The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

“humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness” and that “nonhuman animals, including all birds and mammals, and many other creatures, including octopuses [italics added], also possess these neurological substrates.”

pattern called the Lévy distribution. This search pattern is an effective way to find food, a method also known to be used by albatrosses, monkeys, and deer, and the flies made reasonable, not random, choices, too. Scientists have found similar patterns in human behavior, in the flow of e-mails, letters, and money (and, Brembs observed, in the paintings of Jackson Pollock).

“But look at all those neurons in the arms!” he said. “They may have a radically different style of psychological organization from us. Perhaps in octopus we see intelligence without a centralized self