What Do Octopuses Feel?

I started this post a week or so ago.  And I previously posted about David Scheel's book, Many Things Under a Rock.  But our book club met this past week and David Scheel, an Alaska Pacific University (APU) professor, attended the meeting.  I would like to spend more time on the book, but it's due at the library and I have many things on a list to do. So this is pretty quick and dirty.  [He would have much preferred, he said only half jokingly, that we bought our copies rather than borrowed from the library."]

Scheel at our meeting comparing the
anatomy of a stuffed octopus 
to a real octopuses parts

In his book about his study of octopuses* one of the questions David Scheel, asks is, "Do animals share some feelings, like hunger and fear?"

Prior to this question he described observing an octopus leave the protection of its den, to search for food.  There's the conflict between fear (and the safety of the octopuses den) and wandering out in search of food, where it's more vulnerable to predators.  

Scheel writes:

"Do animals share some feelings, like hunger and fear?  These feelings are imperative and evolutionarily ancient.  There are perhaps no more basic feelings than the urges to eat and to avoid being eaten.  Australian physiologist Derek Denton named these ancient and demanding urges the primordial emotions." (p. 191)

We learn from Scheel that Denton identified other primordial emotions:  

"thirst, breathlessness (air hunger), food hunger, pain, salt hunger, muscle fatigue, sleepiness, the urge to pass urine, the urge to defecate. sexual orgasm, and the urge to regulate body temperature." (p. 192)

I guess I can accept the notion that these are 'feelings.'  We 'feel' hungry, thirsty, horny, like we need to pee, or need air.  But are these emotions?  We don't need to quibble about words if we agree to define them, for the purpose of the discussion.  But going a step further, Scheel asks whether octopuses are self-aware.  

He discusses octopus activity when different predators are nearby and tells us they act differently depending on the type of predator.  They are extremely cautious and tend to stay in their dens when a lurking, lunging predator lies waiting.  

"Octopuses do not react in the same way to every predator.  An octopus may freeze briefly or adopt a more camouflaged body pattern when a fast moving predator looms into view, but once the predator has passed normal activity returns. Swarming predators, such as he sometimes aggressive Ocean Leatherjakets, are usually ignored if near the den despite the fact that they can mob and kill an octopus that finds itself without shelter. . . Only the presence of a particular kind of predator shut down octopuses for the entire day - a sit-and-wait predator that lurked motionless nearby, awaiting a careless move." (pp. 207-208)

I'm comfortable accepting that this shows an ability to categorize, in this case, different categories of predators.  But whether this is a sign of self awareness is a different issue for me.  It could be an inherited ability passed on from octopuses with it, because it enabled them to survive better.  

Scheel also describes an encounter with an octopus.  He's following an octopus from a distance.  At some point the octopus is aware that Scheel is there.  He has his eye on Scheel as he hides the rest of his body by flattening it and changing its colors.  Scheel tells us that being able to hide itself from a predator shows that the octopus understands what the predator can see.  I realized that I had never thought about that particular skill - the ability to understand how and what another creature can see.

In another example, he tells us about having eye contact with another octopus.  Scheel looked away for a second and the octopus noticed that distraction and took advantage of it to disappear.  

I'm not sure why this surprised me.  I have assumed without thinking, that most animals can do this.  Again, is 'other awareness' a sign of consciousness?  Of self-awareness?

I don't know.  And Scheel, both in the book and at our book club, emphasized that our knowledge of octopus behavior is in its infancy.  Observing wild octopus is challenging,  and biologists aren't sure what captured octopus behavior reflects wild octopus behavior. Knowing what an octopus is thinking and even if it is thinking is a real challenge. At this point much of what we know is speculation based on limited observation and for further research to confirm or reject.  

I do recommend the book.  I said at the meeting that I found it very readable.  The chapters were clearly written mixing octopus encounters and observations with thoughts about octopus behavior and even inclusions of other animal behavior (Scheel studied lions in Tanzania for example.)  But that I found one chapter, maybe two, enough for one sitting. The end of one chapter didn't demand I read the next one.  Scheel said that made sense, since many of the chapters were written as stand alone articles.  

*I asked before the meeting formally began why 'octopuses' instead of 'octopi.'  He said it was a long story and then we got distracted and the meeting began.  I asked because in the book it was always octopuses, not octopi.  

"It's been two months since I blogged. Considering that I am . . ."

From Ursula LeGuin's No Time To Spare:

"It's been two months since I blogged.  Considering that I am on the eve of my eighty-fifth birthday, and that anyone over seven-five who isn't continuously and conspicuously active is able to be considered dead, I thought I should make some signs of life.  Wave from the grave, as it were.  Hello, out there!  How are things in the Land of Youth?  Here in the Land of Age they are rather weird."

While for me, it's only been four days, and I still have daylight between now and 85, I am over 75 and don't want to be considered dead yet.  

For years and years I blogged pretty much daily.  And when I'm engaged in an important story (say Redistricting) blogging does take front and center in my life still.  But I've also given myself permission to take days off.  But don't want to have too many blank pages here.

So here's a list of other distractions:

1.  Technical - Getting photos from my phone to my laptop stopped working

I thought I'd conquered this, but the AirDrop stopped working again and the original fix didn't stick. Photos are an important part of this blog (at least for me).  Monday, when we went for a hike, I took along my bigger Canon so I could use the memory card to get the pictures onto my MacBook.  After two photos the battery stopped working.  

So I reverted back to the phone.  I'd find a way.  I figured I could upload the pictures to Blogspot (the blog site I'm using) on my phone. Easy Peasy.  But I couldn't.  I googled.  Here's what I found on google support::  (Google bought Blogspot long ago as well as other independent apps I've used for the blog)

"If your photo is on your phone, it is probably in Apple Photos. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there is no direct upload from Photos to Blogger. You must therefore export the image to your phone as a jpg. Then you can upload it into Blogger using the "from device" option in the Blogger post editor.

I do not know how to export the image to your phone as a jpg. But once you copy it into Blogger, you can delete the jpg file."

Or on Apple discussions

"iPhoto pictures no longer upload to Blogger with Mojave 10.14.6 update installed"

I've been thinking I might need to get a more current iPhone and even upgrade my laptop (it's about nine years old and the letters on six keys are no longer readable), but I have pulled out my old Canon Powershot and I'll use that until then.  It has a memory card I can insert into my laptop.  But as I think about it, I'm sure the newer laptops no longer have a spot to insert a memory card.  

2.  Other things - Reading online

Twitter and Spoutible - Despite everything, Twitter still alerts me to important items of (I hate to use this term because it's so overused) 'breaking' news, particularly Anchorage and Alaska related things.  Mainly because I've been careful to pick who I follow, I don't get a lot of garbage tweets. But as Twitter goes X-tinct,  Spoutible is getting more 'useful' Spouters (useful here meaning people who put up things I want to hear about) but I'm still getting too many "Hope you all are doing great this morning!" Spouts.  There's nothing wrong with them, but that's not why I'm on Spoutible.  

Spoutible also got its Android app up and then a couple of weeks later the IOS app was ready.  I downloaded it, but I couldn't type in the login info.  My keyboard didn't work.  Their announcements had said that the iPhone 7 still had some problems, so I deleted it.  When I downloaded it again a few days ago, I could log in.  But the keyboard doesn't work when I try to reply or to Spout.  

I've put Twitter and Spoutible under Reading.  I spend way too much time on these apps.  They were supposed to give me tips for blog posts (and they do) as well as back up information I can use to support my arguments on the blog.  But they are also addictive.  It's like fishing or slot machines, you're always hoping the next one will be good, and enough are, that you keep casting or putting more money in, when you should just walk away.  

3.  Other things - Reading books

I've got the following three books that I'm actively working on:

Boy, I didn't realize how relatively poor the images are on the Canon Powershot compared to my phone.  Demon Copperhead is for my September book club meeting (but I thought it was for August so I started it because it's long). No Time to Spare is the August book.  It's essays Le Guin wrote late in life (as the quote at the beginning of this post suggests) and so far it's focusing on being old.  She's not sugar-coating things.  Blowback is by Miles Taylor, a Republican who worked as a high level Homeland Security appointee in the Trump administration and is using the book to warn people about how crazy Trump is and the kinds of things to be expected in a second Trump administration.  Because Trump wanted to do them (and in some cases did) during his presidency.  But this time, Taylor warns, Trump and the conservative interests that back him, are better organized to make them happen.  Basically like establishing a Fascist regime supporting the wealthy and making life harder for everyone else, particularly those who aren't white, Christian, heterosexual men.  

As I figure out ways I can contribute to protecting democracy in the 2024 election, books like this give me facts to convince non-voters why they need to vote. Non-voters are the key.  But I'm not giving up on Trumpers either though that's time spent doing more work for smaller gains.  

But while people say the hard core Trump supporters are a cult, immune to reason and reality, I know that people leave cults all the time.  Cult-Escape is just one of many websites (not necessarily the best) for people thinking about getting out.  I also know that the Trump cult is reinforced by trolls who spew out misinformation at high volume, whether they do it on their own, for money, or with the support of foreign governments.  They exaggerate the number of people who support the Trump world of lies.  

