[mason55]

If you can't learn from your parents then the more you can figure out on your own, the better your chances of survival. And intelligence allows each individual to figure out things on their own and adapt to new situations even better than if they just repeated whatever they learned from their parents.

[stewbrew]

I doubt this is how nature works - with the exception of octopuses, it seems. In most environments, you probably get eaten or starve to death before you have time to figure it all out yourself.

[rob74]

For every octopus that reaches adulthood there are probably hundreds who get eaten or starve to death...

[stewbrew]

Sure but why should they get (somewhat) smart then? Or are you proposing only the smartass octupuses survive?

[mason55]

> Or are you proposing only the smartass octupuses survive?

Yes, that's how evolution works. Some octopus is a little bit smarter than the others and is able to escape a predator by hiding in a hole. She doesn't get eaten today and so is able to reproduce tomorrow. Some of her 100,000 eggs have her genes for higher intelligence.

The octopus kids who are slightly more intelligent are also slightly more likely to survive and reproduce. And if the genes for intelligence build on each other then at some point the smart octopusses will have a kid or a few kids who are even a little bit smarter and survive a little bit better. Maybe they're smart enough to figure out they can hide under a shell.

If you're able to learn "hide under a shell" from your parents then you don't need to be that smart. But if each individual is able to figure out "hide under a shell" from first principles then that's a huge advantage. Maybe you ended up far from home and the shells look different here. Congrats, your octopus can still figure it out, but your imprinted animal is now dinner. The octopus can still reproduce and pass along his "smart" genes.

[stewbrew]

I don't think this is not how evolution works. Octopuses are most likely as dumb (or, by maritime standards, clever) as they were millions of years ago.