How Octopuses Challenge Our Understanding of Intelligence

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Honestly this is my first post here in this community and I am happy and love what the community is all about.
When most people think about intelligence, they imagine animals like dolphins, chimpanzees, or even our loyal dogs. Rarely does the octopus come to mind,that should be the question. Yet, the more scientists study them, the more fascinating they become. These eight-armed creatures are rewriting what we thought we knew about intelligence.

Unlike us, octopuses don’t have a central brain that controls everything. Instead, much of their “thinking” happens in their arms. Each arm has a cluster of neurons that can make decisions independently. That means an octopus can be solving different problems with different arms at the same time something humans could never do. Imagine writing an essay with one hand while solving a Rubik’s cube with the others.

Octopuses are also incredible problem solvers. In lab experiments, they have been seen opening jars to reach food inside, navigating mazes, and even escaping aquariums by unscrewing lids or slipping through tiny cracks. Some have been caught on camera stealing tools, rearranging objects in their tanks, or squirting water at lights to short circuit them. It’s no wonder researchers sometimes describe them as “the escape artists of the sea" I think that's the best fit for them.

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But what makes them truly mysterious is how different their evolution is from ours. Mammals like us share a long evolutionary path, which explains why other primates or dolphins show intelligence similar to humans. Octopuses, however, are mollusks closer relatives to clams than to us. Their intelligence evolved completely separately, suggesting that smart, problem solving minds might not be as rare in the universe as we once thought.

For me, that’s the most exciting part: octopuses remind us that intelligence doesn’t have one blueprint. It can emerge in ways we may never expect. Next time you see one, whether in an aquarium or a documentary, remember you are looking at an alien mind living right here on Earth. Now the question is Do you think octopus intelligence could help us rethink how we search for alien life? Let's have your own view of it.

REFERENCES

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-mind-of-an-octopus/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/octopus.htm#:~:text=Octopuses%20are%20highly%20intelligent%2C%20probably,%2D%20and%20long%2Dterm%20memory.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus