Peter Godfrey-Smith

El libro del año para mentes curiosas, lo más parecido a un encuentro alienígena. "Una fabulosa mezcla de encuentros a lo Cousteau con cefalópodos, apasionantes discusiones científicas y reflexión filosofica. Maravillosamente escrito, estimulante y audaz." Olivia Judson, The AtlanticEn una rama muy distante de la nuestra en el arbol de las especies surgio otra mente elevada: la de los cefalopodos. Pero, ¿que clase de inteligencia poseen estos animales? ¿Como desarrollo tal inteligencia el pulpo, criatura de escasa vida social y longevidad de apenas dos años? Otras mentes es una nueva y audaz historia de como la naturaleza se hizo consciente de si misma, un relato que transcurre en gran medida en el mar. Peter Godfrey-Smith, distinguido filosofo de la ciencia y habil buceador, describe sus impresionantes encuentros con octopodos y las travesuras perpetradas por pulpos cautivos al tiempo que traza el asombroso viaje evolutivo de los cefalopodos, una ruta alejada de la que mas tarde tomariamos los mamiferos. Una inmersion profunda y excepcionalmente reveladora en los origenes de la experiencia subjetiva.Criticas:"El tema es tan asombroso que es dificil no sentirse seducido, como le paso al pr

Book of the Year 2020 según elTimes y elSunday TimesBook of the Month segúnBBC Science FocusBest Book 2020 segúnWaterstonesTras el éxito internacional deOtras mentes, el filósofo Peter Godfrey-Smith vuelve con un nuevo y apasionante ensayo en el que le sigue la pista a la evolucion de las formas de vida para formular una teoria de la conciencia.EnMetazoos, el filosofo Peter Godfrey-Smith profundiza en la investigacion que ya iniciara en su anterior libro, el exitosoOtras mentes. Si en aquella ocasion era la sorprendente inteligencia de los pulpos lo que servia como punto de partida para reflexionar sobre la consciencia, ahora el horizonte se amplia para incluir a todo el reino animal. Tomando como hilo conductor el progreso de la capacidad de experimentar a largo de la evolucion, Godfrey-Smith muestra como la aparicion del primer cuerpo animal, hace unos 500 millones de años, fue una innovacion revolucionaria que abrio nuevos caminos al desarrollo de la vida.Siguiendo el rastro evolutivo de las esponjas marinas, el coral, los calamares estriados, pulpos y los peces, y de alli a la tierra firme hogar de insectos, pajaros y primates como nosotros, Metazoos reune todas esas historias para intentar cerrar la aparentemente insalvable distancia que separa a la materia de la mente, y dar respuesta a una pregunta filosofica esencial: ¿cual es el origen de la consciencia?Con una narracion fascinante en la que se alternan los animales mas curiosos con reflexiones filosoficas y los mas recientes descubrimientos en biologia, Metazoos demuestra que incluso en nuestro mundo ultra-tecnologizado no es posible entender la consciencia sin entender el funcionamiento de los nervios, musculos y cuerpos materiales que la albergan. El resultado de esa mezcla es una historia tan sorprendente como la vida misma.La critica ha dicho..."Fascinante ... Una combinacion capaz de no hacer sentir a los lectores ni una sola vez como si les estuvieran dando una conferencia; mas bien, se ha la sensacion de unirse a un amigo sabio y siempre paciente en un viaje en el tiempo por las experiencias cognitivas de los animales ...Metazoos brinda una mirada extraordinaria y astuta al vinculo esencial de nuestra propia mente con el mundo animal"Aimee Nezhukumatathil,New York Times"Un profundo drama cientifico, en el que las vidas de criaturas absolutamente no humanas iluminan profundos misterios sobre la naturaleza de la sensibilidad y lo que significa poseer una mente ... EnMetazoos, el historiador del buceo y filosofo de la ciencia aborda estas preguntas con audacia elocuenteAl igual que enOtras mentes, Godfrey-Smith relata encuentros cercanos con la fauna marina, obtenidos tras años de buceo en la costa australiana. Tienen una inmediatez electrica ... Evocadoras [y] apasionantes"Barbara Kiser,Wall Street JournalEl nuevo libro de Peter Godfrey-Smith,Metazoos, es, comoOtras mentes, no solo profundamente interesante sino tambien bellamente escrito."Philip Ball"Peter Godfrey-Smith escribe y piensa como nadie mas que yo conozca. Esta muy inmerso en la ciencia de la vida, es un buceador profundo de las implicaciones filosoficas del mundo factico y un escritor tan habil que puede provocar escalofrios al lector.Metazoos es su inmersion mas profunda hasta la fecha sobre lo que es la vidaCarl Safina, autor deAprender a ser salvajes yMentes maravillosas

