Naturebang

Octopuses and the Mind-Body Problem


Listen Later

What is this thing we call "consciousness"? It feels like a non-physical thing that somehow exists as a separate entity to our physical body. We might think of it as being located up in our brain where our internal chatter is generated, but the 'mind' still somehow feels separate to the 'brain'.

Then along comes an octopus to complicate the matter. Octopuses clearly have consciousness and high intelligence. But the last common ancestor between us and them is a flatworm that trawled the sea floor about 750 million years ago, so it's not surprising that their brains have evolved to be very different to ours. In fact, some people say they have nine brains. This is due to a complex neural network that runs throughout their body, meaning they have the ability to make different decisions from all eight arms without having to send messages back up to the central brain.

So how can the mind of an octopus be seperate to its body? And does this mean that our mind and body are also one and the same?

Featuring writer Sy Montgomery, author of 'The Soul of an Octopus', and philosopher Julian Baggini, author of 'How the World Thinks'.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

NaturebangBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

10 ratings


More shows like Naturebang

View all
More or Less by BBC Radio 4

More or Less

891 Listeners

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4 by BBC Radio 4

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4

2,107 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

2,071 Listeners

No Such Thing As A Fish by No Such Thing As A Fish

No Such Thing As A Fish

4,868 Listeners

Comedy of the Week by BBC Radio 4

Comedy of the Week

482 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

404 Listeners

Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

Curious Cases

816 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

229 Listeners

CrowdScience by BBC World Service

CrowdScience

479 Listeners

Evil Genius with Russell Kane by BBC Sounds

Evil Genius with Russell Kane

369 Listeners

Sliced Bread by BBC Radio 4

Sliced Bread

123 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,224 Listeners

The world, the universe and us by New Scientist

The world, the universe and us

115 Listeners

The Rest Is Entertainment by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Entertainment

873 Listeners

Rare Earth by BBC Radio 4

Rare Earth

14 Listeners