^A The visual world can be aligned to our microsaccades by tracking the movement of the eyes and shifting a video display very quickly. This is feasible with modern computer technology.

^B The wires (axons) of our optic nerve have to pass through the retina because the retina is built backwards, with the processing cells on top and the light-detecting cells on the bottom. The processing cells are generally transparent, so light passes through them and the light-detecting cells can still see, but at some point the axons have to leave the processing cells to travel to the brain. There are no light-detecting cells at the point where the axons pass through, leaving a blind spot. This is a relic of the evolutionary past of the human species. Eyes do not have to be built this way—the octopus eye, with a different evolutionary history, is oriented correctly, with the light-detecting cells on top and the processing cells below. Octopi therefore do not have a blind spot that needs to be filled in.⁶

^C The extent to which animals can acquire human-level languages is not without its controversies. Since we’re not going to trust human language either,¹¹ this issue is actually irrelevant to our question of decision-making. For those interested in the question of animals learning language, I recommend one of the excellent books written by the various researchers who have tried to teach language to nonhuman animals, such as Daniel Fouts teaching Washoe the chimpanzee, Penny Patterson teaching Koko the gorilla, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh teaching Kanzi the bonobo, or Irene Pepperberg teaching Alex the parrot.¹²