Democracy

The cover for the latest Russian edition of Starfish. By Mikhail Yemelyanov.

I'm reading Starfish by Peter Watts. It's pretty great. On page 134 we have this little bit. Acton and Lenie Clarke are deep underwater in the Pacific Ocean and Acton picks up a starfish:

He holds the animal up for Clarke's inspection. Its upper surface is colored stone, encrusted with calcareous spicules. Action flips it over. The underside writhes with hundreds of thick squirming threads, jammed into dense rows along the length of each arm. Each thread has tiny sucker at its tip.

"A starfish," Acton tells her, "is the ultimate democracy."

Clarke stares, quietly repelled.

"This is how they move," Acton is saying. "They walk along on all these tube feet. But the weird thing is, they have no brains at all. Not surprising for a democracy,"