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Octopuses Have No Personalities and Enjoy HDTV
Whiteox writes about an Australian researcher named Renata Pronk, who has discovered that octopuses prefer HDTV. She recruited 32 gloomy octopuses from the waters of Chowder Bay. Previously, researchers have reported little success when showing video to octopuses. Miss Pronk's insight was that the octopus eye is so refined that it might see standard PAL video, at 25 fps, as a series of stills. She tried HDTV (50 fps) and her subjects reacted to the videos of a crab, another octopus, or a swinging bottle on the end of a string. A further discovery is that octopuses show no trait of individual personalities, even though they exhibit a high level of intelligence. It would certainly be possible to quibble about the definition of "personality" employed, and whether Miss Pronk had successfully measured it.
...your standard geek.
What, too close to home? :)
Only Australians would be cruel enough to give Vegemite to poor defenseless octopi.
When I read that headline, I thought it applied to many of the people I know as well...
just remember that.
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
That is all.
HGTV -- Home and Garden Television : The bane of many a married man's existence. Maybe they should design octopus habitats that adhere to the principles of Feng Shui : "Oh my god! That's perfect! It just balances out the energy of the algae encrusted rock in the center!"
jdb2
I think that by understanding a creature as alien to us as an octopus, we're learning more about what is 'intelligence'. While they're not going to be developing a civilization any time soon, its cool to have an invertebrate that on many levels is closer to primate intelligence than many mammals.
FTFA:
"The definition of personality," she said, "is having repetition in your responses, for example, being consistently bold, or consistently shy, or consistently aggressive."
She went on to say that any individual octopus had random, inconsistent, reactions to the same stimuli on any random day.
So octopus are like women?
Oceanianica News (Deep under Chowder Bay): In an important press release today the octopuses involved in the Cowderbay Excursion report on their scientific excursion into the ape territory to assess the intelligence and personality of the horrific to look at four creatures with four limbs that only move on two of them that call themselves humans. The 32 members of the scientific team were specially trained in observational techniques that emphasized uniform behaviors so as to minimize the impact of their presence on the lower life forms being studied.
A four limbed creature who self identifies as "Miss Pronk" was extensively interviewed and examined. She attempted to use primitive externalized colored skin image projectors to get the 32 excursion members to react. Her primitive attempts at communication failed with what she called "PAL". Then the subject attempted to communicate using something she called "HDTV" by showing images of food. At the sight of a captive octopus the excursion members elected for a quick withdrawal back to the forward base camp in Chowder Bay (human's name for it). The members of the excursion ensured at all times to not reveal any individuality by using the uniform motion training instilled in all octopus from birth.
An assessment from the team after their safe return to Aquatica City was that the human subject lacked any personality during any of the tests. She failed to move on her two upper limbs and also failed to use her lower limbs except for moving about. In addition she had enclosed herself inside an flexible and rigid outer shell and refused all attempts to leave her shell so that we could examine her personality up close.
Naturally the humans require additional study. Under no circumstances should attempts be made to communicate with them until the safe return of the captive octopus hostages can be executed.
In addition it was discovered that while some humans have an additional appendage that is usually kept in the shell the human self identified as Miss Pronk failed to accept any of the advances by the others to have her interact with this appendage. For this reason we conclude that Miss Pronk has no personality.
The plural is octopodes, not octopi.
Ok, a couple of problems here:
- Standard video is not 24 frames per second, as the original article states. That's the speed for film, not video.
- 1080i HDTV is displayed at the same frame rate as standard definition TV. In PAL land, that's 50 fields per second, which makes 25 frames per second.
- Even at 720p's 50 full frames per second in PAL countries, that does not give the perception of smoother motion. SDTV will give you 50 half-resolution fields per second, and 720P will give you 50 full-resolution frames per second. The motion smoothness will be essentially the same. The real difference is the resolution delivered with each picture.
So, in other words, they're just like most slashdotters?
