Mollusks

The Anthropocene Project. An Encyclopedia

I think, therefore I am. Currently stuck in a whole lot of self-made trouble, if we read the signs of the Anthropocene correctly. But maybe we are thinking in the wrong categories. Perhaps it is not the question of consciousness, but of the soul. Less you and me, us or them—more the whole. Animists, esoterics, and some religious may easily understand. An alternative suggestion: take a brief look at the octopus. His brain is located in all the body parts that devour the other with such pleasure. Brain spread across the whole body? That sounds like a splatter movie and scarcely like a real alternative, doesn’t it? Better hide your soft spots. How is it possible to think with the body? Would you rather have a stable membrane, like the tortoise, or better, an oyster? But they’re only safe if they don’t wind up in the fire, right? Still, thinking brain along your body parts… not the worst intellectual pastime.