# Octopus overlords: I KNEW it!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 19, 2018, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457 "2018-05-19T13:24:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/1 "2018-05-19T13:24:03Z")
I assume they are just biding their time before they take over once and for all. > **[Science news:](https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/958247/alien-octopuses-cephalopods-earth-outer-space-aliens-cryopreserved-eggs-cambrian-explosion)** > > OCTOPUSES are “aliens” which evolved on another planet before arriving on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago as “cryopreserved” eggs via a process known as panspermia, radical new research has suggested. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/2 "2018-05-19T16:03:26Z")
And I, for one, welcome our new octoterrestrial overlords. I’d like to remind them as someone who can play the chords to Ringo’s song, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underwater shell gardens. They’ve already built [undersea cities such as Octlantis and Octopolis](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/shortcuts/2017/sep/18/octlantis-the-underwater-city-built-by-octopuses). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/3 "2018-05-19T17:02:43Z")
In case this isn’t blindingly obvious, this “[study](https://www.sciencealert.com/hoyle-wickramasinghe-thesis-cometary-biology-octopus-alien-retroviruses)” [is](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2015/08/14/i-repeat-octopuses-are-not-aliens/) [an](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2015/09/09/creationists-are-now-actively-propagating-the-claim-that-octopuses-are-aliens/) [insane](http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2015/08/idiots-suckers-and-octopus-genome.html) [pile](https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2018/05/14/octopuses-as-aliens-from-another-planet/) [of](https://futurism.com/evolution-101-no-an-octopus-is-not-an-alien/) [idiotic](https://www.livescience.com/62594-octopuses-are-not-aliens-panspermia.html) [horseshit](https://www.popsci.com/octopus-aliens#page-4). ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/4 "2018-05-19T17:19:44Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > In case this isn’t blindingly obvious, this “[study](https://www.sciencealert.com/hoyle-wickramasinghe-thesis-cometary-biology-octopus-alien-retroviruses)” [is](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2015/08/14/i-repeat-octopuses-are-not-aliens/) [an](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2015/09/09/creationists-are-now-actively-propagating-the-claim-that-octopuses-are-aliens/) [insane](http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2015/08/idiots-suckers-and-octopus-genome.html) [pile](https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2018/05/14/octopuses-as-aliens-from-another-planet/) [of](https://futurism.com/evolution-101-no-an-octopus-is-not-an-alien/) [idiotic](https://www.livescience.com/62594-octopuses-are-not-aliens-panspermia.html) [horseshit](https://www.popsci.com/octopus-aliens#page-4). Well, if it wasn’t space then it seems the only other possibility is a different dimension. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/5 "2018-05-19T18:14:26Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > In case this isn’t blindingly obvious, this “[study](https://www.sciencealert.com/hoyle-wickramasinghe-thesis-cometary-biology-octopus-alien-retroviruses)” [is](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2015/08/14/i-repeat-octopuses-are-not-aliens/) [an](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2015/09/09/creationists-are-now-actively-propagating-the-claim-that-octopuses-are-aliens/) [insane](http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2015/08/idiots-suckers-and-octopus-genome.html) [pile](https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2018/05/14/octopuses-as-aliens-from-another-planet/) [of](https://futurism.com/evolution-101-no-an-octopus-is-not-an-alien/) [idiotic](https://www.livescience.com/62594-octopuses-are-not-aliens-panspermia.html) [horseshit](https://www.popsci.com/octopus-aliens#page-4). _squints_ I suppose typing with tentacles is pretty easy actually. Good ‘human’ cover name though, you’ve done your research. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/6 "2018-05-19T18:27:43Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > In case this isn’t blindingly obvious, this “[study](https://www.sciencealert.com/hoyle-wickramasinghe-thesis-cometary-biology-octopus-alien-retroviruses)” [is](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2015/08/14/i-repeat-octopuses-are-not-aliens/) [an](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2015/09/09/creationists-are-now-actively-propagating-the-claim-that-octopuses-are-aliens/) [insane](http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2015/08/idiots-suckers-and-octopus-genome.html) [pile](https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2018/05/14/octopuses-as-aliens-from-another-planet/) [of](https://futurism.com/evolution-101-no-an-octopus-is-not-an-alien/) [idiotic](https://www.livescience.com/62594-octopuses-are-not-aliens-panspermia.html) [horseshit](https://www.popsci.com/octopus-aliens#page-4). Sounds just like something an eight tentacled alien overlord would say! How’s your ink sac? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/7 "2018-05-19T19:39:05Z")
