Tijelo koje misli

Trećeg jutra, Chiara je postavila novi eksperiment. Stavila je mali akrilni labirint na dno spremnika. U sredini je bio komadić rakovog mesa. Zidovi su bili prozirni, ali putanja je bila složena: dva desna skretanja, jedno lijevo i mala vrata koja su se otvarala samo s jedne strane.

On the third morning, Chiara set up a new experiment. She placed a small acrylic maze on the floor of the tank. There was a piece of crab meat at the centre. The walls were clear, but the route was complex: two right turns, a left, and a small gate that opened from one side only.

Pasta je promatrala iz svog kuta. Chiara se povukla unatrag.

Pasta watched from her corner. Chiara stepped back.

Ono što je Polly vidjela bilo je nešto što nikad prije nije vidjela.

What Polly saw next was something she had never seen before.

Pasta je poslala dvije ruke prema labirintu prije nego što je tijelo napustilo kut. Dvije ruke su se kretale neovisno. Jedna je išla preko vrha. Druga je klizila po podu, u labirint. Ruke nisu bile usklađene. Kretale su se kao da su zasebna bića.

Pasta sent two arms toward the maze before her body left the corner. The two arms moved independently. One went over the top. The other slid along the floor, into the maze. The arms did not coordinate. They moved as if they were separate creatures.

Ovo nije bila metafora. Hobotnica ima oko petsto milijuna neurona. Dvije trećine njih nisu u središnjem mozgu. Nalaze se u rukama. Svaka ruka ima svoj živčani sustav. Svaka ruka može riješiti jednostavne probleme sama.

This was not a metaphor. An octopus has about five hundred million neurons. Two thirds of them are not in the central brain. They are in the arms. Each arm has its own nervous system. Each arm can solve simple problems on its own.

Prva ruka je prošla kroz hodnik. Došla je do prvog skretanja, zastala, osjetila i skrenula. Druga ruka je pronašla mala vrata i ispitivala njihove rubove. Prva ruka je stigla do vrata iznutra. Druga ruka je gurala izvana. Vrata su se otvorila.

The first arm threaded the corridor. It hit the first turn, paused, felt, and turned. The second arm found the small gate and tested its edges. The first arm reached the gate from inside. The second arm pushed from outside. The gate opened.

Ruka je uzela rakovo meso.

The arm took the crab meat.

Pasta nije pomaknula tijelo iz svog kuta.

Pasta had not moved her body from her corner.

Chiara, gledajući video, polako je izdahnula. "Ruke su došle do hrane. Je li hobotnica riješila labirint ili su to učinile dvije ruke zajedno? Ne znamo."

Chiara, watching the video, exhaled slowly. "The arms got the food. Did the octopus solve the maze, or did the two arms solve it together? We do not know."

Polly je gledala Pastu. Hobotnica se polako protegnula, skupila ruke i povukla rakovo meso prema kljunu.

Polly looked at Pasta. The octopus stretched slowly, gathered her arms together, and pulled the crab meat to her beak.

Postoji izraz koji znanstvenici koriste kada ne mogu smjestiti stvorenje u kategorije koje su imali prije nego što su ga upoznali. Strana inteligencija. Polly je mislila da je to poetski. Danas je to preispitala. Možda je doslovno.

There is a phrase scientists use when they cannot fit a creature into the categories they had before they met it. Alien intelligence. Polly had thought it was poetic. Today she revised that. It might be literal.