This was a profoundly interesting book to read. I became intrigued after seeing a review of it and had never come across the author before. It was intriguing primarily for the subject matter which I had a minor level of curiosity about. It was however, the first book I have read about cephalopods. My other experiences have been by reading articles and lately watching YouTube videos.
It is not simply about octopuses and squids though. It is about using those life forms to explore bigger things like intelligence, consciousness and how animals including humans understand their environment. The author explores evolutionary possibilities about how animals come to relate to conspecifics, predators and prey. There are others which do not fit any of those categories.
As a book written for a popular audience it is not replete with scientific jargon and when new words or concepts are introduced, they are explained in understandable language with very good examples to provide perspective. Maybe the thing I appreciated the most was that it was written using a lot of questions and humble suggestions rather than offering grand new theories. It made for a far more thought provoking read than some others in the genre. Those questions and suggestions are too many for a book review but below a few will be presented.
It is nearly an aside here, but a philosopher who does field research by scuba diving off the coast of Australia with scientists and whose research reveals not raw data for laboratory testing but philosophical insight, makes the author himself a very interesting character. Some of his experiences can be viewed here.
Early in the book the reader is introduced to cephalopods by way of the scuba diving anecdotal stories of their engagement with the humans. In particular, he means the interactions with the author. Certainly the cephalopod does not recognize that object as we do but something like a dark animal with no face, four arms and many bubbles exuding from them. Nevertheless the author experienced them reaching a tentacle or arm out to tactilely probe the object of this encounter-to the point of attempting to pull them into the lair. This behavior suggests the importance of feel to the cephalopod’s repertoire of resources that help it survive and bring forth spawn.
He also observed their visual observance of everything around them. They watched the scuba divers but also their entire landscape for friend, foe and neutral bodies. Well maybe just for foe as the writer indicated often, these species are generally indifferent to their conspecifics. He did remark on variation from the rule here as he did whenever he was making a general statement about behaviors. Noting exceptions to the rule is critical to explanation and for the non-scientist reader, valuable.
He brought up the fact of the elaborate nervous systems of these animals and how that plays with the brilliant abilities for the animals to shape shift as if to conform to their surroundings which included immediate color changes. It is remarkable for many reasons but a couple include the fact that the colorations do not occur as if by one mechanism but instead by many yet it occurs so quickly it appears as if by simplicity. It is a three step process since they mechanisms occur at three different layers of skins. The details are in the book but not here. They are too fascinating for my own interpretation. He does provide an image however.
The other bizarre curiosity is that lab results strongly suggest that they are colorblind. Something within the nervous system that is not visual ignites the instantaneous processes that allow the color change and body morphing. He examines this through two different operations of the nervous systems one in which is the taking of sensory cues from the environment with the innate motor skills respond like autonomic reactions. The other is a simpler stimulus response action based on what occurs on the spot like the flight or fight response.
In this discussion he cited other philosophers of consciousness to remind us that interpretation involves a lot of questions. There is nothing certain and plenty that may be probable. In efforts to describe animal behavior from a non-anthropomorphic perspective, the observer may not always see the forest for the trees. Yet we are thrust into a situation where it is difficult to understand information and the processing of it from other than a human perspective. We also have to treat information as a physical thing-something to be measured. Is it? Or is it reducible to a binomial sort of impulse and response an immediate (and evolutionarily adaptive) reaction? This is a debated question amongst those examining what is meant by “consciousness”. In fact it remains sort of a Gordian knot and there are dualists who consider that consciousness is made up of a “functional” quality which is the 1s and 0s of binomial information. It also has a “phenomenal” essence that involves the interpretational or conscious experience. The former is said to control behavior and the latter simply is consciousness. It is these sort of issues that the author proposes not to find concrete answers but to ask additional questions.
Godfrey-Smith ponders hard on the notion of consciousness saying “It’s sometimes hard to work out how these theories relate to my own target here: subjective experience in a very broad sense. I treat subjective experience as a broad category and consciousness as a narrower category within it— not everything that an animal might feel has to be conscious.” More important than defining consciousness, the author provides much to consider and the reader can take advantage of that.
Back to the animals, the author discovered several things that also make the reader think. With the knowledge that cephalopods have a very intricate nervous system it would seem that it would take years to develop and yet he informs us that these species have a very short life span. In most cases four years would be very long. He asks about the evolutionary benefit of this intricate structure to only exist for so short a time. They hardly have time to use their wondrous skills when they are replaced by the next generation.
They are semelparous meaning that they only reproduce once in a lifetime and in their case, the female dies right after spawning. They also use a deimatic display which is one of complete submission and the author examined this many times and offers suggestions as to why. These beasts are so capable of camouflaging for protection as well as to predate, why would they need a passive and subordinate display? It is not used when flight would work or an attempt to startle something it would eat. There is no clear answer but he believes it is used when a more aggressive conspecific appears.
There is much to learn about cephalopods and there is scarce information of them historically. Being soft bodied they do not preserve well so the fossil record is nearly non-existent. His own efforts at first hand observation are in coordination with biologists and other scientists. There is much study of them going on today. It is clear that the bounty of possible research is hindered by decreasing habitat. That is a problem that the study of any animal behavior faces. With climate change comes both a loss of habitat, but a change in behavior as well. Various species adapt differently to changing environment environments such as warming waters.
This was an easy book to not put down. The pace was lively and informative yet never certain. The book makes the curious reader intent on learning more of the subject matter. He provided lots of philosophical questions for the reader to ponder.
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The Book came used and I paid for a new book.
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2021
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2021
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His passion for octopuses also shines through and contributes to the readability of the book. The only reason it doesn't get five stars from me is that the prose is a tad try. Nevertheless, he does a great job of distilling complex concepts for the lay reader, and the book reads like a breeze, making it worthwhile for anyone with an interest in these kinds of subjects.
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