The octopus will replace humanity

[gwand]

What animal will replace humans as Earth's dominant species? This scientist has an idea

Human beings have been at the center of ecological change on Earth for thousands of years. But as history shows, no species lasts forever.

www.earth.com

 

[GaryE]

Wait, this is the Age of Bacteria. We aren't dominant - we're just farms that allow our bacteria to get around.

 

[Innesfan]

Wow. How much time do we have? I mean, can I buy green bananas?

 

[MaloK]

Just imagine...

A 4 members octopus rock band.

The first octopus on the moon...

That requires a lot of imagination.

 

[lottabubbles]

well if you think about it, they have been around for over 300 million years and they haven't built anything yet.

 

[GaryE]

I think the general idea is we'll become extinct, like all species. Intelligent animals that survive us will be the most intelligent life on the planet. They probably won't build civilizations (ants and termites are pretty skilled though), but they'll have a good time doing what they do and thinking what they think.
We're a bit like termites eating a building, or Ich in a fishtank in planetary terms, and I hope whatever replaces us enjoys its world and doesn't have that compulsion for endless growth on a finite planet. It's really great place, and whether Homo sapiens is here or not, it'll somehow manage to keep being a great place in spite of us.

 

[gwand]

After humans either become extinct or leave the planet in a battery of Musk starships to ravage another perfect world, perhaps the octopus will evolve over several million years to build aquatic civilizations. Evolution is a relentless process. Every epoch has its king. Humans today, octopuses tomorrow?

 

[MaloK]

Somehow they would probably evolve toward a more humanoid form.

Also as an aquatic species, Even with ways to manipulate the environment as good as ours, They still have to get out of the water before getting out of the planet.

Their civilization would be on another level that we can't imagine. It's pretty difficult to envision them mastering metallurgy and building anything technological under water even with the brains and means.

 

[gwand]

Maybe it will be a civilization of intellectual thought. Philosophical ideas reaching heights humans can’t imagine or comprehend.

 

[anewbie]

Just because they have 8 arms doesn't mean they are a better.

 

[gwand]

Scientific studies have shown that certain species of octopus have as much intelligence as chimpanzees. And the article is not saying that octopuses in their present form would inherit the Earth. The article is speculating that the process of evolution may work its magic on the octopus as it did on Homo sapien.

 

[GaryE]

No creatures are kings, except maybe for E. coli. I still seriously think this is the Age of Bacteria. They are much more successful than we are, and they'll outlast us and octopi. Although it may sound like animism, there is even a lot going on underfoot, with fungi, bacteria and plants. I think we've finally learned enough to know how little we know, and looking more closely is showing us intelligence evolved early, and shows itself in a lot more than we used to think. It may not be intelligence as we define it in ourselves (where it seems less and less of it is there for discovery sometimes).

There are still people who deny fish have nervous systems to process pain, in an era when we're learning about chemical communication in plants, ant societies, other mammals and several birds using tools, the brain and nervous system of an octopus, etc. This is the coolest planet we know, and we are lucky little mammals to be here and be capable of learning about it.

The next time you hug a tree, maybe it will use its microrrhizal network to tell its buddies your armpits smell dangerous.

 

[Fishmanic]

Did you know an Octopus has 3 hearts. It also has nerve clusters on each of its eight arms...sort of like mini brains.
Here's some interesting fact about the Octopus.

https://www.sheddaquarium.org/stories/eight-strange-and-wonderful-facts-about-octopuses

 

[MaloK]

Octopus are widely considered alien to this planet.

I think basically the environment produces evolution, if it doesn't change, status-quo can remain for long periods.

What caused sapiens to overcome is basically changes in the environment that other couldn't overcome.

The fittest is not necessarily the brightest and not the strongest too. But a bit of both can bring changes.

But, in the evolutionary context of our planet, Apes are the next contenders for a sudden drastic step.

 

[gwand]

No creatures are kings, except maybe for E. coli. I still seriously think this is the Age of Bacteria. They are much more successful than we are, and they'll outlast us and octopi. Although it may sound like animism, there is even a lot going on underfoot, with fungi, bacteria and plants. I think we've finally learned enough to know how little we know, and looking more closely is showing us intelligence evolved early, and shows itself in a lot more than we used to think. It may not be intelligence as we define it in ourselves (where it seems less and less of it is there for discovery sometimes).

There are still people who deny fish have nervous systems to process pain, in an era when we're learning about chemical communication in plants, ant societies, other mammals and several birds using tools, the brain and nervous system of an octopus, etc. This is the coolest planet we know, and we are lucky little mammals to be here and be capable of learning about it.

The next time you hug a tree, maybe it will use its microrrhizal network to tell its buddies your armpits smell dangerous.

Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohllenben and The Forest Unseen by David George Haskell are two excellent books about the sophisticated lives of earth’s flora.