board on some research lab to allow for editing the genes of a few octopus to make them longer lived, give them education, etc...
Q: What do you get when you cross an octopus with a cow?
A: An immediate cessation of funding and a stern letter from the Ethics Committee.
The nautilus is a genetic precursor to the octopus on the cephalopod branched tree of life and takes 20 years to mature.