Learning From the Octopus

by Rafe Sagarin

  Salmon

  migration journey

  sense of smell/VNO

  Sapolsky, Robert

  Schistosomiasis

  Sculpins

  Sea of Cortez/ecosystem

  condition/threats (2004)

  emerging threats (1940)

  jumbo Humboldt squid

  Ricketts/Steinbeck journey

  shrimp trawlers damage

  Sea urchins

  Security

  adaptability importance (overview)

  associative learning and

  biological approach (overview)

  border wall (U.S.-Mexico) problems

  decentralized vs. centralized control

  direct use of nature examples

  disaster post-mortems and

  distributed sensors and

  following 9/11 attacks

  ineffective examples

  levels for reform

  multiple sensors and

  nature of problems

  paradigm shifts and

  sense of fear and

  specialization and

  strategies overview

  varied security needs

  See also Nature’s security services; specific components; specific examples

  Security/eliminating irrational behavior

  adolescents and

  coexistence and

  future vs. past

  “symbolic tradeoffs” and

  understanding roots of behavior

  See also Evolution of irrational behavior

  Security state (U.S.)

  creation

  description

  innovation and

  secrecy functions

  Self/nonself identification

  Shintoism

  Signaling

  bin Laden’s life-in-hiding videos and

  dishonest signals

  facial structure/expressions

  false alarms and

  habituation and

  honest signals

  imperfect signaling

  importance

  interspecies signaling

  marmots

  overestimating/underestimating threat and

  prey adjusting to predator

  prey signaling predator

  speed and

  uncertainty and

  within species

  Smith, Adam

  Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

  Smoke detectors

  Social Darwinism

  Social insects

  information and

  kin selection

  Social justice and decentralized organizations

  Solis, Hilda

  Sosis, Richard

  Spider and ant security example

  Squid

  Stability and human-created ecosystems

  Biosphere 2 and

  sealed glass “ecospheres” and

  Stability and nature

  deep-sea brachiopods

  human impact and

  lack of examples

  Stability-inducing conflicts

  Cold War’s “mutually assured destruction,”

  fiddler crabs

  “Stanley” development

  Starfish

  Starfish and the Spider, The (Brafman and Beckstrom)

  Steinbeck, John

  biological applications

  nature observation and

  Ricketts and

  Sea of Cortez/journey

  Stress

  Suicide bombers

  salmon behavior comparison

  signaling group fidelity

  See also specific events; Terrorism

  Sun Tzu

  Symbiogenesis

  Symbiosis

  behavioral changes with

  blue-ringed octopuses/bacteria

  as common in nature

  description

  emergent properties and

  examples

  facultative symbiosis

  IEDs decrease and

  mutualism

  mutually assured support

  obligate symbiosis

  relationship diversity

  transformations by

  types

  See also Cooperation

  “Symbolic tradeoffs,”

  T

  Tacoma Narrows suspension bridge collapse

  Tarahumara Indians

  Taylor, Terence

  background

  symbiosis

  Terrorism

  attacks on London (2005)

  organization of cells

  publicity and

  recruitment on Internet

  summary

  “war on terror” effects

  See also specific conflicts; specific events; specific groups/individuals

  “Terrorism futures market,”

  Theory of Moral Sentiments, The (Smith)

  3M’s Pollution Prevention Pays program

  Through the Looking Glass (Carroll)

  Tic-tac-toe

  Tide pools

  community changes in

  high tide/low tide threats

  life/diversity description

  Sagarin and

  threats to species

  See also specific organisms

  Tipping Point, The (Gladwell)

  Tool-making

  humans and

  nonhuman animal examples

  Total Information Awareness program

  Towns, Edolphus

  Toyota vehicles

  Tragedy of the Commons

  TSA (Transportation Security Administration)

  Tsunami

  alarm systems

  Japan (2011)

  Tsunami, Asia (2004)

  animal behavior before

  consequences

  mangrove forests and

  tsunami warning systems

  U

  Uncertainty

  human brains and

  immune system and

  natural variation and

  signaling and

  stress and

  Uncertainty manipulation

  birds flocking

  Homeland Security and

  information and

  marmots and

  misuse with security screening

  octopuses and

  periodical cicadas and

  predators using camouflage

  See also Signaling

  United Nations

  USA Today

  V

  Vermeij, Geerat

  background/description

  blindness/adaptation

  decentralized organization in nature

  economy of society/economy of nature and

  Evolution and Escalation

  evolutionary arms race and

  marine organisms and

  as observer of nature

  “unimaginative redundancy,”

  Vespignani, Alessandro

  Villarreal, Luis

  background

  evolution of human belief systems

  viruses and

  Viruses

  addiction module and

  bacteria and

  chicken eggs and vaccines

  effects overview

  evolutionary advances and

  moving from nonhuman animals to humans

  RNA template and

  See also specific diseases

  Vomeronasal organ (VNO)

  Voyage of the Beagle, The (Darwin)

  W

  Wall Street Journal

  War Games (film)

  Water issues

  “100-year flood” concept and

  climate change and

  flood control

  Hurricane Ike/”Ike Dike,”

  impervious surfaces and

  Los Angeles water mismanagement

  rain distribution

  sea-level rise

  statistics on potable water access

  Tucson, Arizona problems

  See also Nature’s security
services/water; Wetlands

  Wealth of Nations, The (Smith)

  Wears, Robert

  West Nile virus

  Wetlands services

  calculating value

  as fish nursery

  greenhouse gases and

  “living shorelines,”

  mangrove forests

  restoring wetlands

  storms/flooding protection

  summary

  as water filters

  Why We Get Sick (Nesse and Williams)

  WikiLeaks

  Williams, George

  Wilson, E.O.

  Wilson, Thomas

  background

  IED adaptation

  question to Rumsfeld

  Wolfe, Nathan

  Wolfe’s Global Viral Forecasting Initiative

  World War II

  barnacles fouling navy ships

  British and German radar

  imperfect signaling example

  Japanese fisherman/Pacific coast of U.S.

  Ricketts and

  Scientific Intelligence Service

  World Wildlife Fund challenge

  Y

  Yo-Yo Ma

  Yom Kippur War (1973)

  Copyright © 2012 by Rafe Sagarin

  Illustrations by Rafe Sagarin

  Published by Basic Books,

  A Member of the Perseus Books Group

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Sagarin, Rafe.

  Learning from the octopus : how secrets from nature can help us

  fight terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and disease / Rafe Sagarin.

  p. cm.

  eISBN : 978-0-465-02981-5

  1. Terrorism—Prevention. 2. Emergency management. 3. Ecology—

  Study and teaching. 4. Evolution—Study and teaching. I. Title.

  HV6431.S224 2012

  363.34—dc23

  2011048842