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.
