Octopus are known for being incredibly smart and capable of complex problem solving and tool usage. However, it's thought that even if they were intelligent enough to develop complex technology that they would be limited by factors like a short lifespan as well as the difficulty of advancing technology under the ocean (ex: can't make fire).
The latter point regarding technology is another potential reason why life could be abundant in the universe but much life doesn't advance beyond their local planet: many habitable planets may have environments unsuited to technological progress. Humans may have gotten incredibly lucky to have an atmospheric composition that gives us access to cheap energy safely while not posing much in the way of other issues.
Continuing the ocean example, an intelligent species living underwater would be unable to utilize combustion for energy, would have a a salt water environment which basically corrodes everything, and is a dense environment (molecularly) so movement through it requires more energy as well. There's many more challenges to an ocean environment as well.
Life on other planets trying to develop technologically could face similar problems, different atmospheric compositions, different liquid water compositions/solutions, different gravity, and other factors, which could make technology difficult to progress.
Submitted January 15, 2022 at 09:07AM by ballarak https://ift.tt/3FzKbb0
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