The Octopus: Future ruler of the Earth?

[Raiden]

Originally Posted by Ashen Key

Oh, you mean like the selective pressure that is happening right now off the coast of Capri? With the younger octopuses now actively learning from the adult ones?

I don't think anyone is saying it's going to happen tomorrow, just that the possibility is there.

Those octopi had the ability to learn selected for, and a different selective pressure probably killed off the octopi that were not able to learn from their elders. Then the ones that could learn survived and taught each other, and so learning as a trait often becomes exponentially more common in the population of the organism in question.

This happens more often in nature than many people realize, and it isn't some kind of miracle.