Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
Written by Peter Godfrey-Smith
Narrated by Peter Noble
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
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.
Peter Godfrey-Smith
Peter Godfrey-Smith is the author of the bestselling Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness, which has been published in more than twenty languages, and Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind. His other books include Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science and Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection, which won the 2010 Lakatos Award. He is a professor in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney.
More audiobooks from Peter Godfrey Smith
Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Other Minds
Related audiobooks
The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sentient: How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fathoms: The World in the Whale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sixth Extinction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tales from the Ant World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Breath of a Whale: The Science and Spirit of Pacific Ocean Giants Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slime: How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Superlative: The Biology of Extremes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life on Earth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beaks, Bones, and Bird Songs: How the Struggle for Survival Has Shaped Birds and Their Behavior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hidden Lives of Owls: The Science and Spirit of Nature's Most Elusive Birds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Social Leap: The New Evolutionary Science of Who We Are, Where We Come From, and What Makes Us Happy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Biology For You
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love & Wisdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Confident Mind: A Battle-Tested Guide to Unshakable Performance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hot Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How the Mind Works Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All That Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Change Your Brain, Change Your Life (Before 25): Change Your Developing Mind for Real-World Success Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Second Nature: A Gardener's Education Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths about Sex and Identity in Our Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Other Minds
102 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A very satisfying book: enticing, informative, thought-provoking. Senescense, mind, intelligence... Covers lot of interesting territory.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Magnuficent argument to pretty much explode to possibilities of limits of imagination on what ’being’ means
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I had to buy the paper copy after listening, this is just great. This is well written, doesn't required precious knowledge and the subjects are varied (octopuses, cuttlefishes, squids, behaviours and physical oddities). I recommend taking your time to go back to some of the more surprising stuff. A second recommendation is to check-out the photos in the book version - also here on Scribd.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What a page-turner! I couldn’t put it down. And on top of that, I feel as though I now have a glimmering of understanding of why and how the people of the Ancient Greek world used their many gods to help them make sense of the events of their lives.