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
"that it might see standard PAL video, at 25 fps, as a series of stills. She tried HDTV (50 fps)"
So she changed the resolution, and the framerate... and so she now does not know if it is the pixel desity or the framerate that made the difference. In addition, it would be good to note the display type as analog and digital displays work differently...
You do realize that NTSC has a faster frame rate than PAL, right?
...made me really hungry!
I disagree.
How we know is more important than what we know.
This almost seems like an Ig Nobel coming in early. But being that this is the holiday season, I'll bite, at the expense of our Australian folks.
She recruited 32 gloomy octopuses from the waters of Chowder Bay.
Um, not for me to peck around at Australian dialect, but I think the proper word would be incarcerated.
Previously, researchers have reported little success when showing video to octopuses.
WTF?!?! Austrailian scientists: "Hey, what should we do this afternoon?" "Ah, let's show some video to the octopi." Try "Buckaroo Banzai," I think that they will like that one. It's kinda funny, if you understand octopi humor. "Miami Vice" is right out.
She tried HDTV (50 fps) and her subjects reacted to the videos of a crab, another octopus, or a swinging bottle on the end of a string.
After this treatment, I'd grab for the bottle in an instant.
A further discovery is that octopuses show no trait of individual personalities, even though they exhibit a high level of intelligence.
Just the other day I tossed a chick out of the bed, and said, "You *really* have a great personality, but you are so cold and slimy."
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
But whether you'll observe consistent responses to stimuli will depend on whether you're (a) measuring the right responses and (b) using the right stimuli. In this case, the stimuli were video images. Other researchers have found personality differences when using real stimuli. Maybe there is something about video stimuli that overwhelms individual differences?
I also have no personality and prefer HDTV!
And ms.Pronk does not seem to realise that even PAL has a field rate of 50Hz, not 25 (and on many new flatscreens that is horrible redisplayed at 60hz..)
Field rate is what atters when it comes to seeing refreshed motion, so if they can easily see issues in PAL, they will also see issues in wither 50i or 50p 'HDTV' signals.
So, its either a resolution issue, or more likely an error in measurement.
Of course the reason most home 'hunting' animals (dogs, cats) dont react much to tv is that they have excellent depth perception, so the flat screen is obviously false to them.
Coz when the octopi rise up and enslave us, we will know how to curry favour with our new masters.
Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
No, octopuses are not inherently evil. You are thinking of krakens.
They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
I want to thank all of the noble Slashdot readers who tagged this story "Pronk," yet again proving their intelligence and foresight in picking a tag which I am sure will occur again and often in the future. Their brave efforts at usefully categorizing articles never ceases to astound.
Slashdot is a pretty cool guy eh posts dupes and doesn't afraid of anything.
Octopuses Have No Personalities and Enjoy HDTV
This has to be the single greatest slashdot headline I've ever read.... research performed on two seemingly unrelated things combined into one project. Cue bad jokes about what television shows those with 'no personalities' must enjoy.
Coz when the octopi rise up and enslave us, we will know how to curry favour with our new masters.
Mmmm, curried octopus...
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
"A further discovery is that octopuses show no trait of individual personalities, even though they exhibit a high level of intelligence."
In other words, they are like 90%+ of the human population. Except for the high level of intelligence part, of course.
What's hindering them from developing a civilization soon ( In geological time of course ;) is the fact that their lifespans are so short.
Humanity has been able to carry on numerous projects on a bigger scale than the average human's lifespan.
My personal idea about the prerequisite for a civilisation are :
- A decent way to interact with the environment (at least octopi have plenty of tentacles - dolphins on the other hand, however big their brain is, don't have the physically mean to put their brain at work on much things)
- A good a quite developed communication system (we humans have speech - octopi seem to have colour-changing communication)
- A life cycle including nurturing the small. If the parents of a specie have to take care of their kids during their first months/years, that gives also a chance to teach them (thanks to good communication) what they have learned to do with their arms. As opposed to animals whose children are 100% autonomous after birth and can immediately wander on their own.
That's where this whole business of "programmed death after reproduction" sucks. Not because 4-5 years is short, but because they are genetically programmed to self-destruct (or starve to death if the self-destruction glands are removed) not long after laying eggs (about the time the eggs hatch according to wikipedia).
There's no nurturing of the kids. Whatever cool and neat trick the parent octopi may have learnt dies with them. They don't get a chance to transmit it to their children.
Because of this no culture can be carried on, and with this : no civilisation.
But don't despair there's a kind of mutation called neoteny where some individual are able to reproduce without having acquired all characteristics of adult and still retaining some juvenile trait. Some future octopi may mutate and be able to reproduce, yet not die once the eggs hatches.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
I still prefer octopi, with a light brown crust.
To make your intent clearer, you could have posted:
Correct! I just found out about this myself from a Linguistics major at UCLA who just happens to be my girlfriend. Which is to say: I have a girlfriend. Big me up.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
prisoners have individual personalities indeed, BUT, no prisoner starts to immediately exhibit their personal traits within days, even months of their arrest, and incarceration.
if, they feel they are in immediate danger of their lives, they even may not exhibit those traits for years to come at all.
dogs and horses are pets. they are of the breeds that are accustomed to being with man. most of them are already offspring of other pets, and born within the care of humans, or live near them. they do not see them as an immediate threat.
YET, even any dog, cat that has been born stray, or has been stray for a long time does not immediately start to exhibit his/her personal traits right away, when you take them into your home and even feed them, until they feel they are safe.
Read radical news here
Your ex was an octopus?
...how are they in the sack?
...who can only breathe under water and then you put him in a field of broccoli, refusing to return him to the salty depths until he has picked five times his own body weight. There are few things will motivate a Mexican Octo-man to work harder than such an immediate threat to his mortality. During my days in the Raj we were sure to keep a few brine filled baths of Mexican Octo-men handy come the spring. Harvesting time is upon us, fetch the Mexicans, eh what!
Now wash your hands.
Is that you?
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
So I wouldn't pass judgement on octopus personality until somebody compares younger octopuses to older ones.
-1, irrelevant pedantry
We have borrowed words or phrases into this language that include non-native morphology. With the exception of some Latin and Greek plurals, we generally ignore the non-native morphology and use our own endings. So, for example, not only is it acceptable, but it is required to say "the La Nina" or "those La Ninas" and not "*La Nina" or "*the Nina" or "*those Las Ninas" or "*Estas Ninas". The lexical item is "La Nina", which cannot be decomposed into smaller morphemes like it can in Spanish.
Another example, also Spanish-related, is the presence of a number of words of Arabic origin in Spanish that begin with "al-", such as "algodon". Originally, this was the definite article in Arabic, but it is now a meaningless part of the word in Spanish and does not prevent the use of the native definite article.
Or, going back to English, it is generally correct to use a native s-plural for words of Latin origin, except in a small set of common loanwords: "formulas", "nexuses", "moratoriums", etc. Again, this is okay because English isn't Latin and isn't required to use Latin morphology. The fact that it does at all is a more a testament to the high standing Latin had and still has in our culture. Those non-native plurals are actually affectations, rather than the rule. You don't see people generally trying to use non-native plurals with words from other languages (the less important the language, the less likely we are to use anything other than the native s-plural).
So, my point is, it doesn't really matter what the original morphology was in the language we borrowed from. We borrowed the word as "kraken" and it is not decomposable into any smaller morphemes. The correct *English* plural is "krakens" and not "kraker", "kraks" or "krakulations".
For the pedant in all of us, the GP is correct. Etymonline explains how the -pi inflection results from an overgeneralization of the latin -us to -i pluralization (eg. status -> stati, terminus -> termini), but octopus is Greek (oktopous), not Latin, and the plural of pous (foot) is podes.
