What could octopuses possibly have in common with us? After all, they don't have lungs, spines, or even a plural noun we can all agree on. But what they do have is the ability to solve puzzles, learn through observation, and even use tools, just like some other animals we know. And what makes octopus intelligence so amazing is that it comes from a biological structure completely different from ours. The 200 or so species of octopuses are mollusks belonging to the order cephalopoda, Greek for head-feet. Those heads contain impressively large brains, with a brain to body ratio similar to that of other intelligent animals, and a complex nervous system with about as many neurons as that of a dog. But instead of being centralized in the brain, these 500 million neurons are spread out in a network of interconnected ganglia organized into three basic structures. The central brain only contains about 10% of the neurons, while the two huge optic lobes contain about 30%. The other 60% are in the tentacles, which for humans would be like our arms having minds of their own. This is where things get even more interesting. Vertebrates like us have a rigid skeleton to support our bodies, with joints that allow us to move. But not all types of movement are allowed. You can't bend your knee backwards, or bend your forearm in the middle, for example. Cephalopods, on the other hand, have no bones at all, allowing them to bend their limbs at any point and in any direction. So shaping their tentacles into any one of the virtually limitless number of possible arrangements is unlike anything we are used to. Consider a simple task, like grabbing and eating an apple. The human brain contains a neurological map of our body. When you see the apple, your brain's motor center activates the appropriate muscles, allowing you to reach out with your arm, grab it with your hand, bend your elbow joint, and bring it to your mouth. For an octopus, the process is quite different. Rather than a body map, the cephalopod brain has a behavior library. So when an octopus sees food, its brain doesn't activate a specific body part, but rather a behavioral response to grab. As the signal travels through the network, the arm neurons pick up the message and jump into action to command the movement. As soon as the arm touches the food, a muscle activation wave travels all the way through the arm to its base, while the arm sends back another wave from the base to the tip. The signals meet halfway between the food and the base of the arm, letting it know to bend at that spot. What all this means is that each of an octopus's eight arms can essentially think for itself. This gives it amazing flexibility and creativity when facing a new situation or problem, whether its opening a bottle to reach food, escaping through a maze, moving around in a new environment, changing the texture and the color of its skin to blend into the scenery, or even mimicking other creatures to scare away enemies. Cephalopods may have evolved complex brains long before our vertebrate relatives. And octopus intelligence isn't just useful for octopuses. Their radically different nervous system and autonomously thinking appendages have inspired new research in developing flexible robots made of soft materials. And studying how intelligence can arise along such a divergent evolutionary path can help us understand more about intelligence and consciousness in general. Who knows what other forms of intelligent life are possible, or how they process the world around them.
Što bi zajedničko mogli imati hobotnice i ljudi? Hobotnice nemaju pluća, kralježnicu ili množinsku imenicu oko koje se slažemo. Ali one mogu rješavati slagalice, učiti promatranjem, čak i koristiti alate, poput drugih životinja poznatih po tome. Inteligencija hobotnica je posebno zanimljiva jer potječe iz biološke strukture potpuno drukčije od naše. Poznajemo oko 200 vrsta hobotnica. Sve su one mekušci iz reda cefalopoda (grč. glavonožac). U tim glavama je impresivno velik mozak, a omjer mozga i tijela im je kao u drugih inteligentnih životinja, dok njihov složeni živčani sustav ima toliko stanica koliko i pas. Nisu im sve stanice nakupljene u mozgu, njihovih 500 milijuna neurona tvore široku mrežu povezanih čvorova koja ima tri osnovna dijela. Središnji mozak ima samo oko 10% svih živčanih stanica, dva velika optička režnja ih imaju oko 30%. Preostalih 60% su u krakovima, što je isto kao da kod ljudi svaka ruka ima svoj mozak. I tu sve postaje još puno zanimljivije. Kralježnjaci poput nas imaju čvrst kostur koji podržava tijelo, sa zglobovima koji omogućavaju kretanje. Ali, nisu mogući svi pokreti. Svoje koljeno ne možete saviti unatrag ili saviti podlakticu u sredini. Glavonošci, međutim, uopće nemaju kostiju pa svoje krakove savijaju na bilo koji način ili smjer. Oblikuju svoje krakove na bilo koji od bezbroj mogućih načina, što je drukčije od svega što mi možemo. Evo jednostavnog zadatka, kako dohvatiti i pojesti jabuku. Ljudski mozak ima neurološku mapu našeg tijela. Kad vidiš jabuku, motorni centri u mozgu aktiviraju odgovarajuće mišiće, tako da možeš posegnuti rukom, dohvatiti jabuku šakom, saviti lakat i približiti jabuku ustima. Za hobotnicu je postupak bitno drukčiji. Umjesto mape cijelog tijela, mozak glavonošca čuva ''biblioteku ponašanja''. Kad hobotnica vidi hranu, njen mozak ne aktivira određeni dio tijela. On pokreće ''ponašanje hvatanja''. Dok signal putuje mrežom, neuroni kraka primaju poruku i izdaju zapovijed za pokret. Čim krak dotakne hranu, mišićni aktivacijski val putuje prema samom početku kraka, a početak šalje suprotni val prema vrhu kraka. Dva se signala sretnu na pola puta između hrane i početka kraka, i na tom se mjestu krak savija. To znači da svaki od osam krakova može samostalno misliti. To omogućuje izuzetnu prilagodljivost i kreativnost u novoj situaciji ili problemu, bilo da otvara bocu tražeći hranu, bježi iz labirinta, prolazi novim okolišem, mijenja teksturu i boju kože kako bi se sakrila u okolišu, ili čak mimikrijom u druge životinje plaši neprijatelje. Glavonošci su možda razvili svoje složene mozgove puno prije naših srodnika kralježnjaka. Ta inteligencija ne koristi samo hobotnicama. Njihov drukčiji živčani sustav i krakovi koji samostalno misle, potakli su nova istraživanja i razvoj fleksibilnih robota izrađenih od mekih materijala. Proučavanje razvoja inteligencije drugim evolucijskim putom pomaže nam općenito bolje razumjeti inteligenciju i svijest. Tko zna kakvi su još oblici inteligentnog života mogući ili kako ''vide'' svijet oko sebe.