University of Oxford biologist Professor Tim Coulson speculates that octopuses are the strongest candidates to build the next complex civilization on Earth if humans go extinct. Their incredible intelligence, problem-solving skills, curiosity, and dexterous eight-armed bodies make them uniquely positioned to evolve into an advanced, society-building species.
While it would take hundreds of thousands to millions of years of evolution, Coulson envisions a future where these marine masterminds could build complex underwater cities and develop tools to manipulate their environment.
However, they would have to overcome some major evolutionary hurdles to do so:
▫️The Solitary Nature: Most octopuses are solitary and do not pass down cultural knowledge or complex traditions across generations.
▫️No Fire Underwater: Because they live entirely underwater, they cannot utilize fire to forge metals or easily advance into an industrial age.
▫️The "Short Life" Problem: Their relatively short lifespans (one to five years) limit the time they have to accumulate and apply complex information.
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