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Title details for Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith - Available

Other Minds

The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness

by Peter Godfrey-Smith
Peter Noble
Audiobook
1 of 2 copies available
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1 of 2 copies available

Philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith dons a wet suit and journeys into the depths of consciousness in Other Minds
Although mammals and birds are widely regarded as the smartest creatures on earth, it has lately become clear that a very distant branch of the tree of life has also sprouted higher intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus. In captivity, octopuses have been known to identify individual human keepers, raid neighboring tanks for food, turn off lightbulbs by spouting jets of water, plug drains, and make daring escapes. How is it that a creature with such gifts evolved through an evolutionary lineage so radically distant from our own? What does it mean that evolution built minds not once but at least twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter?
In Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith, a distinguished philosopher of science and a skilled scuba diver, tells a bold new story of how subjective experience crept into being—how nature became aware of itself. As Godfrey-Smith stresses, it is a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared. Tracking the mind's fitful development, Godfrey-Smith shows how unruly clumps of seaborne cells began living together and became capable of sensing, acting, and signaling. As these primitive organisms became more entangled with others, they grew more complicated. The first nervous systems evolved, probably in ancient relatives of jellyfish; later on, the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous mollusks, abandoned their shells and rose above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so. Taking an independent route, mammals and birds later began their own evolutionary journeys.
But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? Drawing on the latest scientific research and his own scuba-diving adventures, Godfrey-Smith probes the many mysteries that surround the lineage. How did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart? What is it like to have eight tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually "think for themselves"? What happens when some octopuses abandon their hermit-like ways and congregate, as they do in a unique location off the coast of Australia?
By tracing the question of inner life back to its roots and comparing human beings with our most remarkable animal relatives, Godfrey-Smith casts crucial new light on the octopus mind—and on our own.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 7, 2017

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781427291950
      • File size: 202450 KB
      • Duration: 07:01:45

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      A philosophy professor focuses on one of our most distant human ancestors, the octopus, in this provocative audiobook about the evolution of intelligence. Narrator Peter Noble is a wonderful fit for the material. Along with his measured fascination with these issues and his intelligent-sounding South African accent, he conveys the warmth necessary to keep listeners connected to the often esoteric material. Of course, the audiobook is not just about the octopus, a species that can recognize specific humans and whose neurons are more peripherally concentrated than ours. It's really a meditation, an homage to consciousness, self-awareness, intelligence, and the miracle of evolution. Sparkling with the imagery of natural history vignettes and the author's scuba-diving observations, the discussion illuminates the gaps between biology and philosophy, between scientific and spiritual perspectives on the human species. T.W. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 12, 2016
      Deftly blending philosophy and evolutionary biology, Godfrey-Smith (Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection), an Australian philosopher of science, uses his passion for cephalopods to address “how consciousness arose from the raw materials found in living beings.” Comparing vertebrate consciousness and intelligence with that of cephalopods is not as odd as it might seem, because “cephalopods are evolution’s only experiment in big brains outside of the vertebrates.” Godfrey-Smith demonstrates that octopuses are constructed from a dramatically different plan than vertebrates, with each of their arms having the ability to act and sense their environment semi-autonomously from their central brains. This striking difference raises intriguing questions about the nature of communication within organisms, as well as about the meaning of intelligence. Godfrey-Smith couples his philosophical and scientific approach with ample and fascinating anecdotes as well as striking photography from his numerous scuba dives off the Australian coast. He makes the case that cephalopods demonstrate a type of intelligence that is largely “alien” to our understanding of the concept but is no less worthy of wonder. He also ponders how and why such intelligence developed in such short-lived creatures (they generally live only a few years). Godfrey-Smith doesn’t provide definitive answers to his questions, but the journey he leads is both thoroughly enjoyable and informative.

    • Books+Publishing

      February 28, 2017
      When we think of intelligence in the animal kingdom, it is usually the mammals that spring to mind, like dogs or chimps—the creatures that we can most easily identify with. Yet evolution has produced a separate branch of animals whose brains and nervous systems are as large and complex as our own, who can learn to manipulate tools, remember intricate navigation routes and recognise individual humans. These are the cephalopods, a group of creatures including squid, cuttlefish and the octopus. What is it like to be an octopus? And what are we to them? In this beautifully balanced book, Australia-born, US-based author and professor Peter Godfrey-Smith writes with both the knowledge of a scientist and the wonder of an observer in an alien world. Interspersed with the history of how these animals evolved is the author’s own deeply personal interactions with them. How is it that these animals are so smart and yet live such short lives? What does this tell us about our own intelligence, and how we judge the consciousness of others? For those who enjoy the works of Fred Pearce, George Monbiot and Sy Montgomery, this is a welcome addition to the field of popular science. Helene Ephraim is a freelance reviewer who has worked as a bookseller and librarian

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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