Re: planets

On Tue, 21 Dec 1999, Grandsire, C.A. wrote:

> > carpet type stuff) on the rims of Octopus tanks so they dont crawl out of
> > their tanks to go exploring). Maybe in several million years we could have
> > sentient Octopuses? :)
>
>         I don't think we'd need several million years to have sentient
> octopusses. I think that octopusses are already sentient in that they
> 'think' (whatever they think). Of course, I suppose their thinking is
> rather primitive, but they are able to solve very complex problems,
> sometimes rather abstract, their eyes are as complex as ours and their
> brain capacity is comparable. For me, they are at the edge of becoming
> as sentient as we are, maybe like our ancestors (homo abilis? I don't
> remember much about anthropology).
>
> --
Wouldn't there need to be some kind of pressure on the octopus population
in order to select for intelligence?  Hmm.  Maybe we should uplift
octopuses; then we wouldn't be so lonely.  I wonder what octopus speech
would be like.  Do they make noises?