The book children of ruin explores the concept of a hyperintellegent cephalopods that build a planet and eventually discover faster than light travel. It's the second book in the series but great sci-fi book that explores different typee of consciousness.

Stephen Baxter also did this in his Manifold series. I think it was Time, but it could be Space.

Both books are good, but Children of Ruin is definitely better written and more entertaining.

We are going on an adventure.

The author is Adrian Tschaikovsky and has lots of great works out there :)

If there is any animal that I could be convinced is not of this earth, it would be octopus. I’m disappointed that their DNA didn’t suggest this is a possibility ;-)

Even if it did, the authors wouldn't dare say it. "Scrambled" genome is pretty radical. If genetic transfer of material is commonplace we might expect aliens to be quite similar to us in terms of genes, but radically different in how those genes are composed... It's still an open possibility in my mind.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S007961071...

I feel your pain :-) Truly a fascinating species.

The eye of an octopus shows intelligent design; the eye of a human, not so much.

There is a god, but not ours.

Makes you wonder what other kind of life forms are in the universe!

Cambridge University zoologist Arik Kershenbaum speculates on the form and function of alien life in his 2020 book, "The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy[1]." No time to read a book? Watch his Harvard science book talk[2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Zoologist%27s_Guide_to_the...

[2] https://youtu.be/t4g0wHS2XKM

great recommendation, thanks!