Unforutunately (of fortunately, depending on your stance), many of these words are losing their original inflectional category and are being "regularized" to the more Englishy -es (octopuses, statuses, terminuses). Many dictionaries (or the one you provided) don't even list "octopodes" as a plural (and they even list "octopi" since it's taken on a kind of folk-correctness). In order of historical correctness, it would be "octopodes" > "octopuses" > "octopi". In order of usage (and general acceptance by the masses) it would be "octopuses" > "octopi" > "octopodes"
Now, if we all spoke Chinese or Japanese, there would almost be no such thing as "plural inflection" (imagine all nouns being like mass nouns... "one octopus", "two octopus").
It is interesting that the octopi have quite a different perception of reality than we are accustomed to. If you imagine the divergent paths that evolution may have taken on different planets throughout the galaxy you can have an introduction to the challenges we face as a species if we ever were to encounter a truly alien life form.
Our models of intelligence, perception and personality are limited by our very narrow ideas based upon our feeble attempts to understand each other. We define ourselves as the "most intelligent" and "most social" creatures on our own planet. If we were to meet the seven armed trindoc from Beta Centauri (thank you Larry Niven) we may fail to recognize something that is superior to ourselves.
A Buddhist monk sitting in contemplation of the nature of the universe may appear to be comatose if we were a similarly handicapped species (as ourselves) coming to earth.
We need to enhance our understanding of every living species (or hive mind colony) on our own planet if we are to be anything more than space traveling, xenophobic rubes when we leave our own planet.
Tisha Hayes
Sounds a bit like a guy I dated a few years back. He was all over me like an octopus, had no personality and lit up when he saw the latest technology.
But slashdot readers wouldn't be like that, would they !
I don't know. The mods are on crack again. Just go with the flow.
:P
In fact, parent and I are both losing karma for this. We are getting modded up Funny (+0 Karma), and then getting modded down (-1 Redundant/Flamebait/Troll). So even though the resultant post scores are high, we are actually going backwards.
Meh, I have karma to burn
Waitaminute, exactly what type of screens were used in the experiment? CRT? LCD? plasma? DLP? OLED?
Getting answers to that question would go some way to determining wether it's the differing refresh rate of the image on the screens the octopi are seeing, or the actual framerate of the footage.
Everyone seems to be hung up with the framerate of the footage but forget that CRT & single chip DLP displays can have a noticable flicker whereas LCD (TFT), plasma (to some extent) & OLED are practically flicker free when a static image is being dispayed.
To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
RON POCTOPUS!!!
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
It is a Scandinavian word, so the correct plural form would be kraker.
"Form is a Latin word, so the correct singular form would be forma, with plural formae."
That's about how linguistically defensible your complaint was.
In a second finding, the Macquarie University marine biology researcher resolved a long scientific debate, discovering that octopuses, despite their intelligence, lack individual personalities.
I am sure an octopus has enough trouble just trying to survive in its habitat and find food to live. I am sure developing a personality is not high on it's priorities, so watching crab on TV would definitely pique it's interest because of the movement and it is a crab, which they must recognize.
The people on this site love articles about animals and robots for some reason. LOL I have to start reading the Apple section.
Oh, that's just too punny -- only I'm not sure if you meant it, or just made a typo.
For those not familiar with Japanese, otaku is the word for "nerd" -- generally not in any positive sense. The word stems from the roots o-, being a generic honorific prefix to refer to things not your own (simply speaking), and taku or "residence", the underlying implication being someone who never leaves the house.
Meanwhile, tako is Japanese for "octopus".
I once heard of an idea for opening a chain of Mexican-themed seafood fast-food restaurants around Japan, called "Tako Taco"...
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Come to think of it, I think the plural of 'octopus' may be 'sushis'.
We need to enhance our understanding of every living species (or hive mind colony) on our own planet if we are to be anything more than space traveling, xenophobic rubes when we leave our own planet.
After observing both human and octopus behavior, I believe there's simple common ground we could find with another long distance space-traveling species.
We're both going to be really hungry.
Octopodes? Are you sure?
