Psychic Octopus

Nevyn · 15-07-2010 12:29pm

What is really intresting about octopi is how complex thier brains are. They have to do a lot more calculations then we do and get a lot more bio feed back due to the number of limbs and fow flexible they are, alas the only way to know if Paul is different to other octoi is to cut him open and see, I do hope they cut his brain a part to investigate when he's dead.

maccored · 15-07-2010 12:33pm

i think its all overblown. As ive said before, at every stage he was only making a choice between two objects.

recedite · 15-07-2010 12:41pm

The odds of getting it right by fluke all eight times were 2 to the power of 8, or 256 to 1. Thats a very slim chance. Maybe you refuse to accept empirical evidence?

maccored · 15-07-2010 12:47pm

are you factoring in how many times he choose germany and germany won and accounting for that (considering his owners would have a german bias)? It reduces the odds quite a bit I would assume.

maccored · 15-07-2010 12:50pm

or maybe its just more logical to think the octopus is psychic? I dont mind what you believe, but i think if this was a psychological experiment I'd love to see the results. Says a lot about how people can be guided to believing something.

maccored · 15-07-2010 12:58pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Octopus
Potential biases

Etienne Roquain went on to admit that chance was not necessarily the only explanation for Paul's choices. He could have been choosing boxes systematically—if not on the basis of football expertise, then perhaps on his attraction to the countries' flags or the food items offered.[17] The species Octopus vulgaris is almost certainly color blind; neither behavioral studies nor electroretinogram experiments show any discrimination of a color's hue.[19] Nonetheless, individuals can distinguish brightness I][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/URL][/I as well as an object's size, shape, and orientation. Shelagh Malham of Bangor University states that they are drawn to horizontal shapes, and indeed, there are horizontal stripes on the flags he has chosen.I][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/URL][/I The flag of Germany, a bold tricolor consisting of three equal horizontal bands of black, red and gold, was Paul's usual favorite. But the flag of Spain, with its broad yellow stripe, and the flag of Serbia, with its contrast of blue and white, are more vivid stillI][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/URL][/I, possibly explaining why Paul picked those countries over Germany.I][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/URL][/I Fey suggested that Paul was confused by the similarities between the German and Spanish flags; this was on July 6, when Fey expressed hope that Paul's latest pick would be wrong.[20]

Apparently the odds are a much lower 0.59% if we go with the 'paul liked flags with three colours' idea.

recedite · 15-07-2010 1:11pm

The idea that Paul picked the winning football team by the colour or pattern of the flag is absurd. "Paul" is not a girl's name.

Ditto to the idea that the nationality of his catering staff affected his choices.

maccored · 15-07-2010 1:17pm

""Paul" is not a girl's name." - haha.

But yes, his owners could have indeed influenced his decisions. We dont seem to have much documentation to determine how these 'choices' were made, or in what conditions. Or indeed if the owner was jumping up and down behind the germany box with a load of whatever it is octopi eat. You just cant say. The logical answer is he went for the same box for most of the time and then choose similar ones on a few other times. to say he's psychic is just illogical.

CorkMan · 15-07-2010 4:40pm

recedite wrote: »

The odds of getting it right by fluke all eight times were 2 to the power of 8, or 256 to 1. Thats a very slim chance. Maybe you refuse to accept empirical evidence?

Give him two boxes with a sign above: "Will the world end in 2012?"

Give him one picture of the earth as it is, and another of earth exploding, see which he chooses

recedite · 15-07-2010 5:00pm

maccored wrote: »

But yes, his owners could have indeed influenced his decisions. We dont seem to have much documentation to determine how these 'choices' were made, or in what conditions. Or indeed if the owner was jumping up and down behind the germany box with a load of whatever it is octopi eat. You just cant say. The logical answer is he went for the same box for most of the time and then choose similar ones on a few other times. to say he's psychic is just illogical.

You can see it on you-tube. Nobody is jumping up and down. Even if the owner was "steering" the octopus, how does the owner predict the outcome of the World Cup? you must think the owner is really the psychic one.

maccored · 16-07-2010 10:31am

hahaha - jebus. I cant believe you're telling me to watch a youtube video as 'evidence' that the octopus is psychic. hahaha, unbelievable.

CorkMan · 19-07-2010 5:13am

I have a dog that correctly predicted the results of the matches. Everytime he chose Germany, he howled/sung the german national anthem, everytime he choose the opposite team, he howled their national anthem.

Now wheres my damn media coverage. The dog is starving cos all me money was spent on Sky high definition tv.

Bastard George Hook made me lose every penny...