At least, when done right, these overlords are downright tasty. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/8 "2018-05-19T19:43:21Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > At least, when done right, these overlords are downright tasty. Get back in the spaceship! [_…It’s a COOKBOOK!!!_](https://books.google.com/books/about/Calamari_Cookbook.html?id=ThBHAAAAYAAJ) (And of course it’s also [a trap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA).) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/9 "2018-05-19T23:29:46Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > In case this isn’t blindingly obvious, this “[study](https://www.sciencealert.com/hoyle-wickramasinghe-thesis-cometary-biology-octopus-alien-retroviruses)” [is](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2015/08/14/i-repeat-octopuses-are-not-aliens/) [an](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2015/09/09/creationists-are-now-actively-propagating-the-claim-that-octopuses-are-aliens/) [insane](http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2015/08/idiots-suckers-and-octopus-genome.html) [pile](https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2018/05/14/octopuses-as-aliens-from-another-planet/) [of](https://futurism.com/evolution-101-no-an-octopus-is-not-an-alien/) [idiotic](https://www.livescience.com/62594-octopuses-are-not-aliens-panspermia.html) [horseshit](https://www.popsci.com/octopus-aliens#page-4). Y’know, that was my initial reaction, but the very fact that it got published in a peer-reviewed journal like Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology suggests that it’s not as bonkers as it first appears. I haven’t had a chance to read more than the intro yet, but it looks like it might be interesting. Note that both the press and the nay-sayers have focused on the most outrageous aspect of the story, that octopuses might be alien. But [the article](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079610718300798) as a whole is a serious review of scientific ideas, in particular Panspermia, the idea that terrestrial life might have originated elsewhere. This would explain one of the great anomalies of the history of life on Earth, that it seems to have originated as soon as the surface was cool enough for it to survive. I’m old enough to remember when the idea of Continental Drift was ridiculed, before Plate Tectonics was vindicated. So loony ideas sometimes turn out to be true. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/10 "2018-05-20T00:24:53Z")
No, it’s completely bonkers. > [@Colibri](#): > > Note that both the press and the nay-sayers have focused on the most outrageous aspect of the story, that octopuses might be alien. But [the article](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079610718300798) as a whole is a serious review of scientific ideas, in particular Panspermia, the idea that terrestrial life might have originated elsewhere. They talk about alien octopus eggs quite a bit. And that discredits everything. Are you going to give serious consideration to a paper that _only_ spends two pages proposing that the earth is flat? Anyone who proposes alien octopus eggs is completely ignorant of a lot of basic undergraduate-level science. As with every other species we have ever discovered, the octopus contains vast amounts of genetic material that indisputably shows common ancestry with all other life on earth. The fact that there is also some evolutionary novelty does not remotely bring that common ancestry into question. The idea that octopus eggs came from outer space makes about as much sense as Captain Kirk landing on a planet in another galaxy and encountering aliens that speak colloquial 20th century English with an American accent. The fact that they may also have blue skin does not make it a plausible portrayal of aliens. I can’t believe the paper passed peer review. I would have assumed that it was simply a prank. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/11 "2018-05-20T01:16:01Z")
From the conclusion of the paper: > [@](#): > > ‘In a final reckoning it would have to be admitted that ultimately all of evolution has been controlled and continues to be controlled by space-borne organisms, microbes and viruses. It is important that we not allow Science to be stifled by a reign of dogmatic authority that strives to restrict its progress along narrow conservative lines. The current situation is strikingly reminiscent of the Middle Ages in Europe – Ptolemaic epicycles that delayed the acceptance of a Sun-centred planetary system for over a century (Appendix C). The current evidence suggests we came from space, we are made of viral genes, and eventually our evolutionary legacy would in full measure return to space. This will then complete the second and final phase of the Copernican revolution that was started over half a millennium ago.’ ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/12 "2018-05-20T01:39:31Z")
Also, if you aren’t familiar with the nutcase Chandra Wickramasinghe, Chandra Wickramasinghe is a nutcase. The guy sees alien life raining down on Earth everywhere he looks and has been a laughingstock for decades. I could come up with many examples, but I’m on my phone right now so [here](https://www.onlanka.com/news/chandra-wickramasinghe-says-sri-lanka-red-rain-similar-to-kerala-ones-definitely-with-cosmic-connections.html) [are](https://www.onlanka.com/news/chandra-wickramasinghe-says-yellow-rain-is-young-red-rain-before-growth.html) [only](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/01/16/diatomsiiiiin-spaaaaaaaaaaace/) [four](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/10/27/is-nasa-hiding-life-on-mars-i-seriously-doubt-it/#more-23058). ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/13 "2018-05-20T16:41:33Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Y’know, that was my initial reaction, but the very fact that it got published in a peer-reviewed journal like Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology suggests that it’s not as bonkers as it first appears. The journal is generally peer-reviewed but this particular article is labeled as a review article, not original research. My understanding is that review articles don’t always get the peer-review treatment even in journals where original research does. I haven’t been able to figure out whether this article was peer-reviewed. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/14 "2018-05-20T20:04:16Z")
[Another look](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2018/05/19/i-just-had-an-idea-for-a-movie-squidnado/#more-50910) into the mind of one of the paper’s authors. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/15 "2018-05-20T20:25:23Z")
This paper was really a foolish step for the authors. The idea that some novel genetic _elements_ might have arrived from space and been introduced by horizontal transfer is possible (although there no convincing evidence that it happened, or that it’s more likely than the evolution of all novelty on earth). But the idea that an entire _organism_ arrived from outer space is utter nonsense, because it cannot explain all the material in the genome that shows common ancestry with all other life on earth. The authors don’t address this obvious objection, and it undermines the credibility of any other potentially more plausible ideas that they might offer. ---
**Author:** ![Swampwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/16 "2018-05-21T15:40:21Z")
“We don’t know. Therefore: aliens” is science in the same way that “It turned out to be a dream the whole time” is literature. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/17 "2018-05-21T15:47:44Z")
So…Cephalopods AREN’T the result of Cthulhu sowing his wild oats when he came to Earth? Bummer. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/18 "2018-05-21T16:06:01Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > . . . I’m old enough to remember when the idea of Continental Drift was ridiculed, before Plate Tectonics was vindicated. So loony ideas sometimes turn out to be true. To expand - when Continental Drift was proposed, there was no known mechanism that could have caused it. The discovery of Plate Tectonics came later and proved to be the mechanism. And for anyone worried about octopodes taking over, consider that most of them die as soon as they reproduce. Poor things. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/19 "2018-05-21T16:44:22Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > So…Cephalopods AREN’T the result of Cthulhu sowing his wild oats when he came to Earth? > Bummer. It has long been my opinion that they are Cthulhu’s wild oats. A pubescent Cthulhu, a dark ocean and a copy of [del]Girls[/del] [del]Females[/del] Entities of the Aethereal Plane vol.666 ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457/20 "2018-05-21T16:46:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > So…Cephalopods AREN’T the result of Cthulhu sowing his wild oats when he came to Earth? > Bummer. If I’m understanding Riemann correctly > [@](#): > > This paper was really a foolish step for the authors. The idea that some novel genetic elements might have arrived from space and been introduced by horizontal transfer is possible … your proposal is actually more plausible than the one advanced in the OP. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-overlords-i-knew-it/814457.md?page=2)