Thus speaketh:
There are three forms of the plural of octopus; namely, octopuses, octopi, and octopodes. Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the UK as well as the US; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that octÅpÅs is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is (Latinized) Greek, from oktá"pous (á½ÎÏÏZÏÎÏ...Ï), gender masculine, whose plural is oktá"podes (á½ÎÏÏZÏÎÎÎÏ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be octÅpÄ"s ('eight-foot') and the plural octÅpedes, analogous to centipedes and mÄllipedes, as the plural form of pÄ"s ('foot') is pedes. In modern, informal Greek, it is called khtapÃdi (ÏÏαÏÏOEÎÎ), gender neuter, with plural form khtapÃdia (ÏÏαÏÏOEÎÎα).
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary and the Compact Oxford Dictionary list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
End quote.
So, in summary, the ONLY acceptable plural is actually octopuses . Not to be pedantic or anything. ^_^
Don't put advice in your sig.
That's been the case in the UK for the last decade or two (longer at Cambridge) but in the U.S. the period is still the norm (as it was pretty much everywhere up until 1950 or so.
Not to go all history nazi on you or anything...
--MarkusQ
P.S. And (switching to spelling Nazi mode) grammar is spelt with an "a."
Because usually it's the ones on TV without a personality!
I'll be here all week.
except in a small set of common loanwords: "formulas", "nexuses", "moratoriums", etc
I agree with your post in general about how to pluralise loanwords using English endings, but did you have to give these examples? Maybe it's a dialect difference between where you are and where I grew up, but we'd lose marks in an English test if we ever wrote "formulas" or "moratoriums" - it'd have to be "formulae" and "moratoria". (I just did a quick check at "Dictionary.com" (hardly authoritative, but I'm in a hurry) and it agrees with me about "moratoria", but offers both plurals for "formula" (-s or -ae)). For me, in spoken speech I'd never consider a "-s" ending for a latin word ending in "ium", always "ia". The "formulas"/"formulae" thing also just sounds weird to me with an "-s", although it doesn't feel "as wrong" to me (I'd still use "formulae" in speech/writing).
As I said though, these may be dialect differences - English is drifting apart relatively quickly it seems - television may have slowed down the drift somewhat with US shows being viewed worldwide, but it doesn't seem to be sufficient to stop the drift - I can definitely say that the language I grew up speaking is VERY different to the language I tend to use today (I live in a non-English speaking country, so when I use English, I tend to use a simplified subset of "standard English" - all grammatically correct (no "Me go shop now" or whatever), but avoiding some sentence structures or words with a lot of ambiguity. I also do this online, but to a lesser degree (such as in this post) since I'm well aware that the local dialect I spoke growing up (Southern New Zealand by the way, which has a lot of influence from Scottish English, and is very different to Northern New Zealand which is what most people are familiar with) does not lend itself well to the written form if I really want others to understand me)
(oh, and sorry for the nested parentheses - it's a bad habit I picked up years ago (perhaps related to LISP programming (or perhaps just my own weird thought style)) and I have trouble breaking it)
My book about LSD and Self-Discovery
Also on facebook as: DroppingAcidDaleBewan
Umm, imagine a Mexican with 8 arms.
Octopi have only six arms. The other two are legs. (Six appendages for manipulating objects, two for pulling themselves along. And one of them doubles as a sex organ!)
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
Except in Japan, where all of them do ;).
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
Well, this for once is an occasion for the old saw about "absence of evidence".
Of course personality is not mere repetition, it is a pattern of characteristic responses to specific kinds of situations. As such an animal doesn't even need self-consciousness to have a personality. Nor need it be very intelligent.
Self-consciousness and high intelligence add a considerable wrinkle to personality: part of the "situation" an animal responds to is a a complex internal state that the animal is aware of. Which reminds me of a woman I once worked with. Some days she'd be very personable; occasionally she'd even surprise you by baking you cookies. Other days she'd chew you out if you walked too close to her desk. If she was always one way or the other, you could deal with it, but the thing was, you'd never know whether today was a Good Janet day or an Evil Janet day until you'd had your first interaction with her.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
not octo-pi
Yeah, that would be irrational.
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.