'Brilliant' Guardian 'Fascinating and often delightful' The Times What if intelligent life on Earth evolved not once, but twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter? In Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith, a distinguished philosopher of science and a skilled scuba diver, tells a bold new story of how nature became aware of itself - a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared. Tracking the mind's fitful development from unruly clumps of seaborne cells to the first evolved nervous systems in ancient relatives of jellyfish, he explores the incredible evolutionary journey of the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous molluscs who would later abandon their shells to rise above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so - a journey completely independent from the route that mammals and birds would later take. But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? How did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart?What is it like to have eight tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually 'think for themselves'? By tracing the question of inner life back to its roots and comparing human beings with our most remarkable animal relatives, Godfrey-Smith casts crucial new light on the octopus mind - and on our own.

he scuba-diving philosopher explores the origins of animal consciousness.Dip below the oceans surface and you are soon confronted by forms of life that could not seem more foreign to our own: sea sponges, soft corals and flower-like worms, whose rooted bodies and intricate geometry are more reminiscent of plant life than anything recognisably animal. Yet these creatures are our cousins. As fellow members of the animal kingdom the Metazoa they can teach us about the evolutionary origins of not only our bodies, but also our minds.In his acclaimed book, Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith explored the mind of the octopus the closest thing to an intelligent alien on Earth. In Metazoa, he expands his inquiry to animals at large, investigating the evolution of experience with the assistance of far-flung species. Godfrey-Smith shows that the appearance of the first animal body form well over half a billion years ago was a profound innovation that set life upon a new path. He charts the ways that subsequent evolutionary developments eyes that track, for example, and bodies that move through and manipulate the environment shaped the lives of animals. Following the evolutionary paths of a glass sponge, soft coral, banded shrimp, octopus and fish, then moving onto land and the world of insects, birds and primates like ourselves, Metazoa gathers these stories together to bridge the gap between matter and mind and address one of the most important philosophical questions: what is the origin of consciousness?

Although mammals and birds are widely regarded as the smartest creatures on earth, it has lately become clear that a very distant branch of the tree of life has also sprouted higher intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus. In captivity, octopuses have been known to identify individual human keepers, raid neighboring tanks for food, turn off lightbulbs by spouting jets of water, plug drains, and make daring escapes. How is it that a creature with such gifts evolved through an evolutionary lineage so radically distant from our own? What does it mean that evolution built minds not once but at least twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter?In Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith, a distinguished philosopher of science and a skilled scuba diver, tells a bold new story of how subjective experience crept into beinghow nature became aware of itself. As Godfrey-Smith stresses, it is a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared. Tracking the minds fitful development, Godfrey-Smith shows how unruly clumps of seaborne cells began living together and became capable of sensing, acting, and signaling. As these primitive organisms became more entangled with others, they grew more complicated. The first nervous systems evolved, probably in ancient relatives of jellyfish; later on, the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous mollusks, abandoned their shells and rose above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so. Taking an independent route, mammals and birds later began their own evolutionary journeys.But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? Drawing on the latest scientific research and his own scuba-diving adventures, Godfrey-Smith probes the many mysteries that surround the lineage. How did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart? What is it like to have eight tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually think for themselves? What happens when some octopuses abandon their hermit-like ways and congregate, as they do in a unique location off the coast of Australia?