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Peter Godfrey-Smith
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Le prince des profondeurs ; l'intelligence exceptionnelle des poulpes
Peter Godfrey-Smith
- Flammarion
- Champs Sciences
- 3 Février 2021
- 9782081511057
L possède un énorme cerveau - quasiment autant de neurones qu'un chat - localisé en partie dans ses huit bras. Il « voit » et « goûte » avec la peau, dont la couleur change instantanément pour mieux le camoufler. Dépourvu d'os, il se faufile à travers la moindre fente. Il joue, adore collectionner les objets, apprend de ses erreurs et reconnaît les humains... Ce prince des profondeurs, c'est le poulpe, dont on prend aujourd'hui la mesure de l'intelligence, déjà pressentie par Charles Darwin.
Mais il y a plus extraordinaire encore... En explorant Octopolis, une étrange cité sous-marine fondée par des poulpes, Peter Godfrey-Smith découvre des animaux capables d'interactions complexes et dotés de surprenantes personnalités. De quelle conscience témoignent-ils ? Se pourrait-il que nous ne soyons pas la seule branche du vivant à disposer d'un « moi » intérieur ? Que nous apprennent ces céphalopodes sur notre propre intelligence ?
Une fascinante rencontre du troisième type.
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OTHER MINDS - THE OCTOPUS AND THE EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENT LIFE
Peter Godfrey-Smith
- William collins
- 8 Mars 2018
- 9780008226299
What if intelligent life on Earth evolved not once, but 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 nature became aware of itself - a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared.
Tracking the mind''s fitful development from unruly clumps of seaborne cells to the first evolved nervous systems in ancient relatives of jellyfish, he explores the incredible evolutionary journey of the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous molluscs who would later abandon their shells to rise above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so - a journey completely independent from the route that mammals and birds would later take.
But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? 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''? 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.
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METAZOA - ANIMAL MINDS AND THE BIRTH OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Peter Godfrey-Smith
- William collins
- 29 Avril 2021
- 9780008321239
The scuba-diving philosopher and bestselling author of Other Minds explores the origins of animal consciousness. Dip below the ocean''s surface and you are soon confronted by forms of life that could not seem more foreign to our own: sea sponges, soft corals and flower-like worms, whose rooted bodies and intricate geometry are more reminiscent of plant life than anything recognisably animal. Yet these creatures are our cousins. As fellow members of the animal kingdom - theMetazoa - they can teach us about the evolutionary origins of not only our bodies, but also our minds. In his acclaimed book,Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith explored the mind of the octopus - the closest thing to an intelligent alien on Earth. InMetazoa, he expands his inquiry to animals at large, investigating the evolution of experience with the assistance of far-flung species.Godfrey-Smith shows that the appearance of the first animal body form well over half a billion years ago was a profound innovation that set life upon a new path. He charts the ways that subsequent evolutionary developments - eyes that track, for example, and bodies that move through and manipulate the environment - shaped the lives of animals. Following the evolutionary paths of a glass sponge, soft coral, banded shrimp, octopus and fish, then moving onto land and the world of insects, birds and primates like ourselves,Metazoa gathers these stories together to bridge the gap between matter and mind and address one of the most important philosophical questions: what is the origin of consciousness? Combining vivid animal encounters with philosophy and biology,Metazoareveals the impossibility of separating the evolution of our minds from the evolution of animals themselves.
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The scuba-diving philosopher and bestselling author of Other Minds explores the origins of animal consciousness. Dip below the ocean''s surface and you are soon confronted by forms of life that could not seem more foreign to our own: sea sponges, soft corals and flower-like worms, whose rooted bodies and intricate geometry are more reminiscent of plant life than anything recognisably animal. Yet these creatures are our cousins. As fellow members of the animal kingdom - theMetazoa - they can teach us about the evolutionary origins of not only our bodies, but also our minds. In his acclaimed book,Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith explored the mind of the octopus - the closest thing to an intelligent alien on Earth. InMetazoa, he expands his inquiry to animals at large, investigating the evolution of experience with the assistance of far-flung species.Godfrey-Smith shows that the appearance of the first animal body form well over half a billion years ago was a profound innovation that set life upon a new path. He charts the ways that subsequent evolutionary developments - eyes that track, for example, and bodies that move through and manipulate the environment - shaped the lives of animals. Following the evolutionary paths of a glass sponge, soft coral, banded shrimp, octopus and fish, then moving onto land and the world of insects, birds and primates like ourselves,Metazoa gathers these stories together to bridge the gap between matter and mind and address one of the most important philosophical questions: what is the origin of consciousness? Combining vivid animal encounters with philosophy and biology,Metazoareveals the impossibility of separating the evolution of our minds from the evolution of animals themselves.
