Friday Cephalopod: The Great and Serene Floating Brain : Pharyngula

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Agnosticism is not properly described as a 'negative' creed, nor indeed as a creed of any kind, except in so far as it expresses absolute faith in the validity of a principle, which is as much ethical as intellectual. This principle may be stated in various ways, but they all amount to this: that it is wrong for a man to say that he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can produce evidence which logically justifies that certainity. This is what Agnosticism asserts; and, in my opinion, it is all that is essential to Agnosticism. That which Agnostics deny, and repudiate as immoral, is the contrary doctrine, that there are propositions which men ought to believe, without logically satisfactory evidence.

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« One rotten apple | Main | This is not a dilemma for the church »

Friday Cephalopod: The Great and Serene Floating Brain

Category: Organisms
Posted on: July 10, 2009 9:27 AM, by PZ Myers

Sepiadarium austrinum

Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide ^{(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll)}, by Mark Norman.

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Comments

Posted by: PZ Myers | July 10, 2009 9:33 AM

Uncomfortable fact: that big bulbous thing is actually its gut. Its brain is a small ganglion at the base of the arms.

We primates just wish we could bare our bellies as a proxy for the magnitude of our brains.

Posted by: Brian | July 10, 2009 9:40 AM

Ah, peace.

Posted by: Teh Merkin | July 10, 2009 9:43 AM

Aw, he has a sleepy...

This could be the start of a new intertubes meme: cephaLOLpods.

Posted by: John Morales | July 10, 2009 9:45 AM

You don't fool me, PZ — that's a Guild navigator.

Posted by: daveau | July 10, 2009 9:46 AM

This is so much cuter than those smelly old kitteh pix. (Take that, Jerry Coyne!)

Posted by: Somnolent Aphid | July 10, 2009 9:50 AM

as a proxy for the magnitude of our what now?

Posted by: Tom Foss | July 10, 2009 9:52 AM

Oh no! Someone decapitated Dr. Zoidberg!

Posted by: Bruce | July 10, 2009 9:54 AM

It wants me to assassinate Paul Atredies. I think it would have better luck at a pro-lifer blog.

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | July 10, 2009 9:56 AM

We primates just wish we could bare our bellies as a proxy for the magnitude of our brains.

I'm a freaking genius by that measure.

#10

Posted by: Clint Lovell | July 10, 2009 9:56 AM

"We primates just wish we could bare our bellies as a proxy for the magnitude of our brains."
I certainly do.

#11

Posted by: Nangleator | July 10, 2009 9:59 AM

Kind of makes my Gordon Freeman itch a little.

#12

Posted by: Roland Branconnier | July 10, 2009 10:01 AM

Welcome to Woo-Woo Friday:

Wait! Yes! I see it! The far right tentacle contains an image of the Virgin Elephant. Call the Vatican. It a miracle redux!

#13

Posted by: Postman | July 10, 2009 10:05 AM

I, for one, welcome our big-bellied overlords.

#14

Posted by: ElectricBarbarella | July 10, 2009 10:06 AM

What a cutie!

I just wanted to add that I am getting "bad header" screens flashing. This has gone on for several weeks. The page is inaccessible to me for a long time. Then I get to post, then it goes down again.

toni

#15

Posted by: Nerd of Redhead, OM | July 10, 2009 10:18 AM

I'm a freaking genius by that measure.

Me too.

#16

Posted by: claw | July 10, 2009 10:25 AM

All hail our serene and squid-ly overlord!

#17

Posted by: Watchman | July 10, 2009 10:28 AM

The brains from planet Arous could learn a few things from this dude.

#18

Posted by: BigBob | July 10, 2009 11:04 AM

So that's where the Mekon went.

#19

Posted by: Evil Eye | July 10, 2009 11:18 AM

Makes me thing of the Watchmen!

#20

Posted by: SaraJ | July 10, 2009 11:24 AM

Beautiful! This may just be my favorite Friday Cephalopod yet!

#21

Posted by: mark | July 10, 2009 11:33 AM

I agree! I'd hang it on my wall!

#22

Posted by: Desert Son | July 10, 2009 11:37 AM

Oh, man, if that's not a "That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die" image, I don't know what is!

Iä! Iä! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

Awesome image. A welcome respite from the tales of journalistic failings these last 24 hours. Hard to read those threads without dangerous blood pressure increase.

Many kudos to the photographer - excellent skill and composition and patience and eye to capture that moment.

No kings,

Robert

#23

Posted by: Desert Son | July 10, 2009 11:43 AM

Pharyngula!

Come for the science, social commentary, and witty repartee, stay for the photography and Cuttlefish poems!

No kings,

Robert

#24

Posted by: Happy Tentacles | July 10, 2009 11:51 AM

He looks very pleased with himself. And SO cute!

#25

Posted by: Patricia, OM | July 10, 2009 12:27 PM

Wait a minute...I've seen those colors all together before.
(Holds ball up to screen)
This is too funny, the name of the yarn that matches the cephalopod colors is Archangel 850 by Malabrigo. I was thinking of fall socks when I bought it.

#26

Posted by: Connor | July 10, 2009 12:43 PM

First thought, Awesome.

Second thought, "that's a Guild navigator."

Damn you for beating me too it...

#27

Posted by: 900ft jesus | July 10, 2009 12:49 PM

Desert Son beat me to it - first thought - Cthulhu

Magnigicent! I too come for the science, but really look forward to these friday photos.

#28

Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | July 10, 2009 1:04 PM

what an arrogant, stuck-up little cephalopod :-p

#29

Posted by: 'Tis Himself | July 10, 2009 1:10 PM

I, for one, welcome our new brainy (or is that gutty?) overlords.

#30

Posted by: Bone Oboe | July 10, 2009 2:21 PM

I've been beaten to the "Guild Navigator" reference. So I'll just say that this reminds me of some Giger painting.

#31

Posted by: meh1963 | July 10, 2009 6:44 PM

The picture needs a caption:

"Pay no attention to the cephalapod behind the curtain..."

#32

Posted by: Cuttlefish, OM | July 10, 2009 7:53 PM

I remember him from High School... dude got more tail than Sinatra...

#33

Posted by: Last Hussar | July 10, 2009 7:59 PM

That is its gut? Obviously a wargamer then- give it a 25mm Napoleonic army and it will happily argue with you all night.

#34

Posted by: bastion of sass | July 10, 2009 8:01 PM

Isn't that so typical? The one shot that gets printed and passed around is the one in which you've got your eyes closed.

#35

Posted by: Don Rowe | July 10, 2009 8:12 PM

I've seen (or at least heard of) several Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies since the end of the TV series and I always wondered what happened to Krang after the TV show; he was never in any of the movies.

Now I know.

#36

Posted by: Jeff S | July 10, 2009 10:07 PM

Further proof that we humans are inept when compared to nature in terms of the beauty we create.

#37

Posted by: Cowcakes | July 10, 2009 10:50 PM

OMG or should that be OMFSG, it looks like Roger from American Dad

#38

Posted by: tweetybirdie386sx | July 10, 2009 10:52 PM

Looks like the aliens from the Star Trek pilot episode.

http://www.ottens.co.uk/forgottentrek/images/TOS/Roddenberry%20The%20Cage.jpg