Letter: Letters : . . .

From Sophie Smout

York

What is this octopus thinking? Answer: “I’m swimming about in a tank inside a
neuroscience lab run by a species that smokes carcinogenic leaves and tests them
out on dogs to prove how toxic they are.”

I appreciate there are complex and difficult arguments about animal
experimentation. There are human needs, illnesses to be cured, and important
fundamental things to be discovered. But I find it chilling to read that
neuroscientists are still trying to find out if other species are intelligent,
by removing bits of their brains and bodies in order to see what happens
next.

This is a great approach when you’re playing with mechanical systems. But can
it possibly work when you are investigating something as complicated as the mind
of a living organism?

Too many variables, I would have thought. And not very well controlled.