There are several other books, newspapers that tempt me away from the blog (all in the guise of keeping me informed and giving me material for the blog.)

3.  Other things - local events

I listened in on the Alaska Board of Education hearings on a policy to ban transgender girls from girls sports. (You can find the written testimony here, here, here, here, and here.) While I have lots to say, the anti-ban crowd made many good arguments I don't have to duplicate.  

But what no one mentioned (while I listened in anyway) was the fact that the Board began the meeting with a Christian prayer that ended with "in Jesus' name."  

Here's a government board, holding a public hearing on a policy that is being heavily pushed by Christian Nationalists (and other Christians who would legitimately reject the Nationalist part) and beginning with a Christian prayer, that excludes those who are agnostic or atheists, and members of religions that do not worship Jesus Christ.  I can only think of two reasons for this:

1. To show their power to add their religion into their governmental function - that they can get away with this
2. Because they are so sheltered from the non-Christian world that they don't realize how offensive this is to people who don't see the world the way they do.  

(A PEW Trust study copyrighted in 2021 found that 37% of Alaskans identify as in religions other than Christianity or no religion. That's more than 1/3.  Under 

"Frequency of participation in prayer, scripture study or religious education groups among adults in Alaska"

fully 69% responded "seldom or never.")

If the Board is so out of touch with people who are not devout Christians that they can open this public meeting with a Christian prayer, imagine how out of touch they are with transgender youth!  This is not a representative body of Alaskans making this decision.  Even the Alaska legislature rejected this and the Governor has now asked a body that he's (mostly) personally appointed to do what the people's elected representatives wouldn't do.  

OK, so that by itself is a synopsis of a blog post I've been thinking about.  

There was also Juneteenth and Gay Pride which I didn't post about because I couldn't easily get my photos up.  

4.  Other things - biking and the garden

I took my bike in for a service yesterday.  There's a regular clank sound every time my right pedal is forward. It's been about four years and I've ridden it a lot (for an old man anyway) each summer. As of yesterday I've biked 762 km (473 miles) since April.  Last year my goal was 1000km which I passed and I'm well on my way to doing the same this summer.  I put it down here only because it takes up about five or six hours a week.  But mentally the biking is good for my blogging.  

Reviewing this before posting I realize I left out the gardening part.  I'll just say my favorite gardening book is No Work Garden.  Much of the hill in our backyard is natural - birch, alder, high bush cranberry and other local fauna.  We've focused on perennials which come back on their own. And the front lawn, much to the chagrin of our neighbors (though they've come to accept it over the years) is clover right now along with rock garden perennials along the sidewalk.  Gardening enthusiasm is highest in the spring when the snow is gone and things start poking out of the earth.  I have put in hours of weeding and thinning, and I do just enjoy wandering the yard to see all the daily surprises.  

5.  Other things - Netflix

We're currently juggling The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, Suits, Friday Night Lights, and random other movies or short series that some variety.  After watching several seasons of Suits I've concluded we would all be much better off if we had script writers to help us with our day-to-day interactions.  

Netflix takes a toll in my blog writing time.  

6.  Other things - Tutoring English

One of the more delightful activities this spring and summer has been tutoring a Ukrainian refugee in Ketchikan in English.  His English is good enough to communicate what he needs to say, but we're adding vocabulary, pronunciation (both sounds and sentence rhythms), grammar, and cultural nuances.  We were paired by Catholic Social Services' Refugee Assistance and Immigration Service (RAIS) and it's a great match, pedagogically and personally.  We tend to have a good time even though I work him hard.  Planning lessons and actually doing the lessons take up four to eight hours a week, depending on if we meet once or twice a week.  Twice a week is the norm.  

There are other things as well - the general maintenance people have to do in their lives, paying bills, getting things cleaned and repaired, getting and preparing food (fortunately, my wife has done the lion's share of this in recent years in part because she's not that excited about my cooking), and I'm sure you can add to the list.  

But I'm committed to writing here on important topics.  But I must say, that the local political and legal events I spent so much time on in previous years are being better covered by others now.  Twitter has been a big addition there as well as more local reporters covering events.  That just wasn't the case back in 2006 when I started blogging.  And it took me a while to jump from more mundane blogging to more public affairs blogging.  

Have a good weekend.  We're having more sun and warmth than we did earlier this summer.  But compared to much of the world, the weather has been very comfortable and the air quality good.