Concerning the Octopus and Human Responsibility
January 21, 2026
By Derek DiMatteo
The Groundwork Erie environmental book club’s first entry of 2026 was Sy Montgomery’s The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness (2015). A nonfiction bestseller and National Book Award finalist, this book was an engaging account of Montgomery’s introduction to and engagement with several octopuses, primarily at the New England Aquarium in Boston, MA, and with the staff and volunteers whose lives intertwined with those of the octopuses. As the book’s title intimates, Montgomery approaches the octopuses she meets as individuals, with personalities, souls, and consciousness. She doesn’t build an explicit argument, but the descriptions of her many encounters with these unique beings challenged my conceptions of octopuses and of humanity’s moral responsibilities toward other life on earth.
The Soul of an Octopus consists of eight chapters, including four named after the octopuses that Montgomery befriends during the years spent researching and writing this book. They are Athena, Octavia, Kali, and Karma, each name inspired by the personality of the individual octopus. Each encounter between Montgomery and one of the octopuses is marked by excitement and curiosity. As readers, we vicariously experience the joys and pain of these encounters, from the first contact of tentacle on skin to the shock of sudden loss when an octopus dies. Montgomery shows us their ingenuity, sociability, and irascibility in parallel with the relationships she develops with aquarium staff and volunteers.
Perhaps the most important idea conveyed through the book is a conception of the octopus as a non-human being—as a living, thinking, individual with a unique personality, who moves through the world with inquisitiveness, and who experiences a range of emotions similar to humans. One of the similarities that struck me was that of senescence, which in humans often manifests as a form of dementia or a milder senility. In octopuses, senescence causes them to “swim loop-the-loop,” avoid eye contact, stop attacking prey, and “turn unresponsive and vacant” (56–57). Senile octopuses’ lack of purpose and uninterest in regular activities described in the book reminded me of behaviors I’ve observed of family members in their late 80s as well as residents I’ve seen in long term memory care facilities.
Octopuses also exhibit many amazing more-than-human abilities, which Montgomery describes in the book. These abilities include regrowing lost limbs, changing size, solving puzzles, showing empathy, playing with people, training their keepers, and displaying myriad patterns and colors on their skin. One of the most remarkable is that the octopus’s arms and brain don’t always communicate. That is, the arms can operate independently of the brain, with apparently three fifths of their neurons located in the arms (14). The receptors in their skin and suckers enable them to detect chemical changes and hormones in people in ways that that convey information exceeding verbal communication. They also have “50 to 75 different lobes” in their brains, which could help to explain why they are so good at multitasking (48–49). Given these differences from humans, Montgomery notes, “assessing the mind of a creature this alien demands that we be extraordinary [sic] flexible in our own thinking” and not let “hubris get in our way” (50). Humans ought to make more effort to communicate with octopuses and other intelligent non-human beings.
After Montgomery’s book gained critical and cultural attention, public interest in octopuses increased, leading to other books and documentaries. One of the most popular on Netflix has been My Octopus Teacher (2020), in which a diver develops something of an apprenticeship with a wild octopus off the coast of South Africa. There is a notable contrast between a human visiting an octopus in its natural habitat and a human visiting an octopus being held in captivity. Montgomery’s book doesn’t really address this issue in any significant manner, other than to suggest that captivity helps ensure a longer life and helps people learn about a species vastly different than their own. Aside from the question of whether octopuses are being provided with enough enrichment, few moral quandaries were dwelt on in the book. One example is when Montgomery goes out to eat sushi with her friends from the aquarium, and she has difficulty eating fish, let alone considering eating octopus. This reminded me of David Foster Wallace’s famous essay “Consider the Lobster,” in which he describes his experience at the Maine Lobster Festival and the moral questions it raised for him. It also made me think about the responsibilities that humans have to care for our common home and for cohabiting species. The more research is done to understand cephalopods and octopuses in particular, the more hope exists that humans might eventually recognize the interests and even the rights held by non-human beings. How might an honest reckoning shift humanity’s relationship to this planet and its other denizens?
References and Resources
“Animal Enrichment.” Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute. Accessed January 12, 2026. https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/animal-enrichment.
Bachetti, Érica da Silva et al. “Global Overview of Environmental Enrichment Studies: What Has Been Done and Future Directions.” Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, vol. 14, No.11: 1613. 29 May 2024, doi:10.3390/ani14111613.
Montgomery, Sy. The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness. Atria / Simon & Schuster, 2015.
My Octopus Teacher. Directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, Off the Fence, 2020. Netflix, www.netflix.com.
Wallace, David Foster. “Consider the Lobster.” Gourmet Magazine (August, 2004). http://www.gourmet.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/magazine/2000s/2004/08/consider_the_lobster.html