Kroppen der Tænker

På den tredje morgen satte Chiara et nyt eksperiment op. Hun placerede en lille akryl-labyrint på bunden af tanken. Der var et stykke krabbekød i midten. Væggene var gennemsigtige, men ruten var kompleks: to højresving, et venstresving og en lille port, der kun åbnede fra den ene side.

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 kiggede fra sit hjørne. Chiara trådte tilbage.

Pasta watched from her corner. Chiara stepped back.

Det, Polly så næste gang, var noget, hun aldrig havde set før.

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

Pasta sendte to arme mod labyrinten, før hendes krop forlod hjørnet. De to arme bevægede sig uafhængigt. Den ene gik over toppen. Den anden gled langs bunden, ind i labyrinten. Armene koordinerede ikke. De bevægede sig, som om de var separate væsener.

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.

Dette var ikke en metafor. En blæksprutte har omkring fem hundrede millioner neuroner. To tredjedele af dem er ikke i den centrale hjerne. De er i armene. Hver arm har sit eget nervesystem. Hver arm kan løse simple problemer på egen hånd.

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.

Den første arm trådte gennem korridoren. Den nåede det første sving, standsede, følte, og drejede. Den anden arm fandt den lille port og testede dens kanter. Den første arm nåede porten indefra. Den anden arm skubbede udefra. Porten åbnede.

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.

Armen tog krabbekødet.

The arm took the crab meat.

Pasta havde ikke flyttet sin krop fra sit hjørne.

Pasta had not moved her body from her corner.

Chiara, der så videoen, åndede langsomt ud. "Armene fik maden. Løste blæksprutten labyrinten, eller løste de to arme den sammen? Vi ved det ikke."

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 kiggede på Pasta. Blæksprutten strakte sig langsomt, samlede sine arme, og trak krabbekødet til sit næb.

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

Der er en sætning, forskere bruger, når de ikke kan passe en skabning ind i de kategorier, de havde, før de mødte den. Fremmed intelligens. Polly havde tænkt, det var poetisk. I dag ændrede hun det. Det kunne være bogstaveligt.

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.