A Cephalopod Has Passed a Cognitive Test Designed For Human Children

[Nexus]

A new test of cephalopod smarts has reinforced how important it is for us humans to not underestimate animal intelligence.

Cuttlefish have been put to a new version of the marshmallow test, and the results appear to demonstrate that there's more going on in their strange little brains than we knew.

Their ability to learn and adapt, the researchers said, could have evolved to give cuttlefish an edge in the cutthroat eat-or-be-eaten marine world they live in.

The marshmallow test, or Stanford marshmallow experiment, is pretty straightforward. A child is placed in a room with a marshmallow. They are told if they can manage not to eat the marshmallow for 15 minutes, they'll get a second marshmallow, and be allowed to eat both.

..more.,

A Cephalopod Has Passed a Cognitive Test Designed For Human Children

A new test of cephalopod smarts has reinforced how important it is for us humans to not underestimate animal intelligence.

www.sciencealert.com

I, for one, welcome our new our new octopus overlords.

 

[Black Vulmea]

Most days, I find it utterly unremarkable that the Cabin Kids are on an intellectual par with squid.

 

[Nobby-W]

Most days, I find it utterly unremarkable that the Cabin Kids are on an intellectual par with squid.

I've seen folks in senior management positions who would give squid a run for their money.

 

[Endless Flight]

 

[Fenris-77]

I'm currently suffering through an indoor recess on what all the kids thought was going to be a blizzard day. I'll give the cuttlefish a clear lead.

 

[Nobby-W]

I'm currently suffering through an indoor recess on what all the kids thought was going to be a blizzard day. I'll give the cuttlefish a clear lead.

NOW I remember why I didn't go into teaching.

 

[Necrozius]

Maybe the only reason why we don’t have aquatic overlords right now is thanks to the endless war between the cuttlefish and octopi empires. Meanwhile, dolphins eat their most gifted scientists and warriors.

 

[Nexus]

I've read that many scientists believe that the only thing keeping some species of octopuses from developing civilization is that they have such short lifespans -- they only live four or five years, so they don't have enough time to learn things complex ideas and figure out how to pass them on to their offspring.

 

[Toadmaster]

View attachment 27518

I worked as a lifeguard one summer. I'm pretty sure many of my co-workers would not have scored well on a cognitive test against a cephalopod. In fact I doubt most would have known the word cognitive or cephalopod.

Honestly it was a great job except for my co-workers many of whom were spoiled turds.

 

[Séadna]

Debbie Downer time.

I will say the article is worded in a funny way. If you read the actual paper the cuttlefish don't come close to human children in the specific aspect of the test. In fact they're entire orders of magnitude lower than children and even an order of magnitude lower than primates. It's simply a test that historically originated from tests on children. The animal version is quite paired down compared to the original test. So the real title would be:

Cuttlefish pass simplified version of delayed gratification test with performance comparable to corvids and parrots.

And then of course it's an indirect test. Cuttlefish might be very intelligent, more so than tests currently reveal, they might just be very impatient by nature.

 

[Nobby-W]

Debbie Downer time.

I will say the article is worded in a funny way. If you read the actual paper the cuttlefish don't come close to human children in the specific aspect of the test. In fact they're entire orders of magnitude lower than children and even an order of magnitude lower than primates. It's simply a test that historically originated from tests on children. The animal version is quite paired down compared to the original test. So the real title would be:

Cuttlefish pass simplified version of delayed gratification test with performance comparable to corvids and parrots.

And then of course it's an indirect test. Cuttlefish might be very intelligent, more so than tests currently reveal, they might just be very impatient by nature.

I've still worked with plenty of middle management who really struggle with delayed gratification.

 

[CRKrueger]

I've read that many scientists believe that the only thing keeping some species of octopuses from developing civilization is that they have such short lifespans -- they only live four or five years, so they don't have enough time to learn things complex ideas and figure out how to pass them on to their offspring.

Yep, that’s it. People write a lot of stories about the Mad Scientist who wants to screw the world or the human race, by developing an Apocalypse Virus. My Mad Scientist would capture Octopi and other cephalopods on an industrial scale and use Crispr-Cas9 to hack long lifespan and tardigrade-level survivability their genomes. Then he could die happy knowing the inevitable outcome.

Or course what really will happen is China will conquer the world economically and spread it’s culture across the globe so everyone eats Octopi and they’ll go extinct. Either that, or an Octopi John Connor will rise out of the factory farmed aquaculture death camps.

 

[Raleel]

Debbie Downer time.

I will say the article is worded in a funny way. If you read the actual paper the cuttlefish don't come close to human children in the specific aspect of the test. In fact they're entire orders of magnitude lower than children and even an order of magnitude lower than primates. It's simply a test that historically originated from tests on children. The animal version is quite paired down compared to the original test. So the real title would be:

Cuttlefish pass simplified version of delayed gratification test with performance comparable to corvids and parrots.

And then of course it's an indirect test. Cuttlefish might be very intelligent, more so than tests currently reveal, they might just be very impatient by nature.

MY CUDDLEFISH IS A BEAUTIFUL SNOWFLAKE WHY CAN'T YOU SEE IT!!!!

;)

 

[Ladybird]

Maybe the only reason why we don’t have aquatic overlords right now is thanks to the endless war between the cuttlefish and octopi empires.

That's... almost exactly the background for Splatoon.

You get to play squid child soldiers, who are being trained to fight the next war through being told it's just a harmless sport that they're playing for fun...

 

[Toadmaster]

I've still worked with plenty of middle management who really struggle with delayed gratification.

I think it is fair to say most CEOs and politicians would do poorly on this test, being solely focused on this weeks TPS reports. 5 year plan, long term health of the company what's that?

 

[Giganotosaurus]

Man I wish, this species needs some competition. Ever since the Neanderthals said fuck it (literally) we've been on easy street.

 

[Gringnr]

Man I wish, this species needs some competition. Ever since the Neanderthals said fuck it (literally) we've been on easy street.

 

[AsenRG]

Yep, that’s it. People write a lot of stories about the Mad Scientist who wants to screw the world or the human race, by developing an Apocalypse Virus. My Mad Scientist would capture Octopi and other cephalopods on an industrial scale and use Crispr-Cas9 to hack long lifespan and tardigrade-level survivability their genomes. Then he could die happy knowing the inevitable outcome.

Or course what really will happen is China will conquer the world economically and spread it’s culture across the globe so everyone eats Octopi and they’ll go extinct. Either that, or an Octopi John Connor will rise out of the factory farmed aquaculture death camps.

What does China have to do with eating tasty, tasty octopi like the one I had dinner with last week?

And for the record, I prepared him (or her, we didn't bother checking) according to a traditional Italian recipe!

 

[Supervisor194]

Fancy cephalopod. One day I'm gonna pass that test.