Ray Nayler’s novel The Mountain in the Sea asks the kinds of questions about us, our future and our interaction with other living beings that are raised by many great works of science fiction. In his book the marine habitat of a hyperintelligent species of octopus, endowed with its own language and culture, is seized by a global tech corporation determined to harness this non-human intelligence for profit in new systems of artificial intelligence. This dystopian future world is one of total surveillance, vast polluted dead zones, climate breakdown, a pervasive alienation, frequent targeted assassinations by governments and corporations against those who resist bondage as well as the brutal enslavement of workers, especially those from the Global South.

Ray Nayler joins Chris Hedges to discuss his new novel, the curious consciousness of cephalopods, and what octopod ontology can teach us about capitalism and ourselves.

Studio: Adam Coley, Dwayne Gladden, Cameron Granadino
Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

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Transcript

The transcript of this interview will be made available as soon as possible.

This post was originally published on The Real News Network.