Vision

Vision (or the eye) has evolved multiple times in the Earth's evolutionary history.

For example, see Peter Godfrey-Smith on an alternative evolutionary pathway of an octopus eye. Last common ancestor with humans is a flat worm or some such creature (cf. Planarian). Yet, octopi have good vision that has developed independently.

Another interesting fact about octopi is that they most likely can see light, and possibly patterns of light, with their whole skin.

  • Godfrey-Smith, Peter. Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016.

Hence the questions: what is vision?


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