Other Minds

Peter Godfrey Smith, 2016

Meet an intelligence evolved on a separate branch of life, and discover how octopus bodies, senses, short lives, and social experiments reshape the question of consciousness.

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6 parts, about 17 minutes to read.

Why read it

Uses the octopus, a mind evolved on a separate branch of life, to ask how inner experience arose at all
Changes how you picture intelligence: not a ladder topped by humans, but control spread through a flexible body
Written by a diver who weighs field and lab evidence and marks plainly where speculation begins

Who it is for

Divers and naturalists curious about what animals feel
Philosophy readers interested in consciousness and evolution
Ocean lovers worried about overfishing and acidification

What the summary covers

A Meeting Across the Tree of Life2 min
Before Brains: Sensing, Acting, Coordinating3 min
A Mind Built Through a Flexible Body3 min
Sentience and an Unfamiliar Self4 min
A Brilliant Life Compressed2 min
Octopolis and Parallel Minds3 min

Recommended by

China MiévilleAuthor of Kraken
To investigate these astonishing animals with such empathy and rigour is achievement enough.
Jennifer AckermanAuthor of The Genius of Birds
I love this book, its masterful blend of natural history, philosophy, and wonder

About the author

Peter Godfrey SmithProfessor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Sydney
- Born in Australia in 1965; PhD in philosophy from UC San Diego in 1991
- Previously taught at Harvard, Stanford, ANU and the CUNY Graduate Center
- Won the 2010 Lakatos Award for Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection
- Scuba diver and underwater photographer since 2008; his octopus videos appeared in National Geographic and New Scientist
- Elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2022