That would certainly be a good way to maximize food output, but I think that in order to successfully do that well enough to fool even researchers looking for it, the octopus would have to have at least enough complexity in it’s brain to actually be conscious.
Which is, in fact, the same problem with the Chinese Room; the notecards need to be drawn up by an actual Chinese speaker.
And if we look at evolutionary history, it looks like in evolutionary terms, actually being conscious was a better strategy than pretending to be conscious…
…or it could be that we’ve just retroactively defined “consciousness” as the thing humans do when they try to fake consciousness. :p
That would certainly be a good way to maximize food output, but I think that in order to successfully do that well enough to fool even researchers looking for it, the octopus would have to have at least enough complexity in it’s brain to actually be conscious.
I suspect that octopi are more-or-less as conscious as dolphins are, as a rough approximation.
or it could be that we’ve just retroactively defined “consciousness” as the thing humans do when they try to fake consciousness. :p
I’m not sure it’s possible to confirm or deny that question without being able to define, once and for all, exactly and precisely what consciousness is.
That would certainly be a good way to maximize food output, but I think that in order to successfully do that well enough to fool even researchers looking for it, the octopus would have to have at least enough complexity in it’s brain to actually be conscious. Which is, in fact, the same problem with the Chinese Room; the notecards need to be drawn up by an actual Chinese speaker.
And if we look at evolutionary history, it looks like in evolutionary terms, actually being conscious was a better strategy than pretending to be conscious… …or it could be that we’ve just retroactively defined “consciousness” as the thing humans do when they try to fake consciousness. :p
I suspect that octopi are more-or-less as conscious as dolphins are, as a rough approximation.
I’m not sure it’s possible to confirm or deny that question without being able to define, once and for all, exactly and precisely what consciousness is.