this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2025
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Science Memes

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(page 2) 43 comments
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[–] humanspiral@lemmy.ca 13 points 12 hours ago

There are many documented Octopus escape/returns. But some of these details could be new/exaggerated.

[–] BogeyTheSwear@lemmy.zip 34 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (5 children)

If i was a multi Billionaire i would dedicate my vast wealth to building an Institute that breeds only the most intelligent octopi with each other.

They don't live so long, so generations go by fast. I bet we could speedrun evolution if we just put our money where our tentacles are.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 16 points 13 hours ago

If you want to read a book about super intelligent cephalopods Children of Ruin the second book of the Children of Time book is interesting.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 25 points 14 hours ago (6 children)

I know that you mean well, but that is an extremely 'Evil Billionaire' thing to do

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[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip -1 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

Higher intelligence is a cost in evolution, so it doesn't keep unless neccessary for survival.

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[–] monkeyslikebananas2@lemmy.world 9 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I’m not scared

Definitely not scared… 😳

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[–] PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 19 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Octopus didn't memorize shit. They saw fish and went to get them. Security guard don't give a fuck about the fish tanks, they were at the gate all night.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 10 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Can confirm, have been a guard.

'Rounds' were check boxes on a piece of paper. TF do I care whether doors are secure, it's not my department store.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 11 hours ago

Can rebut; was also a guard, briefly, first with rounds at a remote pulp mill, and then pit-lamping hobos at a construction site. Raccoons and bears and cougars -- oh my!

[–] Hupf@feddit.org 11 points 14 hours ago (2 children)
[–] vonxylofon@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago

Welcome, fellow octopodes enthusiast.

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[–] chickenf622@sh.itjust.works 53 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

I would believe it, those fuckers are smart and if they were social creatures I think they would be in competition with humans for the dominant species . This is an opinion of a person not super well versed on octopi so take this with a good size grain of salt.

[–] Sphks@jlai.lu 56 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Their lifespan is an issue. They live around 2 to 3 years before dying.

[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 20 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (2 children)

Also, the act of reproducing kills the mother. Basically starved to death protecting the eggs. No generational knowledge transfer.

[–] accideath@feddit.org 8 points 13 hours ago

Also doesn’t help that they live underwater. Makes it kinda hard to harness the power of fire or electricity. Especially the former was very important for human domination

[–] Natanox@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

And the dad doesn't care. Pfeh, typical. /lh

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[–] baguettefish@discuss.tchncs.de 48 points 19 hours ago (3 children)

there are social octopuses, like the larger pacific striped octopus. imo octopuses had 150 million years to rule the planet and they just weren't good enough. skill issue. us humans only had 2-4 million years. i'd say we're doing quite well comparatively.

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 62 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Maybe their version of "rule the planet" involved mostly just hanging out in their den and thinking interesting thoughts.

[–] LadyButterfly@piefed.blahaj.zone 39 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Yep they just hang out and do wtf they want to do. They're not going to work and having politics about whose turn it is to make coffee, or why Will should never have got promoted over Kay. Really they're the smarter species

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[–] scratchee@feddit.uk 54 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

They ruled the planet for 150 million years and didn’t ruin the environment once ? What are they even doing?

We’re clearly superior, who else could speed run the mass extinction end game?

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 16 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

They ruled the planet for 150 million years and didn’t ruin the environment once ?

That's what Cthulhu wants you to think.

[–] HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org 5 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

They survived the K-T extiction event or K-Pg event which killed perhaps 75% of species in earth 66 million years ago.

While we are already causing an extinction event which will probably turn out far worse, by causing temperatures to rise to a level higher than in hundreds of millions of years - far outside the range modern life has adapted to. And I am not so sure that we ourselves can survive that in the long run. Humans are incredibly adaptable, that's right. But our food sources are not, not even things like grasses, wheat, or trees, let alone mammals, the great mayority of them (except perhaps algae and mushrooms) are far younger in an evolutionary sense, so it is unlikely they can adapt.

[–] baguettefish@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 11 hours ago

temperatures have been higher, what hasn't happened yet is temperatures changing at such speeds

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[–] NaibofTabr 13 points 16 hours ago

Fire is a major limitation.

[–] sudoshakes@reddthat.com 23 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

Octopi if the base word was Latin. It’s Greek, so octopodes for plural. Technically.

Because English is a bastard if a language octopuses and octopi are fine too.

[–] GandalftheBlack@feddit.org 2 points 12 hours ago

If it was Latin, the singular would be octoped(e) and the plural would be octopedes

[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 1 points 12 hours ago

Octopodes?

Ahk-top-o-deez nutz.

English can always make things worse.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago

I nominate "octopodusai" to be the new English plural. (Where'd the "a" come from? To make it easier to confuse 'ai' with æ because fuck you, that's why, of course!)

[–] ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 1 points 14 hours ago

So "eight foot" and "eight feet"?

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 65 points 20 hours ago

Multiple similar stories:

https://youtube.com/shorts/iork5qOyCNs

https://mishpacha.com/octopus-escapades/

My favorite is one who would squirt water at lights to turn them off.

https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-36051623

[–] grue@lemmy.world 14 points 17 hours ago

I'm disappointed that this didn't appear in my feed adjacent to the "teaching an octopus to play piano" video for a nice screenshot.

[–] TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago
[–] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 4 points 15 hours ago

Makes me sad tbh.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 7 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Dude was probably a stealth gamer in previous life.

[–] Akasazh@feddit.nl 2 points 14 hours ago

Aquatic Hitman 47

[–] Tooden@aus.social 4 points 20 hours ago

@LadyButterfly Alt text available on link.
This is such a wonderfully funny story. Yes, octopuses are scary clever.

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