Octopuses, as they evolved their complex behavioral abilities, opted for a partial delegation of autonomy to their arms. As a result, those arms are brimming with neurons and seem able to control some actions locally. Given that, what might octopus experience be like? The octopus may be in a sort of hybrid situation. For an octopus, its arms are partly self—they can be directed and used to manipulate things. But from the central brain’s perspective, they are partly non-self too, partly agents of their own. Let’s consider some analogies with our case, beginning with acts like blinking and
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