What's it like to be an octopus
I am watching a YouTube video titled The Insane Biology of: The Octopus and it just showed a cross-section of octopus skin. There is an outer layer called papillae, that can raise into bumps and ridges. Beneath that there are three layers:
Chromatophores; black, red and yellow pigment cells. Each one under neuromuscular control, expanding or contracting to produce blocks of color.
Iridophores; create reflective, iridescent effects.
Leucophores; reflect white light or whatever ambient light is present.
With these three layers an octopus can not only change color, mimic texture and reflect ambient color, but can also, in a sense, “see” through its skin, as the activities in these cells are directly interacting with its brain cells.
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At this point I immediately thought of the famous essay I’ve been reading, What It’s Like to Be a Bat by Thomas Nagel, and I couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to be an octopus and SEE WITH MY SKIN!
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In his novel The Mountain in The Sea, Ray Nayler takes a stab at this by describing how it's like to control cybernetic tools which are clearly modeled after octopus biology.
