Ep. 102: What is it Like to Be an Octopus? (Part I)

In this episode, Giuseppe and Anthony discuss a number of issues pertaining to human and animal consciousness raised by Godfrey-Smith's article, "On Being an Octopus." What do octopi have to do with consciousness? What are qualia? What would it be like to taste through your fingers, or to feel the world through your tongue>. How would having a "decentralized" nervous system alter the feeling of being conscious? If an octopus doesn't have a "self," can it even be considered one thing? Or is it more accurate to think of "an octopus" as something akin to "a community of things" that we jointly refer to for the sake of simplicity? Link to Godfrey-Smith's article: https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/peter-godfrey-smith-being-octopus/